Performs

Performs is designed to integrate a variety of BML (Behavior Markup Language) instructions pertaining to both Manual Features (MF) and Non-Manual Features (NMF) into cohesive animations. The current progress of the project has achieved a robust synthesis of NMF, crucial for enhancing the realism of sign language animations. This initiative began as part of the SignON project, a user-centric and community-driven effort aimed at facilitating communication among Deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing individuals across Europe.

The current supported instructions are explained in detail in BML Instructions. An example:

{
    type: "faceLexeme",
    start: 0.1,
    attackPeak: 0.6,
    relax: 1.5,
    end: 1.8,
    amount: 0.1,
    lexeme: "NMF_ARCH"
}

Installation and Running

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/upf-gti/performs.git

To run locally, host a server from the main project folder.

Adding avatars

Important

Currently only glTF and glb are supported. If you happen to use another format, please convert it to either glTF or glb.

To add a new avatar to performs, you must follow this steps:

1. Make sure the avatar is rigged (if it is not rigged, we recommend using Mixamo)
2. Check that your avatar has the correct scale and orientation
3. Use the performs-atelier tool to configure all the parameters needed for the application, this will generate a configuration .json file containing all the needed information.
4. Select upload your avatar in the application avatar selection combo and select your files.
5. Change to your avatar inside the application avatar selection combo

Examples

Some examples on simple NGT (Dutch Sign Language)

Kind lezen boek (child reads a book):

Man rijden fiets (Man rides a bicycle) :

Architecture

The realizer is divided into main sections, each containing several files. The whole pipeline is warpped inside the CharacterController class which is in charge of receiving a BML block and triggering and executing its instructions when required.

Controllers section

Files in this block: CharacterController, FacialController and BodyController

• CharacterController: is the main entry. Everything is controlled from here. Every instance of FacialController, BodyController, BehaviourManager and BehaviourPlanner is automatically created and managed by this class. Users only need to instantiated this class and call its functions

  • start
  • update
  • processMsg: receives all the instructions of a block and triggers the whole pipeline to be synthesise the actions specified.

• FacialController: manages the blending of the diferent animations involved in the face including facial gestures, eye movement and head displacement.

• BodyController: manages the blending of the diferent animations involved in the body including trunk, shoulders, arms, hands and fingers movement.

BML section

The files in this block: BehaviourManager, BehavhourPlanner and BehaviourRealizer

• BevahiourPlanner: automatically generates some instructions such as blinking
• BehaviourManager: deals with all instruction blocks. Is in charge of triggering instructions when their time comes.
• BehaviourRealizer: a set of diverse functionalities to execute some particular instruction

Collaborators

• Jaume Pozo @japopra
• Víctor Ubieto @victorubieto
• Eva Valls @evallsg
• Carolina del Corral @carolinadcf
• Pablo García @PZerua
• Alex Rodríguez @jxarco

Acknowledgments

• Three.js - An open-source JavaScript library for creating interactive 3D and 2D graphics in web browsers.
• Lexgui.js - A simple and lightweight GUI library for creating graphical user interfaces for web applications.

We would like to extend our gratitude to the creators and maintainers of these libraries for their invaluable contributions to the open-source community.

Support

This project is being developed with partial financial support of:

EMERALD Project (2023-2026)	SignON Project (2021-2023)