Torres, D. and Boulanger, P.(2003). The ANIMUS Project: A Framework for the Creation of Interactive Creatures in Immersed Environments, ACM Virtual Reality Software and Technology (VRST), Osaka Japan, October 4-7.

This paper describes the architecture of the ANIMUS framework. This framework facilitates the creation of synthetic characters that convey the illusion of being alive. The components of ANIMUS are inspired by observations made in biological organisms, and provide means for creating autonomous agents that mimic awareness of their environment, of other agents, and of human audience. They also show particular roles, personality, and emotions, active and reactive behavior, automatic reflexes, and selective attention; use temporal memory and learning capabilities to evolve in their dynamic virtual worlds, and express their thought and emotions with a flexible animation system while they interact with the user in immersive 3D environments. ANIMUS creatures follow artistic conceptual designs and constraints that determine the way they behave, react and interact with other creatures and the user, allowing the designer to create meaningful and interesting characters. The framework can be applied to complex immersive environments like CAVE systems or other interactive applications like video games and advanced man-machine interfaces, providing high level tools for creating a new generation of responsive believable agents.

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