3D Animation
During the past week I've been spending a lot of time improving my Poser 3D skills. I'm not an animator, although I've worked with many talented animators during my time at various game companies. So I've learned a thing or two over the years.
I'm working on a math tutorial for ZoeyBot.com entitled "Number Line Rider" that will help teach kids about number lines. The animation sequence below is a low quality experimental first pass effort.
Conversations with a cartoon
Anyone who's read this blog knows that I've been working on a project called ZoeyBot.
ZoeyBot is an educational website for kids which features an animated robot called (you guessed it!) Zoey.
Kids are interested in Zoey because they can interact with her by chating via short text messages.
Conversations with Zoey have been met with mixed results. Until recently, Zoey has frustrated large numbers of kids with her nonsensical banter. This isn't because I've grossly underestimated the task of creating a seemly intelligent bot.
Oh contraire! With Zoey I set out to top my earlier efforts by creating an elaborate set of tools to help tackle the challenge. For the most part, the approach I've taken offers amazing potential which has yet to be fully realized. The challenge involves careful statistical weighing of stored phrases in what I'm calling a conversational graph. Fortuntely I am starting to see improvements in the quality of conversations that are taking place. Have a look at the three conversation snipits below.
Visitor: i like chess
Zoey: Why do you like chess?
Visitor: it's fun
Zoey: Tic-tac-toe is a fun game.
Visitor: it's ok
Zoey: Skateboarding is fun.
Visitor: i like skateboarding
Zoey: You enjoy skateboarding?
Visitor: yeah
Zoey: If you say so.
Visitor: i do
Zoey: Do you know how to skateboard?
Visitor: i can skateboard
Zoey: My friend Kaitlyn and her friends like to skateboard. They're pretty good at it.
Visitor: my dog likes to play fetch
Zoey: OK your dog likes to play fetch.
Visitor: yes
Zoey: Very well. Let's continue.
Visitor: she can run really fast
Zoey: Dogs can generate large amounts of energy for a short period of time. This setup is useful for hunting and combat. An example of this is that almost any dog, even one that is usually slow and lazy, can outsprint any human. However, almost any human can catch up with any dog in a marathon run, or other activity where endurance is needed.
Visitor: you are smart
Zoey: My teacher gives us a lot of homework, but I know it's because she wants us to be really smart.
Visitor: i don't like homework
Zoey: What makes you say that you did not like homework?
Visitor: it's sometimes hard to do
Zoey: Some kids hate school. I think school is hard sometimes but I know it's important.
Visitor: some of school is fun
Zoey: School can be fun sometimes.
Visitor: i know
Zoey: Very well.
Visitor: good bye
Zoey: OK, see you soon.
Carlos Justiniano: technologist, veteran software developer, world record holder, entrepreneur.