The Computer Science Colloquium

Ken Perlin
(NYU)

"The Illusion of Life, Revisited"

    Many years ago Walt Disney spoke of the quest to create the "Illusion of Life". In fact in every era of human history, this quest has evolved new kinds of literacy, from the first cave paintings to the written word, music, drama, cinema, animation and beyond. Recently it has become possible to create this illusion interactively. But what makes for an effective experience, once an audience can respond back? What makes us care about an interactive character? We will show some recently developed techniques for breathing life into interactive characters. These techniques may point the way to a new era where cinema intersects with interactive narrative and on-line community.

The Colloquium is supported by generous contributions from the Bloomberg, Information Builders, Inc., and Netlogic, Inc.