Shabnam Sodagari - Iran Communication Industries Inc. R&D Dept.
Mehdi Sedighi - Computer Engineering Dept, Amirkabir University of Technology

Virtual humans have become an indispensable part of a virtual environment especially in e-learning applications. Since the development of virtual humans involves many different functions and features, various methods and techniques have been proposed for each individual function. While these methods may offer locally optimum solutions for a particular section of the design, they may not necessarily be consistent with the other sections and therefore, may not provide a globally optimum result. In this paper, the overall design process is broken down into distinctive segments. A variety of proposed solutions for each segment is discussed. Considering the advantages and disadvantages of each approach, on the one hand, and consistency among different segments, on the other, a total solution providing the optimum results for the overall design is proposed. To demonstrate the viability of the proposed methodology, the implementation of a particular e-learning application involving hearing impaired subjects is discussed.

Virtual environment, virtual humans, e-learning