A dedicated interface to plan scenes with virtual characters

This paper discusses how to design a multimedia application in which a number of characters perform a predefined set of actions. The basic concepts and techniques required by this kind of application include character animation, storytelling, and multimedia. This paper focuses on the prototyping issues and the designer need of making the starting plan of the whole story. The design process requires mainly the composition and integration of narrative structures and media and animated objects. We propose to integrate multimedia authoring styles and animation synthesis techniques to simplify and speed up designing, prototyping and editing. We state that available animation systems do not provide a suitable interface for developing large-scale applications and supporting non-expert authors. Sketching and planning stories containing human characters requires an animation tool dedicated to it. A story can be prototyped rapidly only if the interface supports the author expressly.