In one implementation, a method comprises: obtaining an input from a client device indicating an entry transaction between an avatar and a portal of a modeled space; in response to obtaining the input from the client device indicating the entry transaction between the avatar and the portal of the modeled space, determining an identifier associated with the avatar; determining whether a custom destination has been defined for the portal based on the identifier for the avatar; causing the avatar to enter a default destination environment for the portal according to a determination that a custom destination has not been defined for the portal; and causing the avatar to enter a custom destination environment that is distinct from the default destination environment according to a determination that a custom destination has been defined for the portal.

A system and method of creating customized characters and selectively displaying them in an electronic display, such as an augmented reality or virtual reality display is provided. A digital character may be provided by a character provider for customization by others using the system. Such customizations may be instantiated in user devices that provide electronic displays. Instantiation of the custom digital character may be conditioned on one or more trigger conditions, which may be specified by the character customizer. For example, a digital character customized using the system may be conditioned on triggering events in the real-world or in a virtual world. When a relevant triggering condition is satisfied at a user device, the custom character (i.e., information for instantiating the custom character) may be transmitted to that user device. In this manner, the system may push custom characters to user devices that satisfy the triggering condition.

A method, computer-readable storage medium, and device for generating a character model. The method comprises: receiving an input image of a reference subject; processing the input image to generate a normalized image; identifying a set of features present in the normalized image, wherein each feature in the set of features corresponds to a portion of a head or body of the reference subject; for each feature in the set of features, processing at least a portion of the normalized image including the feature by a neural network model corresponding to the feature to generate a parameter vector corresponding to the feature; and combining the parameter vectors output by respective neural network models corresponding to respective features in the set of features to generate a parameterized character model corresponding to reference subject in the input image.

A three-dimensional (3D) haptic keyboard and palm rest experience system for an information handling system may comprise a display device displaying an avatar image located within a virtual 3D gaming environment generated by a gaming application, a processor determining an action involving the avatar image is being displayed, and a position of the action within the virtual 3D gaming environment, a keyboard controller identifying a haptic region of a keyboard and palm rest assembly having a location with respect to the user that correlates to the position of the action within the virtual 3D gaming environment, and the keyboard controller applying a change in voltage, via a printed circuit board assembly, across a piezoelectric actuator disposed beneath the haptic region to cause haptic movement in the haptic region correlated to the position of the action displayed within the virtual 3D gaming environment.

An apparatus for configuring an avatar responsive to a content having at least one of a video and an audio signal includes an authoring unit configured to detect one or more events in a content comprising at least one of a video and an audio signal, categorise one or more of the detected events, and generate an event track for the content, the event track comprising one or more of the categorised events associated with a respective time; a selecting unit configured to select a configuration of an avatar to correspond to a respective categorised event of the event track; and an output generator configured to generate control data to configure an avatar in response to a selected configuration.

Live camera video of video game players may be captured. Portions of the live video that include the player's faces may be inserted into the faces of characters that are controlled by the players and displayed in real-time. The players may stream video output from the video game to respective groups of spectators. The game video output may include a competition area and a competition audience that includes audience portions based on the groups of spectators that receive the game video output from the players. An audience member may be associated with a spectator, and the spectator's username, profile picture, chat messages and other spectator input may be displayed adjacent to the audience member. A queue of waiting players may be displayed simultaneously with current gameplay in the competition area, and a queued character may move to the competition area when an open competition slot becomes available.

Content controller system comprising rendering server system comprising a plurality of servers. The servers receiving a plurality of segment render requests that correspond respectively to segments included in a set of media content item segments. The servers render the segments corresponding to the segment render requests using a media content identification and a main user identification. Rendering the segments comprises retrieving metadata from a metadata database associated with the media content identification, rendering the segments using the metadata, generating a main user avatar based on the main user identification, and incorporating the main user avatar into the segments. The servers can upload the segments to a segment database and update segment states in a segment state database to indicate that the segments are available. Other embodiments are disclosed herein.

A gaming system accompanied by a video chat (a) a gaming server configured for performing a gaming session further comprising receiving actions, executing the gaming session and generating game results; and (b) a video chat server configured for establishing and maintaining a video chat between game players; and (c) at least two gaming end terminals usable by an individual game player; the game end terminal connectable to the gaming and video chat servers. The gaming end terminal configured for representing the video chat image, inputting and outputting game data; the user end terminal comprising: (i) a gaming thread further comprising a user interface; and (ii) video chat thread. The gaming thread comprises a library of graphical objects, the graphical objects correspond to game statuses of the game player associated with the game results generated by the gaming server and representable by the user interface.

A method executed by an information processing device includes setting a virtual space of which positional information is linked with that of a real space, setting a game event in the virtual space in association with a location in the virtual space corresponding to positional information of a predetermined facility in the real space, acquiring a prediction value of an electric power demand in a target area in the real space, and starting the game event based on the prediction value.

Choreographed avatar movement and control methods, systems and computer program products for the same, the method comprising associating M1 animation segments, for animating an avatar, to M1 corresponding animation cards in a first animation deck virtually implemented over a video game platform; associating M2 animation segments, for animating the avatar, to M2 corresponding animation cards in a second animation deck virtually implemented over the video game platform; and providing N animation decks for selection, the N animation decks comprising the first animation deck and the second animation deck. Transitioning between animation cards in one or more animation decks, wherein the transitioning results in rendering of one or more animation segments associated with selected animation cards as applied to the avatar, such that timing of the transitioning in synchronization with audio being played during the transitioning is a factor in determining a score for the avatar being animated.