Multimedia Authoring II -- virtual environments

with a focus on programming intelligent agents in virtual environments

Objectives

By the end of the course students will have been introduced to the ideas of virtual communities, and will have a working knowledge of distributed logic programming language (DLP), especially a knowledge on the development and implementation of intelligent avatars for virtual environments and E-commerce.

Prerequisites

Essential: Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML).

Approach

The main focus will be on the practical work of the students. They will have to make a number of assignments and give a presentation at the end of the course.

Course structure

  1. Introduction -- principles and applications of distributed logic programming language for virtual environments. Concepts: avatar, intelligent avatar, agent, web agent, logic programming, distributed logic programming
  2. DLP for virtual environments I-- VRML EAI, DLP and its EAI libraries. Examples: bus driving and ball kicking.
  3. DLP for virtual environments II -- multiple thread controls, cognitive models of intelligent avatars.
    Examples: WASP soccer games
  4. Avatar Design -- H-anim, specification for a standard humanoid, Blaxxun avatar studio. Using DLP to control the gestures of avatars. Examples: soccer player avatars and presentation avatars
  5. Virtual communities -- Blaxxun virtual communities, DLP for virtual communities. Examples: multiple users of WASP soccer games.

Material

Due to the lack of suitable, up-to-date, material, we will develop our own syllabus

Recommended additional reading