Facilities for the graphical computer simulation of head and body movements

Abstract

An indispensible precondition for graphical computer simulations of human body movement is the availability of an efficient coding and command language that can function as a link between man and machine. A high-resolution notation system, the Bernese System for Time-Series Notation of Human Movement Behavior, is described, and its capacity to generate scripts for graphical computer animations is demonstrated on the basis of recent software developments. Three different 3-D animation programs are introduced, which have been developed under MS-DOS using an interactive BASIC compiler as the software tool. The programs have been set up to serve different purposes in current nonverbal research: visual feedback during time-series notation, dynamic face-validity check of completed time-series protocols, and experimental simulations of dyadic interactions. © 1989 Psychonomic Society, Inc.