A Visual Language for Animated Simulation

Vladimir O. Di Iorio (Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Brazil)

Débora P. Coura (Centro Universitário do Leste de Minas Gerais, Brazil)

Leonardo V.S. Reis (Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Brazil)

Marcelo Oikawa (Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Brazil)

Carlos R.M. Junior (Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Brazil)

Abstract: This paper presents a visual language for producing animated simulations. The language is implemented on a tool called Tabajara Animator, using principles of Programming By Demonstration (PBD), which is a technique for teaching the computer new behaviour by demonstrating actions on concrete examples. The language is based on a formal model for concurrent update of agents, which represent the animated characters. The visual rules follow the "before-after" style, adopted by the most important similar tools. New features discussed by this work may produce a significant reduction on the number of required rules for producing animated simulations. This paper shows how these new features are implemented on a visual user-friendly interface, and how they are translated into structures of the formal model adopted.

Keywords: programming by demonstration, visual programming

Categories: D.1.7