Prologue.- Beginnings.- UCSB and the College of Creative Studies.- Kramer Research and a New Trajectory.- The University of Toronto.- Component Parts for the PhD.- The Strands Take Form.- The PhD Thesis.- I Need a Job, and Get an Insight, too.- The Penn CIS Faculty in 1974.- A PhD Student! .- Research at Penn.- Color Graphics! .- NASA, TEMPUS, and Beyond.- Building the Computer Graphics Research Lab.- Jack.-Jack Grows Up.- Faces.- ANIMI.- Maintainer Simulations.- Transitioning from Human Models to Virtual Beings.- Locomotion and Gait.- A Virtual Human Presenter.- SIGGRAPH.- Movement Notations.- Motion Capture.- LiveActor.- Jack Joins the Military.- MediSim.- Eyes Alive.- Parametrized Action Representation.- CAROSA.- Teaching.- Digital Media Design.- The SIG Center Renovation.- Crowds.- Behavior Trees, Navigation, and Storytelling.- Smells and Sounds.- Running Hot and Cold.- Personality and PERFORM.- The ViDi Center.- Archaeological Lighting.- Visualizing the Past/Peopling the Past.- Marching Order.- Publicity.- Cesium GS.- Philosophies.- Life Lessons.

This book tells the story of building digital virtual human models in the context of the background, choices, and occurrences that shaped the author's own involvement and personal evolution. Such digital models found motivating applications in engineering, anthropology, medical, and group simulation problems, and numerous connections to other disciplines informed and enriched their design, development, and deployment. This personal perspective on developments in the field is enhanced by extensive citations that provide pointers into relevant literature, recognize the contributions of co-authors and collaborators, and give external evidence for claims. Both academic and corporate interest in virtual beings has exploded in recent years, and while this book does not survey the current state of the art it is an essential window into how the field arrived where it is today. The technical discussions throughout the book are deliberately accessible with extensive references to the literature for further reading. This book will be of interest to readers who want to understand the history of virtual human beings, how they evolved, and especially how they must address numerous human characteristics to achieve any sense of "human-ness."  In addition, this book: Offers a historical account of the development of virtual digital humansPresents the parallel narrative of developments in computer graphics and the author's academic careerElaborates on the background influences and cross-discipline applications of digital virtual human models

Offers a historical account of the development of virtual digital humans Presents the parallel narrative of developments in computer graphics and the author's academic career Elaborates on the background influences and cross-discipline applications of digital virtual human models

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