JP2006120134A - Character information processing method and device - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a technology including various expression techniques and easily performing smooth communication. <P>SOLUTION: Eyeball states of characters 2a and 2b are varied based on at least one of light source information representing a light source 4 and psychological state information representing psychological states of the characters 2a and 2b. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a character information processing method and a character information processing apparatus for changing a facial expression of a character on a virtual environment realized by a computer.

  In interactive content represented by an online network game or the like, communication occurs between a plurality of participants.

At this time, while maintaining anonymity, it is desirable to bring it closer to natural communication such as when facing a real person with the person to be communicated with. An attempt to satisfy the above has been made (for example, see Non-Patent Document 1).
NTT West Avatar Tool Homepage (http://www.ntt-west.co.jp/news/0312/031215.html)

  However, when changing the character's facial expression, the user must always give an instruction. Furthermore, in order to issue this instruction, a complicated key input operation is required, and it is difficult to say that natural communication can be realized.

  In view of such circumstances, an object of the present invention is to provide a technique that includes various expression techniques and can easily perform smooth communication.

  The present invention according to claim 1 is a character information processing method for changing the facial expression of a character in a virtual environment, the step of generating light source information representing a light source existing in the virtual environment, and the psychology of the character The gist is to have a step of generating psychological state information representing a state and a step of generating state change information representing a state change of the eyeball of the character based on at least one of the light source information and the psychological state information.

  The gist of the present invention described in claim 2 is that, in the invention described in claim 1, the state change information includes information indicating at least one of a change in the pupil diameter of the eyeball, hyperemia, and tears.

  According to a third aspect of the present invention, in the first or second aspect of the present invention, when information indicating a change in the pupil diameter of the eyeball is generated based on the light source information, the pupil diameter is incident on the eyeball. The gist is that it is proportional to the logarithm of light intensity.

  According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, in the invention according to any one of the first to third aspects, a magnitude estimation method is used to measure the degree of sensation with respect to the intensity of light emitted from the light source. The gist is to make the area of the pupil proportional to the degree of sensation.

  The gist of the present invention described in claim 5 is that the diameter of the pupil is determined based on the positional relationship between the light source and the character in the virtual space in the invention described in any one of the first to fourth aspects.

  According to a sixth aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, as the state change information, information indicating at least one of a change in the pupil diameter of the eyeball, redness, and tears, and blinking of the character's eyes And the information indicating the change of the above.

  The gist of the present invention described in claim 7 is that, in the invention described in claim 6, the information representing the change in blinking of the eyes of the character is information representing the change in the number of blinks on the time axis.

  The gist of the present invention described in claim 8 is that, in the invention described in claim 6, the information indicating the blink change of the character's eyes is information indicating the blink frequency.

  The present invention according to claim 9 is a character information processing apparatus for changing a facial expression of a character in a virtual environment, the means for generating light source information representing a light source existing in the virtual environment, and the psychology of the character Means for generating psychological state information representing a state; and means for generating state change information representing a state change of the eyeball of the character based on at least one of the light source information and the psychological state information. The gist is to include information representing at least one of changes in pupil diameter of the eyeball, hyperemia, and tears.

  According to a tenth aspect of the present invention, in the present invention according to the ninth aspect, the state change information includes information representing at least one of a change in the pupil diameter of the eyeball, hyperemia, and tears, and The gist is to include information representing changes in eye blink.

  According to the present invention, various communication methods can be included and smooth communication can be easily performed.

  Hereinafter, examples of the present invention will be described. However, these examples are only for explaining the present invention, and do not limit the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, those skilled in the art can employ various embodiments including each or all of these elements, and these embodiments are also included in the scope of the present invention.

  Eyeballs (eye) and eyelids (blinks) are important elements in human communication. The human eye's emotions are most reflected in the eyeball, but on the other hand, the size of the pupil is difficult to operate on your own will.

  In order to reflect the inner psychology well, the state and reaction of the eyeball are valuable indicators when evaluating facial emotions.

  In addition, the eyelid state “blink” is performed when the light is dazzling, when dust enters the eyes, when the wind hits, or when a state of psychology in which the blink naturally increases is achieved. Intercept, moisturize, give a lively impression, consent, and a cute impression to the communication partner. Therefore, blinking is a valuable index when evaluating facial emotion together with the state of the eyeball. This eyelid state (blink) is evaluated based on the change of the blink on the time axis, that is, the number of times.

  The difference between “blink” and “close eyes” in the text is that the “close eyes” action is not an automated action in the program, and the user intentionally clicks the mouse during the game. It is to “close your eyes”. In addition, the act of “closing eyes” generally has the purpose and effect of blocking light, avoiding the eyes of others, resting eyes, etc. In communication, “sleeping”, “meditation” Because it gives an inactive impression such as “I am”, it is differentiated from “Blink”.

  For this reason, in the present invention, attention is paid to the movement (state change) of the eyeball as an emotion expression organ, and the eyeball interaction model that automatically changes the state (expression) according to the scene and situation when the character is constructed. This makes the character have a rich expression.

  As typical examples of the above-described changes in the state of the eyeball, there are “change in pupil diameter”, “hyperemia”, and “tears”. As shown in FIG. 1, when the light is incident on the eyeball ( S11), a factor that changes the state of the eyeball is extracted (S12). On the other hand, if there is any influence on the character (S13), the emotion of the character changes (S14), based on the change factor and the emotional state. The state of the eyeball is determined (S15). Although not shown, if necessary, extraction of a factor that changes the state of the eyelid (blink) is also performed in the same manner as extraction of a factor that changes the state of the eyeball (S12), and the state of the blink is determined.

  That is, the state of the eyeball changes mainly due to stimulation (physiological factors) caused by light incident on the eyeball from the outside and psychological factors.

  At this time, the pupil diameter is proportional to the logarithm of the brightness (intensity) of the light incident on the eyeball, and contracts when bright and expands when dark.

As for the light stimulus from the outside, as shown in the following formulas (1) and (2), the magnitude S of the sensation with respect to the brightness is used for the intensity I of the light in the virtual environment using the magnitude estimation method. The area of the pupil is proportional to S so that it contracts if it is bright. Note that the blinking frequency B is also proportional to S for the blinking operation.

  In the equation, k is a constant, r is the pupil radius, and n is a power index greater than 0 and less than 1.

  Physical simulation of light intensity in a virtual environment is not suitable for games that require a large amount of computation and require real-time processing.

  Therefore, in this embodiment, the direction in which the character advances is the direction of the line of sight, the light intensity variable I is set in advance according to the position in the three-dimensional space, and the corresponding pupil diameter is determined. However, when the change amount ΔI of I at time t continues to be zero for a long time, it gradually returns to the standard pupil diameter, and when the change amount exceeds the threshold value, the pupil diameter is again determined based on the above formula. To do.

Also, the pupil changes depending on the human psychological state, but the interpretation of the correspondence is not uniform. However, it is known from various experiments how the psychological state specifically occurs. An example of this change is shown in Table 1.

  In addition, the pupil diameter changes as the amount of change in the psychological state in the table increases. Furthermore, the frequency of blinking also changes.

In the present invention, an emotion model is used to express the change of the pupil due to the psychological state. In this emotion model, the psychological state of the character is determined by determining the values of three axes consisting of “Arousal”, “Valence”, and “Stance”. Table 2 shows the correspondence between these three axis values and changes in the eyeball.

  In the present invention, as shown in FIG. 2, the state of the eyeball is determined from the external light stimulus (physiological factor) and the psychological state (psychological factor). The state of the eyeball refers to the pupil diameter, the degree of hyperemia (degree of hyperemia), and the amount of tear drops (amount of tears). In the present embodiment, when the physiological factor and the psychological factor in the figure conflict, the psychological factor is preferentially adopted. The right diagram in FIG. 2 is a decision model in which the state of blinking is included in psychological factors.

  The above interaction model can be used for various purposes such as person-to-person communication such as avatar chat. In this embodiment, this is applied to an online game. A system for executing this game includes a plurality of player (user) terminal devices and servers connected via a communication network.

  In the game in the present embodiment, the virtual space 1 shown in FIG. 3 is formed by the previous player terminal device, and the player (user) uses characters 2a and 2b (hereinafter referred to as “ Manipulate characters 2 ″ collectively.

  The game starts from an arbitrary point on the stage 3 and the field of view of this character is displayed on the terminal device of the player who operates the character 2a. Direction).

  The field of view of this character is also displayed on the terminal device of the player who operates the character 2b, and this player can also change the position and field of view of the character.

  The character 2 can move on the flat circular stage 3 and loses if it falls outside the stage 3.

  Further, specific locations on the stage 3 are brightened by the light source 4, and the brightness at each position is set in advance.

  There is also an obstacle 5 on the stage 3 that can be used to avoid the other party's line of sight.

  In actually playing the game, as shown in FIG. 4, when the player character 2 is randomly placed on the stage 3 and the player performs a “see (view)” operation by left-clicking the mouse, the field of view is If the opponent's character 2 (2b in this description) can be kept in the field of view for a few seconds while zooming up and performing this "seeing" action, the movement of the character 2b can be stopped, At this time, it is possible to drop the player 2 outside the stage 3 by bringing his / her character 2 (2a in this description) into contact with the opponent character 2b.

  On the other hand, the opponent player can perform an action of “closing eyes (avoidance)” by right-clicking the mouse. Thereby, it is possible to prevent the movement of oneself from being stopped, and it is possible to avoid being dropped outside the stage 3.

  Viewing the opponent and closing the eyes are two basic actions in this game. Thus, in the game, the line-of-sight operation is an important factor.

  Further, since the above-described interaction model is used for the character 2, the character automatically changes its facial expression according to the brightness of the place where the character is and the psychological state. An example of this facial expression change is shown in FIG. As shown in the figure, the expression of the character in the present invention includes "normal state", "see", "close eyes", "joy / satisfaction", "surprise / fear", "sadness / grief", "anger / hate" There is "fatigue" and covers almost all human expressions.

  Furthermore, “blink” is included in the character's facial expression according to the present invention as necessary. The facial expression change (not shown) can be performed by modifying FIG. 5C. Note that the blinking state is, for example, a blinking (eyelid closed state) that occurs every two seconds from an eyelid state with eyes open.

The above-mentioned facial expression (emotional expression) is caused by various change factors during the game shown in Table 3 below acting on the character.

Next, the information structure of the character 2 will be described.
As shown in FIG. 6, the character information 61 constituting the character 2 includes character position information 62, psychological factor information 63, flag information 64, eyeball state information 65, and other information 66, and is stored in the player terminal device. . This other information 66 includes eyelid (blink) change information.

  The character position information 62 is information representing the position of the character 2 on the stage 3.

  The psychological factor information 63 is information representing the psychological state of the character 2 based on Arousal, Valence, and Stance, which are the components of the above interaction model.

  The flag information 64 includes visual action flag information 641 indicating a success condition or the like of the “see” action of the character 2 and avoidance action flag information 642 indicating a success condition or the like of the “close eye” action.

  The eyeball state information 65 is information representing the state of the eyeball, and includes image information created by a technique such as texture mapping. The eyeball state information 65 is roughly divided into eyeball shape information 651, line-of-sight direction information 652, eyeball color information 653, pupil radius information 654, tear drop amount information 655, redness degree information 656, and blink information 657.

The eyeball shape information 651 is information representing the shape of the eyeball of the character 2.
The gaze direction information 652 is information representing the gaze direction of the character 2.
The pupil color information 653 is information representing the color of the pupil of the character 2.
The pupil radius information 654 is information representing the pupil radius of the character 2, and the pupil diameter is determined based on this information.
The tear drop amount information 655 is information representing the tear amount of the character 2.
The blink information 657 is information representing a change in the number of blinks on the time axis.
The other information 66 includes a part other than the eyeball such as the foot of the character 2, information indicating the motion pattern, and the like.

  Next, the information configuration and information processing operation of the entire game of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In addition, the following information processing operation is performed based on the server obtaining various information (including the character information) from the player terminal device.

  First, the character position information 62 (position of the character 2a at the start of processing), the line-of-sight direction information 652 (the line of sight of the character 2a at the start of processing) shown in FIG. 6, and the player operation information 71 (FIG. 7) ( Operation status information including the position information (including the line-of-sight direction) 73 of the character 2a and the degree of fatigue of the character 2a defined by the speed of the mouse click in the previous operation. 74 are generated.

  Further, the game operation information 71, the opponent player operation information 72, and the operation situation information 74 are used to determine the game situation information 75, that is, the position and action of the opponent player 2b character ("look", "close eyes", etc.). Information indicating the trend of the game or the victory or defeat is generated.

  Further, physiological factor information 76 including the intensity of light emitted from the light source 4 on the stage 3 and incident on the eyeball of the character 2a or 2b and the amount of change thereof is generated.

  Further, the psychological factor information 63 shown in FIG. 6 is generated based on the operation situation information 74 and the game situation information 75.

  Further, eyeball state change information 77, which is information indicating the state change of the eyeball, is generated based on the psychological factor information 63, the physiological factor information 76, and the eyeball state information 65 shown in FIG. Further, blink change information indicating changes in the eyelids is also generated in the same manner as the eyeball state change information 77. The “number of blinks” receives both physiological factor information and psychological factor information as in the pupil diameter.

  The player terminal device generates a character 2 having facial expressions according to various situations as shown in FIG. 5 based on the stored eyeball state information 65 in accordance with the instruction of the eyeball state change information 77, and the player Display for.

  As described above, the eyeball state information 65, which is indispensable information for generating the character 2, is stored not in the server but in the player terminal device, and what is received from the server is the eyeball state instructing generation of the character 2. Only the change information 77 is present. Therefore, the amount of information transmitted and received between the player terminal device and the server can be greatly reduced, and the processing can be speeded up.

  Moreover, since the character position information 62 and the psychological factor information 63 are constantly updated and stored in the player terminal device, the processing is further speeded up.

  In the present embodiment, the case in which the direction in which the character advances is the direction of the line of sight has been described.

  In the present embodiment, the case where the light intensity variable I is set in advance according to the position in the three-dimensional space has been described. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and the light intensity in the virtual space is obtained by calculation. You can also.

  Further, in the present embodiment, the case where the game system is composed of a plurality of player terminal devices and a server has been shown. However, it is also possible to eliminate the server and cause the player terminal device to execute all processes.

  The player (user) terminal device and server are connected to a CPU (Central Processing Unit), hard disk drive, ROM (Read Only Memory), RAM (Random Access Memory), keyboard, display, flexible disk drive, and communication network. A computer having a communication unit or the like for performing communication can be used.

  As the player (user) terminal device, in addition to the above computer, any information terminal device such as a PDA (Personal Digital Assistance) terminal device, a mobile phone terminal device, or a PHS (Personal Handy phone System) terminal device should be used. Can do.

  As described above, according to the present invention, the state of the eyeball is automatically and instantaneously changed based on the psychological factors and physiological factors of the character corresponding to the situation, not only in the network game but in the entire interactive content. This allows the user to feel the character's facial expressions more realistically and richly. Furthermore, in addition to the state of the eyeball, the state of the eyelid (blink) can be automatically and immediately changed to improve the function.

  In addition, since the expression of the CG character can be enriched as described above, it is possible to realize a hearty communication.

  It is also possible to produce individuality by making a difference in the emotion expression method for each character, and further to let the character learn the player's individuality by introducing artificial intelligence.

  It is also possible to construct a general-purpose graphics library by adapting the interaction model of the present invention to not only the character as described above but also an eyeball in a three-dimensional CG model of a human or animal. .

It is a figure which shows the determination factor of the eyeball state of the character in this invention. It is a figure which shows the structure of the interaction model in this invention. It is a figure which shows the outline of the game which concerns on one Example of this invention. It is a flowchart of the game which concerns on one Example of this invention. It is a figure which shows the example of the facial expression change of the character of FIG. It is a figure which shows the information structure of the character of FIG. It is a figure which shows the information structure of the game which concerns on one Example of this invention.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Virtual space 2a, 2b ... Character 3 ... Stage 4 ... Light source 5 ... Obstacle 61 ... Character information 62 ... Character position information 63 ... Psychological factor information 64 ... Flag information 65 ... Eyeball state information 66 ... Other information 71 ... Player operation information 72 ... Opponent player operation information 73 ... Position information 74 ... Operation situation information 75 ... Game situation information 76 ... Physiological factor information 77 ... Eyeball state change information 641 ... Visual movement operation flag information 642 ... Avoidance operation flag information 651 ... Eyeball Shape information 652 ... Gaze direction information 653 ... Eye color information 654 ... Pupil radius information 655 ... Teardrop volume information 656 ... Redness information 657 ... Blink information

Claims (10)

A character information processing method for changing a facial expression of a character on a virtual environment,
Generating light source information representing a light source present in the virtual environment;
Generating psychological state information representing the psychological state of the character;
A character information processing method comprising: generating state change information representing a state change of the eyeball of the character based on at least one of the light source information and the psychological state information.   The character information processing method according to claim 1, wherein the state change information includes information indicating at least one of a change in pupil diameter of the eyeball, redness, and tears.   The information regarding the change in pupil diameter of the eyeball is generated based on the light source information, and the pupil diameter is proportional to the logarithm of the intensity of light incident on the eyeball. 2. The character information processing method according to 2.   4. The degree of sensation with respect to the intensity of light emitted from the light source is obtained using a magnitude estimation method, and the area of the pupil is proportional to the degree of sensation. The character information processing method according to any one of the above.   5. The character information processing method according to claim 1, wherein a diameter of the pupil is determined based on a positional relationship between the light source and the character in the virtual space.   2. The state change information includes information indicating at least one of a change in pupil diameter of the eyeball, redness, and tears, and information indicating a change in blink of eyes of the character. The character information processing method described in 1.   The character information processing method according to claim 6, wherein the information indicating a change in blinking of the character's eyes is information indicating a change in the number of blinks on the time axis.   The character information processing method according to claim 6, wherein the information indicating a change in blinking of the character's eyes is information indicating a blinking frequency. A character information processing apparatus for changing a facial expression of a character on a virtual environment,
Means for generating light source information representing a light source present in the virtual environment;
Means for generating psychological state information representing the psychological state of the character;
Means for generating state change information representing a state change of the eyeball of the character based on at least one of the light source information and the psychological state information;
The character information processing apparatus characterized in that the state change information includes information representing at least one of a change in pupil diameter of an eyeball, redness, and tears.   10. The state change information includes information indicating at least one of a change in pupil diameter of the eyeball, hyperemia, and tears, and information indicating change in blink of the character. The character information processing apparatus described.