A picture is worth a thousand words, the saying goes. Meet The Duy Bui, a Vietnamese second year PhD student from the department of Computer Science, who is working on emotional virtual characters with facial expressions.
He explains, 'Facial expressions are of immense value in face-to-face communication. Disciplines as varied as psychology, criminology and computer graphics have an active interest in facial expressions. Human-computer interaction can be enhanced by computer facial animation when facial expressions can be made more realistic. When you visit a website now you see text or a picture. Would it not be more fun to have a character talking back to you with all the human expressions?'
'Six emotions viz. sadness, happiness, anger, fear, disgust and surprise are said to be universal in the sense that they are associated consistently with the same facial expressions across different cultures. Representations of the emotional state of an animated agent can be mapped onto muscle contraction values for the appropriate facial expressions. An important aspect of it is the continuous changes in the intensity of emotions which can be displayed smoothly on the graphical face.' This research could be applied to a wide spectrum of fields from education to e-commerce.
Duy completed his schooling in Hanoi and thereafter went to Australia on a scholarship to pursue graduate studies at the University of Wollongong. So how did Netherlands get to be his next destination? He answers, 'After my graduation, I searched the Internet for positions in Computer Science and came across the UT. I was impressed with what I read and decided to apply.'
The Duy finds more similarities than differences between Australia and Netherlands especially when it comes to people. 'In both countries they are quite warm and friendly', he adds, 'but of course the same cannot be said of the weather'.
In his leisure time, The Duy likes to play soccer and computer games and travelling with his wife who will be begin her Master's study at the UT shortly.
The Duy is looking forward to moving back to Vietnam after completing his PhD. 'I may work in a university or the industry. I have really not decided.'
Deepa Talasila
Hometown: Hanoi, Vietnam
Languages known: Vietnamese, English
Favourite food: Loempia
Favourite music: any soft music
Favourite movie: Rat Race
Best part of living in NL: the group I work in
Worst part of living in NL: has to be the weather
Duy Bui
