Animation through Reactions, Transition Nets and Plans

We describe a framework for creating animated simulations of virtual human agents. The framework allows us to capture flexible patterns of activity, as well as reactivity to a changing environment. Both lead to variation in how an animated simulation will be realized. In addition, because different parts of an activity make different demands on an agent's resources and decision-making, our framework allows special-purpose reasoners and planners to be associated with only those phases of an activity where they are needed.