Publications

@inproceedings{hill_virtual_2003,

title = {Virtual Humans in the Mission Rehearsal Exercise System},

author = {Randall W. Hill and Jonathan Gratch and Stacy C. Marsella and William Swartout and David Traum},

url = {http://ict.usc.edu/pubs/Virtual%20Humans%20in%20the%20Mission%20Rehearsal%20Exercise%20System.pdf},

year  = {2003},

date = {2003-06-01},

booktitle = {Kunstliche Intelligenzi (KI) (special issue on Embodied Conversational Agents)},

abstract = {How can simulation be made more compelling and effective as a tool for learning? This is the question that the Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT) set out to answer when it was formed at the University of Southern California in 1999, to serve as a nexus between the simulation and entertainment communities. The ultimate goal of the ICT is to create the Experience Learning System (ELS), which will advance the state of the art in virtual reality immersion through use of high-resolution graphics, immersive audio, virtual humans and story-based scenarios. Once fully realized, ELS will make it possible for participants to enter places in time and space where they can interact with believable characters capable of conversation and action, and where they can observe and participate in events that are accessible only through simulation.},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{gordon_experience_2003,

title = {Experience Management Using Storyline Adaptation Strategies},

author = {Andrew S. Gordon and Nicholas Iuppa},

url = {http://ict.usc.edu/pubs/Experience%20Management%20Using%20Storyline%20Adaptation%20Strategies.PDF},

year  = {2003},

date = {2003-03-01},

booktitle = {Proceedings of the First International Conference on Technologies for Digital Storytelling and Entertainment},

address = {Darmstadt, Germany},

abstract = {The central problem of creating interactive drama is structuring a media experience for participants such that a good story is presented while enabling a high degree of meaningful interactivity. This paper presents a new approach to interactive drama, where pre-authored storylines are made interactive by adapting them at run-time by applying strategies that react to unexpected user behavior. The approach, called Experience Management, relies heavily on the explication of a broad range of adaptation strategies and a means of selecting which strategy is most appropriate given a particular story context. We describe a formal approach to storyline representation to enable the selection of applicable strategies, and a strategy formalization that allows for storyline modification. Finally, we discuss the application of this approach in the context of a story-based training system for military leadership skills, and the direction for continuing research.},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{gordon_coverage_2003,

title = {Coverage and Competency in Formal Theories: A Commonsense Theory of Memory},

author = {Andrew S. Gordon and Jerry R. Hobbs},

url = {http://ict.usc.edu/pubs/Coverage%20and%20Competency%20in%20Formal%20Theories-%20A%20Commonsense%20Theory%20of%20Memory.PDF},

year  = {2003},

date = {2003-03-01},

booktitle = {Proceedings of the 2003 AAAI Spring Symposium on Logical Formalizations of Commonsense Reasoning},

address = {Stanford University},

abstract = {The utility of formal theories of commonsense reasoning will depend both on their competency in solving problems and on their concemptual coverage. We argue that the problems of coverage and competency can be decoupled and solved with different methods for a given commonsense domain. We describe a methodology for identifying the coverage requirements of theories through the large-sclae analysis of planning strategies, with further refinements made by collecting and categorizing instances of natural language expressions pertaining to the domain. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this methodology in identifying the representational coverage requirements of theories of the commonsense psychology of human memory. We then apply traditional methods of formalization to produce a formal first-order theory of commonsense memory with a high degree of competency and coverage.},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{traum_nl_2003,

title = {NL Generation for Virtual Humans in a Complex Social Environment},

author = {David Traum and Michael Fleischman and Eduard Hovy},

url = {http://ict.usc.edu/pubs/NL%20Generation%20for%20Virtual%20Humans%20in%20a%20Complex%20Social%20Environment.pdf},

year  = {2003},

date = {2003-03-01},

booktitle = {AAAI Spring Symposium on Natural Language Generation in Spoken and Written Dialogue},

pages = {151–158},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{traum_semantics_2003,

title = {Semantics and Pragmatics of Questions and Answers for Dialogue Agents},

author = {David Traum},

url = {http://ict.usc.edu/pubs/Semantics%20and%20Pragmatics%20of%20Questions%20and%20Answers%20for%20Dialogue%20Agents.pdf},

year  = {2003},

date = {2003-01-01},

booktitle = {International Workshop on Computational Semantics},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{joshi_learning_2003,

title = {Learning Controls for Blend Shape Based Realistic Facial Animation},

author = {Pushkar Joshi and Wen C. Tien and Mathieu Desbrun and Frédéric Pighin},

editor = {D. Breen and M. Lin},

url = {http://ict.usc.edu/pubs/Learning%20Controls%20for%20Blend%20Shape%20Based%20Realistic%20Facial%20Animation.pdf},

year  = {2003},

date = {2003-01-01},

booktitle = {Proceedings of the Eurographics/SIGGRAPH Symposium on Computer Animation},

abstract = {Blend shape animation is the method of choice for keyframe facial animation: a set of blend shapes (key facial expressions) are used to define a linear space of facial expressions. However, in order to capture a significant range of complexity of human expressions, blend shapes need to be segmented into smaller regions where key idiosyncracies of the face being animated are present. Performing this segmentation by hand requires skill and a lot of time. In this paper, we propose an automatic, physically-motivated segmentation that learns the controls and parameters directly from the set of blend shapes. We show the usefulness and efficiency of this technique for both,motion-capture animation and keyframing. We also provide a rendering algorithm to enhance the visual realism of a blend shape model.},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{marsella_modeling_2003,

title = {Modeling Coping Behaviors in Virtual Humans: Don't worry, Be Happy},

author = {Stacy C. Marsella and Jonathan Gratch},

url = {http://ict.usc.edu/pubs/Modeling%20Coping%20Behavior%20in%20Virtual%20Humans-%20Dont%20worry%20Be%20happy.pdf},

year  = {2003},

date = {2003-01-01},

booktitle = {International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS)},

pages = {313–320},

address = {Melbourne, Australia},

abstract = {This article builds on insights into how humans cope with emotion to guide the design of virtual humans. Although coping is increasingly viewed in the psychological literature as having a central role in human adaptive behavior, it has been largely ignored in computational models of emotion. In this paper, we show how psychological research on the interplay between human emotion, cognition and coping behavior can serve as a central organizing principle for the behavior of human-like autonomous agents. We present a detailed domain-independent model of coping based on this framework that significantly extends our previous work. We argue that this perspective provides novel insights into realizing adaptive behavior.},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{mao_social_2003,

title = {The Social Credit Assignment Problem},

author = {Wenji Mao and Jonathan Gratch},

url = {http://ict.usc.edu/pubs/The%20Social%20Credit%20Assignment%20Problem.pdf},

year  = {2003},

date = {2003-01-01},

booktitle = {Lecture Notes in Computer Science; Proceedings of the 4th International Workshop on Intelligent Virtual Agents (IVA)},

volume = {2792},

number = {ICT TR 02 2003},

address = {Kloster Irsee, Germany},

institution = {University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies},

abstract = {Social credit assignment is a process of social judgment whereby one singles out individuals to blame or credit for multi-agent activities. Such judgments are a key aspect of social intelligence and underlie social planning, social learning, natural language pragmatics and computational models of emotion. Based on psychological attribution theory, this paper presents a preliminary computational approach to forming such judgments based on an agent's causal knowledge and conversation interactions.},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{gardner_linear_2003,

title = {Linear Light Source Reflectometry},

author = {Andrew Gardner and Chris Tchou and Tim Hawkins and Paul Debevec},

url = {http://ict.usc.edu/pubs/Linear%20Light%20Source%20Reflectometry.pdf},

year  = {2003},

date = {2003-01-01},

booktitle = {ACM Transactions on Graphics},

abstract = {This paper presents a technique for estimating the spatially-varying reflectance properties of a surface based on its appearance during a single pass of a linear light source. By using a linear light rather than a point light source as the illuminant, we are able to reliably observe and estimate the diffuse color, specular color, and specular roughness of each point of the surface. The reflectometry apparatus we use is simple and inexpensive to build, requiring a single direction of motion for the light source and a fixed camera viewpoint. Our model fitting technique first renders a reflectance table of how diffuse and specular reflectance lobes would appear under moving linear light source illumination. Then, for each pixel we compare its series of intensity values to the tabulated reflectance lobes to determine which reflectance model parameters most closely produce the observed reflectance values. Using two passes of the linear light source at different angles, we can also estimate per-pixel surface normals as well as the reflectance parameters. Additionally our system records a per-pixel height map for the object and estimates its per-pixel translucency. We produce real-time renderings of the captured objects using a custom hardware shading algorithm. We apply the technique to a test object exhibiting a variety of materials as well as to an illuminated manuscript with gold lettering. To demonstrate the technique's accuracy, we compare renderings of the captured models to real photographs of the original objects.},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{gratch_automating_2003,

title = {Automating After Action Review: Attributing Blame or Credit in Team Training},

author = {Jonathan Gratch and Wenji Mao},

url = {http://ict.usc.edu/pubs/Automating%20After%20Action%20Review-%20Attributing%20Blame%20or%20Credit%20in%20Team%20Training.pdf},

year  = {2003},

date = {2003-01-01},

booktitle = {Proceedings of the 12th Conference on Behavior Representation in Modeling and Simulation},

address = {Scottsdale, AZ},

abstract = {Social credit assignment is a process of social judgment whereby one singles out individuals to blame or credit for multi-agent activities. Such judgments are a key aspect of social intelligence and underlie social planning, social learning, natural language pragmatics and computational models of emotion. Based on psychological attribution theory, this paper presents a preliminary computational approach to forming such judgments based on an agent's causal knowledge and conversation interactions.},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{cao_unsupervised_2003,

title = {Unsupervised Learning for Speech Motion Editing},

author = {Yong Cao and Petros Faloutsos and Frédéric Pighin},

url = {http://ict.usc.edu/pubs/Unsupervised%20Learning%20for%20Speech%20Motion%20Editing.pdf},

year  = {2003},

date = {2003-01-01},

booktitle = {Proceedings of Eurographics/SIGGRAPH Symposium on Computer Animation},

abstract = {We present a new method for editing speech related facial motions. Our method uses an unsupervised learning technique, Independent Component Analysis (ICA), to extract a set of meaningful parameters without any annotation of the data. With ICA, we are able to solve a blind source separation problem and describe the original data as a linear combination of two sources. One source captures content (speech) and the other captures style (emotion). By manipulating the independent components we can edit the motions in intuitive ways.},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{shapiro_hybrid_2003,

title = {Hybrid Control For Interactive Character Animation},

author = {Ari Shapiro and Frédéric Pighin},

url = {http://ict.usc.edu/pubs/Hybrid%20Control%20For%20Interactive%20Character%20Animation.pdf},

year  = {2003},

date = {2003-01-01},

booktitle = {Proceedings of the 11th Pacific Conference on Computer Graphics and Applications},

abstract = {We implement a framework for animating interactive characters by combining kinematic animation with physical simulation. The combination of animation techniques allows the characters to exploit the advantages of each technique. For example, characters can perform natural-looking kinematic gaits and react dynamically to unexpected situations.Kinematic techniques such as those based on motion capture data can create very natural-looking animation. However, motion capture based techniques are not suitable for modeling the complex interactions between dynamically interacting characters. Physical simulation, on the other hand, is well suited for such tasks. Our work develops kinematic and dynamic controllers and transition methods between the two control methods for interactive character animation. In addition, we utilize the motion graph technique to develop complex kinematic animation from shorter motion clips as a method of kinematic control.},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{morie_gestalt_2003,

title = {The Gestalt of Virtual Environments},

author = {Jacquelyn Morie and Josh Williams},

url = {http://ict.usc.edu/pubs/The%20Gestalt%20of%20Virtual%20Environments.pdf},

year  = {2003},

date = {2003-01-01},

booktitle = {International Workshop on Presence},

abstract = {The majority of research in the field of virtual reality to date has focused on increasing the fidelity of the environments created and trying to determine the quality of the participant experience. Efforts have been made to quantify such aspects, especially in regards to visuals and sound, and to a lesser extent to the user experience. Recent thinking has tended towards the assumption that ever-greater fidelity would ensure a better user experience. However, such emphasis on photo-realism and audio-realism does not take into account the collective results of our multimodal sensory inputs with their intertwined effects. Our design philosophy for the creation of virtual environments attempts to replicate the human experience, and asks the question: Is there an underlying fidelity of feels-real through which the quality of the participant experience could be improved?},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}

@inproceedings{traum_negotiation_2003,

title = {Negotiation over Tasks in Hybrid Human-Agent Teams for Simulation-Based Training},

author = {David Traum and Jeff Rickel and Jonathan Gratch and Stacy C. Marsella},

url = {http://ict.usc.edu/pubs/Negotiation%20over%20Tasks%20in%20Hybrid%20Human-Agent%20Teams%20for%20Simulation-Based%20Training.pdf},

year  = {2003},

date = {2003-01-01},

booktitle = {International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems (AAMAS)},

pages = {441–448},

address = {Melbourne, Australia},

abstract = {The effectiveness of simulation-based training for individual tasks – such as piloting skills – is well established, but its use for team training raises challenging technical issues. Ideally, human users could gain valuable leadership experience by interacting with synthetic teammates in realistic and potentially stressful scenarios. However, creating human-like teammates that can support flexible, natural interactions with humans and other synthetic agents requires integrating a wide variety of capabilities, including models of teamwork, models of human negotiation, and the ability to participate in face-to-face spoken conversations in virtual worlds. We have developed such virtual humans by integrating and extending prior work in these areas, and we have applied our virtual humans to an example peacekeeping training scenario to guide and evaluate our research. Our models allow agents to reason about authority and responsibility for individual actions in a team task and, as appropriate, to carry out actions, give and accept orders, monitor task execution, and negotiate options. Negotiation is guided by the agents' dynamic assessment of alternative actions given the current scenario conditions, with the aim of guiding the human user towards an ability to make similar assessments.},

keywords = {},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}