InterACTE: Improvising with a Virtual Actor

Abstract

This paper describes an interactive installation that invites participants to improvise with an autonomous virtual actor. Based on real-time analysis of the participant's gestures, the virtual actor is capable of either propose expressive and linguistic gestures (selected from a set of four Motion Capture Databases), either imitate the participant, or either generate its own gestures using a Genetic Algorithm. A software agent is used to trigger the previously mentioned behaviors based on the analysis results and on a set of predefined rules. The installation is presented in two acts: i. In the first act, the participant interacts with the projected shadow of the virtual actor; ii. In the second act, the participant is being immersed in a 3D world using a virtual reality HMD---the virtual actor is being presented to her/him in the form of an avatar made of particles.