Designing Interactive Avatars for Mixed Reality Applications

Abstract

Mixed Reality (MR) increasingly gained importance over the last decade leading to the commercial breakthrough in recent years. At the heart of MR systems is the avatar—the user's virtual representation within the virtual world. Avatars are not only necessary to interact with the virtual world but have also a large number of profound effects on the interaction as well as on the user. Muscular avatars can, for example, not only make users feel stronger but also increase their physical performance. Designing avatars that do not fall into the uncanny valley is, however, challenging. In this tutorial, we will therefore introduce attendees to the basics of avatars and their effects. We will provide guidelines for the avatar design. In addition, we will walk attendees through the practical task of designing avatars and putting them into interactive applications.