Development of an embodied entrainment avatar-shadow system for avatar-mediated communication support

A shadow is an effective projection medium to denote the presence of real objects, and plays an important role in recreating 3-dimensional effects and reality in virtual spaces. Therefore, in a virtual space, an avatar´s shadow, hereafter referred to as avatar-shadow, can be used to create interactive effects with the avatar. In our previous research, in avatar mediated communication system, we reported that an auto-generated interactive avatar´s motions that are different from the user´s own motions do not always support human communication. However, by using an avatar-shadow, users can communicate smoothly without inconsistency between their own motions and their avatar´s motions in a virtual space, in which the avatar-shadow´s motions are expressed by combining the users´ own motions with auto-generated interactive motions. In this paper, we describe the development of an embodied entrainment avatar-shadow system. This system is constructed using users´ avatars, which are based on the users´ own motions, and the users´ avatar-shadows based on the users´ motions as well; in addition, while creating the avatar-shadows, auto-generated entrained motions are also taken into consideration. Further, we propose three presentation methods that improve the effectiveness of the use of avatar-shadows used in this system.