Page History

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• The rule_input_[culture].xml file, that specifies which rules should be generated for parts of speech in the spoken sentence and also which animations map to which words if any. Assuming you have the rule-input-[char-name].xml file you need to pass it as an argument to NVBG when you run the executable so that it knows which file to use for rules.
• The .xslt transform files which process the the intermediate xml generated by the module and generate the final bml to be output. The defaults are available at http://svn.ict.usc.edu/svn_vh/trunk/data/nvbg-common/. The relevant files are NVBG_transform.xsl, NVBG_rules.xsl and NVBG_behavior_description.xsl
• The command line parameters to NVBG including the character-name, character-culture, idle posture and some other optional parameters
• OPTIONAL - we can also specify a saliency map and a facial-expressions configuration if needed. 
  
  1. The saliency map specifies which objects in the scene are of particular importance which allows NVBG to generate idle gazes appropriately.
  2. The facial-expressions configuration file allows us to specify which facs units should be triggered with a certain weight so that a facial expression is achieved. This facial expression can later be tagged in the input text as markup to trigger the facial expression.

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Using command line parameters

Required:

-agent_name: specifies the agent name that the current instance of NVBG corresponds to.

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On providing the required command line arguments, it should work with the other VH components and in accordance with the rules specified for it.

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Sending input messages

NVBG mainly subscribes to vrExpress messages and a few other control messages which allow for setting some options. Below is a list of messages that NVBG subscribes to:

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nvbg_set_option [char-name] all_behavior true/false - sets/unsets flag that allows all behavior generated by NVBG.

nvbg_set_option [char-name] saliency_glance true/false - sets/unsets flag that allows saliency map generated gazes. These gazes are based on content in the speech tag and the information in the saliency map.

nvbg_set_option [char-name] saliency_idle_gaze true/false - sets/unsets flag that allows idle gazes generated by the saliency map. These idle gazes are based on the priority of pawns in the saliency map and are generated when the character is idle.

nvbg_set_option [char-name] speaker_gaze true/false - sets/unsets flag that allows for the character to look at the person he's speaking to.

nvbg_set_option [char-name] speaker_gesture true/false - sets/unsets flag that allows gestures to be generated when speaking.

nvbg_set_option [char-name] listener_gaze true/false - sets/unsets flag that allows the listener to gaze at the speaker when he speaks.

nvbg_set_option [char-name] nvbg_POS_rules true/false - sets/unsets flag that allows behavior to be generated based on parts of speech returned by the parser.

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Understanding output messages

vrSpeak

Below is an example of the vrSpeak message that is output from NVBG. It contains animation/head-nods/facial behavior based on the text that is to be spoken/heard.

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Configuring POS Transform rules

TO BE POPULATED

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Configuring the saliency map

The saliency map specifies which objects/characters/pawns in the environment are important to the character and what priority they are. These priorities can vary based on what story-point we are at i.e. the priorities can change on loading a new story-point.

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The above example contains only one story-point but in general it can contain many. NVBG can be notified of which storypoint it should load so that the appropriate priorities are assigned to the objects in the scene.

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Configuring the facial-expression file

TO BE POPULATED

Known Issues

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