「インタラクション，98」 平成10年3月

Comic Chat：From Research To Product
DaYidKudander
MicrosoftCorporation
OneMicrosoftWay
Redrrmnd，WA98052USA
句k＠microso氏．com

textualtranSCriptoftheconversationthatcanbeperused

ABSTRACT

later．However，ifthegraphicalinteractionsareworth

Comic Chat began as a prqiect at Microsoft
Corporation

snewresearChlabs．Ourgoalwastobuild Performlng，theyshouldalsobeincludedinthehistory．

Comicchathasanaturalpanel−basedhistory，andthe

anewkindofchatprogram，thatautomaticallyenhanced
atextualchat conversation byadding graphics，uSlng
COnVentionsadqptedfromthecmicsdomain．AspeOPle

COmPleteinteractions cantX∋vied and saved at anytime．

typetextintoComicChat，COmicspanelsq）Pear．The
An0theradvantageOfthecomicsrqpresentationisthatit

PrOgramuSeS traditionalcomicsillustration rules todeterminewhichcharaCterSShouldappearineachpanel，
how to position them，and a default gesture andexpressionforthesecharacters．Italsocomputesword

Canbedynamicallyvaried．Thecharacters chosen fbr
eachpanel，the zoom factor，and theincorporation of
Otherpanelelementscanh：frequentlychanged，Creating
a dynamicvisualrqpresentation．In contrast，0ther

balloonoutlinesthatlodkhand−drawn，andlaysouttheseballoonsappropriatdyineachpanel．ComicChatalso
decideswhentobreakfromonepaneltothenext，andthezoomfactorforeachpanel．

graphical chat programs always show a staticrq）reSentation ofthe entire room，Or have a virtual

Camerafixedtotheuser．
Athird advantageOfComic Chatisthatmuch ofthe

People丘ndComicChatappealing，andithastx！COmea
COmmunicationsisautomated．Peopleneednotwander

SuCCeSSfulMicrosoftproduct．Ithasshippedmi11ionsof

throughathreedimensionalworld，lookingforothersto

COPleSand beenlocalizedinto24di餓汀entlanguages．talk to． They need not position their visual

Hぽe We describe many Of the researChissues
SurrOundingComicChat，andsomeofthelessons that
WelearnedturnlngtheresearChprototypeintoaproduct．

representation sothatallotherconversationalpartners
arewithintheir丘eldofview，andmakesurethatnobody

accidental1ywandersinbetween．ItisnotnecessarytO
explicitlychooseagestureorexpression−ComicChat
Chooses good defaults，by exarmnlngthe text ofthe
Comic Chat，Chat programs，autOmatedillustration，COnVerSation．
COmics，virtualworlds，uSerinterfaces，PrOductization．
Keyword＄】NTRODUCT］ON

Comicsalso work wellas arepresentationfor textual

Textualchat programS Originatedin the days befbre

Chatconversations，becausecomicswerecreatedinpartgraphicaldisplays，fastcomputers，andhigh−bandwidth to representinteractions amOng multiple charaCterS．

networks．Itis worth considering how such early
applicationscanbeenhancedusingtoday

stechnology．

The comicsform has anincredibly rich vocabulary，WhichweareevennowjustbeginnlngtOeXPloit．People
alsofindcomicsappealing，andtheye叫Oyreadingthe
PanelsproducedbyComicChat．

At Microsoftwe have developed a new kind ofchat
PrOgrambased on a comic strip representation．This
PrOgram，talled Comic Chat，autOmatically creates aMETHODOLOGY

visualrepresentationofconversation，uSlng teChniquesborrowedfrom profbssionalcomic artists．GraphicalItwasapparentVeryear1yinthepr句ectthatweneeded
toworkcloselywithaprofbssionalcomicartist，tOlearn

Chat programs are tx，COmlnglnCreaSlngly popular，in rules and heuristicsfor representing conversationsin

PartbecausepeoplecanChooseavisualrqpresentation

COmicsform．WecontactedJimWoodring，One6fth6

VerybestAmericancomicartists，andfbrtunatelyhewas
expression占in addition to typed to text．Habitatwi11ing to workwith us． We collected textualchat
for themsdves，and coⅡ皿unicate uslng geStureSand

PioneeredtheconceptofgraphicalchatprogramS【3］．

transcripts，annOtated themwithinformationthat we

believedacomputerwouldbeabletoextract，andasked
graphicalchats・Oneistheavailabilityofagl叩hical Jimtoproducecomicsoftheconversations．
Comic Chat has a number of advantages over otherhistot7・In other graphicalchatprograms thereisnoThe hand−drawn prototypes thatJim drew weregraphicalrepresentationoftheeventsthathaveoccurred．
InsomegraphicalchatprogramS，SuChasWorldsChat

WOnderfu1・Theywerevisuallyinteresting，andtheyhad

a richness that waslackingin the original text【5］orThePalace［4］，thetext appears on the screen transcrlptS．Twopanelsfromtheorlginalhand−drawn
briefly・Inothers，likeV−Chat［2】，thereisaseparatePrOtOtyPeS aPPearin Figurel．Our goal becameー1−FigⅦrel．Twopanels打omthe
Originalartist−drawnPrOtOtyPeS．

automatical1y representing conv訂Sationin a manner

rules created especial1y fbrthe chat domain・To

Similartotheseprototypes−butwestilldidnotknow

determinetheserules，Wereviewedalargenumber ofWhatprocesses went oninthecomic artist s mindin textualchattranscripts・ThereareSeVeralcategoriesof
Ordertoproducethesedrawings．Weneededto reverse rules：
englneer
theartist，enCaPSulatingsomeofhisskillsin

1．Emoticons：forexample：一）and：−（indicatehappy
andsad．

COmputerCde．
Inreviewingtheartist

s・prOtOtyPeS，Wedeterminedthat

2．Chat acronyTnS：SuCh as LOL（

thereweremanyelementsthatneededtobeautomated，
and these could be classifiedinto three categories：Loud ），IMHO（ InMyHumbleOpinion

Laughing out）・

3．Typesetting：allcapsindicatesshouting．
ChaTuCterT，balloons，and panels． The next three
SeCtionsbrieflydescribetheautomationthatComicChat
Perfbrmsin thesethree categories．A mbre complete

4．Ptnctuatiom：！！！indicatesshouting．
5．Greetings：The character wavesifthe user types
托 ， Ⅰ血1lo ， Goodbye ， Welcome ， Howdy ，descriptionappearSelsewhere［l］．

CHARACTERSetc. .

ChatroomscanCOntainmanymoremehbersthanCan
appearinanyOne COmics panel．So one ofthefirstdecisions that Comic Chat needs to make is which
Characterstoincludeinthepanelthatitiscomposlng．

6．Self．re鮎rences：When the user re飴rs to himself（ Ⅰatbeginningofsentence， Ⅰ ll ， Iwi11 ， Ⅰ m ，Iwould ，りⅠ d ，etC…）hischaracterpointstoitself1

7．Other．refbrences：When the user refers tohis
COnVerSationalpartner（ You atthebeginningofa
sentence， areyOu ， Willyou，i， didyou ，etC．．），his

ComicChatmakes suretoincludeineachpanelthosepeOPlethatare SPeaking．Italso attempts toinclude

theirconversationalpartners．Userscanindicatewhom
theyaretalkingtobyselectingfromalistofallpeoplein
the room，Or by clicking on the appropriate
COnVerSationaltargetinanearlierpanel．Conversation
Can be directed towards multiple people at once．
Everyonein the room seesthese panels，unlessthe

CharaCterPOintsatthepartner・

Iftheuserwouldliketooverridethesystemschoiceof

gestureandexpression，thiscanbedoneviathe
wheel．Theemotion wheelis simi1artoacolorⅥ血eel，

except diffbrent emotions appearSPaCedalong themessageis sent as awたi岬er，inwi1ich case onlytheperimeterofthecircleratherthandi餓汀enthues・Atthe

recipientseesthemessage．

center．ofthewheelistheneutralexpression，andasthe

NextComicChatneedstodeterminehowtoplacethesecursor moves from the center of the wheel to theCharactersinthepand．Itusesthefollowlngru1es：

Periphery，the emotion／gesture combination become

1．CharaCterSShouldfacetheirconvETSationalpartners．

more and more extreme． With a slngle mouse

movement，theuser？anSpeCifynotonlyanemotion，but
2．CharaCterS Should be positioned next「to rtheiranintensity． The emotion that users．choo畠e
COnVerSationalpartners．

accompaniesthenexttextmessagethattheysend，Or

theycanSendanexpressionwithoutaccompanylngteXt・

3．CharaCterSShouldnotmoveneedlessly．

TorenderthecharaQterS，ComicChattypicallyconibines
an appropriate facialexpressionwithanaPPrOPriate

4．WhenitisunknownwhichcharaCterSareSpeaking

toeachother，POSitionthemsothatitappearsthat
theyarehavingaconversationanyWay．

bodypose・Bycomposlngheadsandbodies，WeaChieve

amuchlargercombinationofrenderings，thanwecould
withsinglemonolithicheadIbodyposes．Wealsorenderfromthetext，butusersare丘eetooverridethisinferredeach charaCterwith a halo aroundit．This traditional
POSe by explicitly speci軸ngan0ther one．Toin飴r
COmicstechniquehelps to separatethe characterfrom
Gestures and expressionin Comic Chat areinferred

gesturesandexpressions，WeuSeSimpleword−SPOttingー2−thebackground，makingthepanelseasiertoread・BALLOONS

pands themselves・ Theseincludeincorporating

The second class of automated tasks in Comic Chatrelate to balloon construction and placement．Comic

additional semantic dements，Chooslng how muchcontentto缶tineachpanel，andchooslnganaPPrOPriate
Chat can generatefour di飴rent types of balloons：zoomfhctorforthevirtualcamera．
speechballoons，thoughtballoons，wi1isperballoons，andEverytimeanewutteranCeismade，ComicChattriesto

narration boxes． The user can SPeCifya type ofutterance，andtheappropriatetypeofballoonisaddedto

addittothelastpanel・ComicChatstartSbnewpanel
underanyofthefo1lowlngCOnditions：

血epanel・Di飽rentcomicartistsusedi脆rentballoohstyles．We

emulatedtheballoonstyleusedbyJimWoodring，Since
theballoonswraparOundtext，makingthemlodkmore

1．Theba1loonlayoutalgorithmis unabletofit theadditionalutteranceinthelastpanel．
2．Theresultingpanelwouldhavetoomanycharacters，and hence the charaCterS WOuld be rendered too
smal1fortheirexpressionsandgesturestobeclearlyvisible．ComicChatlimitsthenumberofcharactershand−drawn．ComicChatwrapsbeta−SPlinesaroundthe

outsideofthetextaccordingtoacomplexsetofru1esfbr

fo1lowlngthetextoutline・Balloontailscanbeeither
arcsorlines．Theresultisverynatural，anddoesnot perpanelto丘ve・appeartOmOStPeqPleascomputergeneratedatal1・
3．A甲eakerinthelastpanelspeaksagaln・Although
Balloons，1ikecharaCterS，muStbepositionedinpands・
Ba1loons tend to tx！readinanuP−down，1e氏−rightfashion（atleastintheWestem comicstradition），and

wedevdopedanalgorithmtoplaceballoonsinthisway，

there are comics conventions fbr representingmultipleutterancesfbrasinglelcharacterinapanel，ComicChatcannotdrawsuchpanelsyet・Ourinitialresearchimplementation of Comic ChatsuchthatthereadingorderiscαTeCt・Thisisdescribed
a1lowedlfortheautomaticcreationofsemanticelements
elsewhere［1】．Themethodis a greedyalgorithmfbr
inthepanels・Semanticelementsareadditionalscene
Placingtheballoonbodies，Whilesimultaneouslyke印1ng

elements that reflect the topic of the conversation.
Peopleinchatroomsoftenspeakaboutcommonthemes：

trackofchannelsinwhichtheballoontailscanberouted．

Aftertheballoonbodieshaveal1加治nPlacedinapanel，
theydiscusswheretheyarefrom，theytalkabouttheir
theballoontai1sareroutedtotheapprqpriatecharacters・
fhmilies，PetS，SPOrtS，andafewotherfavoredtqpics・
PANELS
When such a themeisidenti丘ed，the pand s

Fina11y，SeVeraldecisionsneedtobemaderelatingtothe

compositionisalteredin one ofseveralways・The

丁目EGANG sALL
HEREST∧RR‡NG◎

Ri⊂†orαSDQn

窃仙血細山恒叩†怒，R8bid−b0985仙抽￠囁chγrri亡びTiki

Figure2・Partofafantasyrole・PlayingchatIaSrenderedbyComicChat・−3−

backgroundcanChangetOreflectthetqpic，anadditional
SCeneelementcanbecompositedintothebackground，∝

Smal1setofavai1ablecharacters−frequentlymultiple
PeOPleinaroomhavethesameChoiceofcharacter．

a皿additional以Gredkchorus charactercanbeaddedto Whenimplementingtheprogram，We did notforesee
thatthecomicsrepresentation woulda晩ctthecontent

thescene，makinga qulPaboutthetopic．This飴aturehasnotyetbeenaddedtotheproductversion，inpartdue
tothedifRcultyofauthoringsemanticelements，andthe

OftheconⅥ汀Sations．However，itdccs．Peopletendto
blayact muchmoreincomics，andtheytendtotake
additimalartrequlrementS．However，WeeXPeCtthis

Onthepersonaofthecharacterthattheychoose．For

fbaturetobeincorporatedinafuturerelease．
OnelastfbrmOfComicChatautomationisthechoiceof

ecKamPle，Peqplechooslngtheq）aCe−aliencharaCterOftentalkaboutflカngsaucersandextraterrestrialvisitations．

a zこ00m 血ctor fbr thevirtual camera． Comic Chatalwayszoomsoutforaninitialestablishingshot．This

PeoplechooslngthecatcharaCterfrequendypretendto
beacat．

techniqueiscommonnotonlyincomics，butalsofilm

One of the most丘equently requested tbatures fbr

andvideo・Aftertheinitialestablishing shot，Comic

MicrosoftChatwastheabilityforpeopletodrawtheir
OwnCharacters，ratherthanbeinglimitedtoonefroma
COnV耶ational participantSincludedin eadh panel，bundledset．SorecentlywerdeasedaCharacterEditor
Chat zooms in as closely as possible on theSu句ectto somerestrictions．Comicartists considerit

badpracticetocropacharaCterattheneckorankles．
Instead，itisbetter tozoomoutalittlemoreforbetter
COmPOSition．Charactersand backgroundsare bothprogramenablingpeqpletocreatetheirownart・Future
VerSionsofMicrosoftChatwi11allowpeopletodistrib
theirownCuStOmarttOOthers．

a飴cted by thefield ofview ofthevirtualcamera．
However，balloonsare SPeCialobiects whose scaleis
COnStant，andindependentofthesizeofthecharacters

When weinitial1y released MicrosoftChat，We Werena‡veandthoughtthattheunlquevisualrq）reSentation
WOuldmakeallofouruserscompletelysatis丘edwiththe

PrOgram．In reality，Our uSerS Wanted the visual
representation，Plusallofthe飴aturesfoundin otherFigure2showspartOfa払ntasyrole−Pla再ng chat，aS Chatprograms．Theylikedthecomics，butalsowanted

andthebackground．

renderedbyComicChat．

theabilitytobein multiplechatroomswitha slngle

instanCe Ofthe application，tO Sendformatted text to
PRODUCTIZAT10N
Others，tO de丘nemacros，andmore．Asaresult，afterComicChatis．nowavailableunderthenameMicIVS（折Cゐat・Ithasbeenlocalizedto24languages（including releaslngthe丘rstversionoftheproduct，Wehadtofocus
JapaneSe），itrunsunderWindows 95andWindowsNT， much ofour e放）rtS On matChing competing prducts，
andis avai1al）1efree of charge viathe web from鎚ature丘）ー良ature．

http：〟www．microsoft．com／ie／chat．Microso氏Chatisthe PerhapsoneofourbiggestsurprlSeSWaShowgrati丘ed
OfBcialchatapplicationfortheMicroso氏Network．It We fdt after甲anypeOPlestarteduslng OurPrOduct，alsoshipswithInternetExplorer4，reCentVerSions ofSetting up uno組cial web−Sites dedicated toit，andWndows

95，andwi11beincludedwithWindows，98
monthlynewsletters aboutit．Having others use ourandWindowsNT5．0．Millionsofpeoplehaveal
installedtheapplication．

PrOduct andinteractingwiththesepeqE）1eisthe mostrewardinga甲eCtOfmytimeatMicrosoft．

LESSONS LEARNED
Oneofthemostimportantlessonsthatwelearnedisthat
itisvitalforothersto玩＝止1etotryouttheresultsof
userinterface researCh． 0therwiseitis hard toREFERENCES
l．Kurlander，D．，Skelly，T．，andSalesin，D．ComicChat∴打oceedingsofSIGGRAPH 96（NewOrleanS，
determinewhatworkswell，Wbatfhilstowork，andwhat
LA，August4−9）．InComputerGraphicsProceedings，needs additionalre丘nement．We encouragealluser
AnnualCon飴renceSeries，ACM，NewYork，1996．
interface researchers to make their results publicly
available，eith∝freeonthehtemet，Orinprductform．

225−236．

Peqple new to chat s既m tO enJOy the comics2．MicrosoftCorpαation．Microso魚IntroducesV−Chat
Communicationsfor MSN，TheMicroso氏Network．
representationthemost．Wehearoverandoveragaln
from people trying−teXトbased chat a銑er having used

Nov．30，1995．■MicrosoftPressRelease．Redmond，WA98052．

MicrosoftChat，thattheyreallypreferhavingthecomics

visuals・However，peqPlethathavebeen uslng teXt− 3．Morn1ngStar，C．andFarmer，F．R．TheLessonsof
Lucasfi1m s Habitat．In C＞berpace：F7rTt Stq，S．
based chatfor years have trouble moⅥng tO COmics−
Benedikt，M．ed．MITRess，Cambridge，MA．199l．
basedchat，andpreferthetextmodeofMicrosoftChat．
273−301．

Cmicsworkextremelywellin smal1chatroomswith
Onlyafewsimultaneousthreadsofconversations．When
PeOPletrytoviewroomswithlargenumtx：rSOfpeqPle

4．ThePalace，lnc．ThePalace．
http：〟www．thepalace．com．

（twenty to severalhundred），it becomes di臨cult to 5．Worlds，Inc．WorldsChat．
http：〟www・WOrlds．neuprduct／wchat

fo1lowtheconversationincomicsmode・Thisprdblem
isexacerbatedbyMicrosoftChatshipplngwithonlya−4−