Overview
Go to the Download page for instructions on how to obtain the Toolkit. Instructions for Installing the Toolkit and Running the Example Scenario can be found in Tutorials.
For navigation on this website, please use the menu on the left. The main sections are:
- Download - Information about downloading the Toolkit.
- Architecture - Overview of the Toolkit architecture.
- Components - Overview of all modules, tool libraries, and third party software that make up the Toolkit.
- Tutorials - Links to all currently available tutorials about the Toolkit and its components.
- FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions about the Toolkit. Including a glossary for often used terms and acronyms.
- Support - Overview of available support resources.
- Contact Us - Contact information.
- License - The License Agreement of the Toolkit and 3rd party software.
- Papers - Overview of Toolkit related research papers.
The Virtual Human Toolkit has two target audiences: users and developers.
We define users as people who use the provided Toolkit technology as is, usually either running a component or using it to create new content. Users with basic computer skills and minor scripting skills will be able to configure and run systems. See the Users section below to get started.
We define developers as people who extend Toolkit components, use Toolkit components in their own systems, or use their own components within the Toolkit. Developers need to have a strong technical background, including in-depth knowledge of one or more programming languages, knowledge of distributed systems and an affinity with virtual human related research and technology. Developers are encouraged to read both sections below.
Users
It is recommended to start with running the provided example scenario. This will give you a sense of the features and capabilities of the Toolkit and the provided characters. To begin, follow the Installing the Toolkit tutorial. Once installed, follow the Running the Example Scenario tutorial.
The Virtual Human Toolkit consists of a collection of modules, libraries, tools and 3rd party software, collectively dubbed Components. We define modules as run-time components that are part of the running system. See the Architecture page to learn more about how these modules relate to each other.
These modules combined allow for virtual humans who are, in real-time, capable of:
- Listening to a person talk or type
- Selecting a verbal response
- Generating nonverbal behavior for that response
- Reply using either pre-recorded speech or text-to-speech
- Realizing the nonverbal behavior in full synchronization with the speech
Developers
The Toolkit is based on a modular Architecture in which most modules use Virtual Human Messaging to communicate with each other. Those two pages describe the main messages used in the Toolkit. You can create your own modules that listen to and/or send out VH messages by implementing the VHMsg library. VHSMsg supports C#, C++, Java and TCL. For more details, see the Developing a New Module tutorial.
The exception to using VHMsg is SmartBody, which has a direct connection with the renderer. For Unity, this is a DLL, for Ogre, SmartBody is run as a stand-alone process that connects using a TCP/IP connection. The AcquireSpeech speech client also has a direct link to a speech server like PocketSphinx Wrapper.
The folder structure of the Toolkit is as follows:
- \bin, all compiled run-time code, copied over in post-build steps from the source in \core
- \core, all run-time modules
- \data, most data; Unity data is included in \core\vhtoolkitUnity\Assets
- \lib, all supporting libraries
- \local_tests, default location of Logger log files
- \scripts, supporting scripts for builds, installers, etc.
- \tools, all tools
The root contains a MS Visual Studio 2010 solution. Since not all Toolkit components come with source, set the Solution Configuration to '(1) ReleaseOpenSource'.