Patent ID: 8199150

Claim:
A method for animating a display of a computer-modeled character, the method comprising: accepting one or more first signals from a content provider computer at a first location to allow a human user to specify an action for the computer-modeled character, wherein the action is specified by one or more commands in a control script, and wherein at least a portion of the commands are stored in a macro at the content provider computer, and further wherein the computer-modeled character is displayed at a second location remote from the first location; storing the macro at the second location; animating a display of the computer-modeled character according to one or more default character actions to achieve the command-specified action, wherein the default character actions are stored in a first rendering engine at the second location; accepting one or more second signals from the content provider computer to modify one or more of the default character actions; animating a display of the computer-modeled character at the second location according to the one or more modified default character actions; transmitting the macro to a third location remote from the first location and the second location; and animating a display of a second computer-modeled character according to one or more default character actions stored in a second rendering engine at the third location and based, at least in part, upon the macro.