University of Southern California

Programmer Intern 0938

February 09, 2009

Project Name

SmartBody Virtual Human Animation System


Project Description

ICT is a leader in the development of virtual humans, AI-driven autonomous software agents that look like, act like and can interact with humans using spoken dialog in virtual environments and video games. The SmartBody project is developing a state-of-art open source modular framework for animating the body of virtual humans, based on the notion of hierarchically connected animation controllers. Controllers in SmartBody can employ arbitrary animation algorithms such as keyframe interpolation, motion capture or procedural animation. The creation of virtual humans requires life-like, responsive frameworks for animating the virtual human’s body in real-time.


Job Description

The intern will work on developing and testing software for SmartBody. The precise task will depend on the intern’s skill set but may include
o Hookng up the virtual human’s “brain” to its “body”, SmartBody.
o Scripting environments to test SmartBody controllers and animations
o Extending and testing controllers for SmartBody such as a facial expression controller

The specific skills required include:
o Expertise in programming in C, C++ and python scripting
o Knowledge of graphics and procedural animation techniques
o Experience in animating human behavior


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