Emotions Over a Wire, Solved?
by Mike Stroud
12:15 p.m. 27.Apr.99.PDT
CARLSBAD, California -- While every tech
pundit sings to a broadband future, a Compaq
researcher brought a reality check to the
bandwidth issue.
In his keynote speech at the EnterTech
conference, Andrew Cromarty of the Compaq
Network Systems Lab pooh-poohed the notion
that cable modems, DSL, and Pentium-III
computers will solve the problem of delivering
high-quality video in real time over the Internet.
"We should not expect to see TV quality over
the Internet over the next year or even the next
three or four," he said.
Consumers should dispense with fantasies
about booting up and enjoying crystal-clear
video conferences with Mom over the public
Internet, he said.
Instead, you could digitize Mom's image and
keep it stashed in your computer until she calls,
he said. Tie it to software that makes the image
lip-sync and respond with the correct emotional
expressions when she calls on the phone, and
voilà: You've got Mom.
Cromarty said that for years to come, such
low-bandwidth animations will be the only
realistic way to send large chunks of video over
the public Internet.
Meanwhile, home computers' processing speed
and storage capacity are growing at exponential
rates. That increased capacity simplifies the
process for end users to represent large chunks
of reality with animation.
He showed off Compaq's work in this area to a
few hundred bemused tech-heads and
Hollywood suits on Sunday night. He morphed
an on-screen image of some Compaq
employee's poor kid into a blinking egghead who
looked like he belonged behind aquarium glass.
But, yes, it was a realistic effect.
Granted, Cromarty's forté isn't making
animations that you would feel comfortable
talking to on your computer. But who could feel
at all comfortable with the idea?
Cromarty maintains that it's really just a matter
of getting used to it.
"A hundred years ago, people got all upset with
the idea of talking to people over the telephone,"
he said. "'You mean, I'm not going to see the
person at the other end of the line?' But your
children are going to be totally comfortable with
this technology."
In the demo room at La Costa resort, Dominic
Massaro, a psychology professor from the
University of California at Santa Cruz,
demonstrated his own version of talking heads
that looked somewhat more believable -- at least
after a couple of glasses of wine.
Massaro, who has written a book about faces
and perception, was demonstrating how an
animated face he calls "Baldy" responds to his
voice over a microphone.
"Act disgusted," he said into the microphone to
Baldy. "What now?" replied Baldy, who looked
and sounded disgusted.
"Act surprised," said Massaro.
"What now?" Baldy replied, with an
astonished-looking face.
"Suzanne Vega," Massaro said.
And Baldy dutifully became an image of Vega,
lip-syncing to her songs.
Still, there may be some bugs to work out.
Massaro's faces currently have the emotional
appeal of death masks, but he said that the
aesthetic snag could easily be untangled in
subsequent versions. |
