Virtual human representation, adaptation, delivery and interoperability for virtual worlds

• Main Author: JOVANOVA, Blagica
• Language: ENG
• Published: Institut National des Télécommunications 2011
• Subjects: [INFO:INFO_OH] Computer Science/Other; Virtual world; 3D compression; Adaptation; Interoperability; MPEG-4; MPEG-V
• Online Access: http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00712173; http://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/docs/00/71/21/73/PDF/ThA_se_-_-_-_JOVANOVA-2.pdf

In the last few years 3D Virtual Worlds (3DVWs) became a reality. Initially considered as a new mean for social communication, triggered by the development of software and hardware technology, 3DVWs are exposing now different functionalities, experiences and acquaintances. Therefore, they achieved their popularity very fast, indicated by the number and the progression of active users. Being the representation of the user, the avatar is one of the most significant and most complex assets of a Virtual World. A short analysis of a VW content allows one to observe that from the point of view of the storage/transmission the most significant amount is represented by the VW assets. Within the set of assets, the avatars are the most complex structures, consisting of different components: geometry, images, animations, structures, etc. The overall objective of developing tools and methods for a large deployment of VW are translated into three specific ones: To propose a compression framework to enable efficient, compact transfer of avatars, and general 3D graphics assets. Specifically for avatars, the framework should be independent from the representation formalism. To propose an optimized solution making the avatars accessible on weak terminals such as mobile phones. To define a metadata model allowing avatars interoperability between different VWs. The three objectives are addressed in this thesis and for each we propose original contributions.