April 30, 2003
ACS 279
Final Project
For many years now user-interface designs have been remained relatively the same with little innovation. The mouse, keyboard, and the familiar point-and-click style of interface have dominated software designs for years. To many new users, this kind of interface can be unintuitive, unfriendly, or seem very machine-like. For users like these a new kind of interface has been developed: the “conversational user-interface.”
A
conversational user-interface uses a human-like animated “character” to “speak”
to the user, leading the user through all the things they need to do with
interactive instructions and gestures.
The software developers at Microsoft Corporation have developed an
interface system based on the conversation user-interface model known as
Microsoft Agent. Microsoft Agent
features a life-like animated character that interacts with the user through
text, animated gestures, or even digital speech. The Agent character can then listen to input from the user via the
mouse, keyboard, or even by using voice recognition technology.
This
system allows for a more friendly “human-like” interaction between the
computer’s software and the user. A
user can do as little as ask a question verbally into a microphone, and the
agent character can speak the answer back to the user through the computer’s
speakers! Since the language used is
familiar everyday English (or a foreign language if you prefer), and the character
is a friendly looking cartoon character, this setup can create a very warm and
friendly feeling for the person using the computer. Also, since everyone using computers today grew up watching
cartoons on television or in movie theaters, the idea of relating to a cartoon
character is very familiar and easy to adjust to.
Agent
characters using Microsoft Agent Technology can be used for many roles in
software applications. One very popular
use if for Agent characters to provide interactive help and support for a
program, so that if a user has a problem he or she can have a friendly
interactive troubleshooter to guide then to the appropriate solution. Agent characters can also provide services
as an attractive tutorial or walk-though aid to assist people in becoming
familiar with a web site or a software program for the first time. Still another use is to combine them with a
chat program similar such as AIM or Yahoo messenger to provide an interactive
character to represent the person you are chatting with. The possibilities for agent technology are
only limited by the imagination!
As
part of my final programming project, I created my very own Agent character,
using Microsoft Agent 2.0 Technology.
My agent character is Foxee, a traditional cartoon hand-drawn animated
female arctic blue fox. Her personality
is very outgoing and cheerful, and she provides an effective means to
communicate between the user and the application software. To learn how to animate, I purchased two
books, The Animator’s Survival Kit by Richard Williams, the Academy
Award winning director behind the feature film Who Framed Roger Rabbit?,
and Cartoon Animation by Preston Blair.
Both books are actually used by animation school to aid in teaching
animation.
The
character design I chose for Foxee was that of a female arctic blue fox. Being a cartoonist as a hobby, I had many
potential character designs that could have been used for my Agent character,
including a cartoon mountain lioness and a cheetah. An arctic blue fox was chosen due to the character’s cuteness,
difficulty to animate, and her overall “personality.” Due to the amount of interaction and randomness you can put into
an Agent character, a character’s “personality” is very important. For example, you can create your characters
to be very forward and outgoing, or very timid and sensitive. Foxee’s outgoing but un-aggressive
personality and cool non-threatening colors allow her to have a presence on
your desktop without distracting you from your work on the computer, unlike a
brightly colored verbose character, which would dominate your screen.
The
animation drawings were created with 12-field 20lb. Animation paper, the actual
paper used by cartoon studios. To draw
the animation, Sanford “Col-Erase” pencils were used. Col-Erase pencils are the most common pencils used by
professional cartoon studios. Also to
aid in the creation of the animation, a light-box, a 17-inch by 12-inch flatbed
scanner, and a 35mm camera 12-field guide were used. The animation was drawn at a rate known in the animation industry
known as being drawn “on ones,” which means that the 24 animation drawings are
used for each second of animation. The
animation drawings were cleaned up and painted using the Jasc Paint Shop Pro
7.04 software, and compiled into a working Microsoft Office Assistant using the
Microsoft Agent Character Editor 2.0, which was provided by Microsoft
Corporation.
The
programming knowledge for creating the Foxee Agent character and the
applications she is attached to came from the books Microsoft Agent Software
Development Kit and Developing for Microsoft Agent. The applications for the Agent character
were written in VBScript for the web application and C++ for the standalone
application. Microsoft Agent interacts with
programming languages via COM or ActiveX controls, so any programming language
that can access these controls can be used to develop an application for use
with a Microsoft Agent character.
In
conclusion, Microsoft Agent technology provides a fun and interactive way to
make your software communicate with the people using it. The Agent characters are extremely fun and
entertaining to both children and adults alike, and can provide a positive
computing experience for them. They can
also be a creative way for your website to be able to communicate with its
visitors. Probably the best reason of
them all to implement Microsoft Agent Technology with your application is
because everybody loves cartoons!