Computer-aided staging

This paper describes the genesis and main functionalities of a real-time animation system for designing multimedia scenes. Users can create a system of synchronized events and give a structured shape to the various parts of a performance. Much work has been done on the production of realistic synthetic movies, but little to support planning and pre-production. This system addresses the requirements of those who have to plan, preview and evaluate the spatial and temporal arrangements of human figures with other media before their practical realization in a real or virtual environment. To define a user staging process which is general and valid for different kinds of users and different applications, we have analysed current staging methodologies used in the theatre, cinema and TV. Since these fields lack standard procedures, obtaining a good degree of generality and completeness entailed an iterative work of specification, prototyping and testing with the help of professionals from such fields. Unlike traditional systems which treat media in separate software, e.g. human body motion alone or speech alone, we consider the elements in the scene altogether according to the theatrical paradigm which is the basic framework for describing the design of a performance. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.