Patent Document ID: 8830243
Application ID: 12446861

Base Claim:
1. A computer-implemented method for allowing a user to generate a storyboard including a character graphically depicting a particular facial expression of emotion and/or an emotion expressing pose to be portrayed by an actor, comprising: providing a user interface; providing an emotional facial expression producing unit and associated first database containing data defining a plurality of different basic facial emotion-expressing characters each having a combination of basic facial features which in the aggregate express a different basic emotion; providing an emotional facial expression producing unit and associated second database containing data defining a plurality of different basic emotion-expressing character poses each having a particular configuration of body part dispositions, the combination of which defines a different emotional expression; providing a preview screen viewable by the user; providing a first menu for enabling the user to select from said first database, via inputs to said interface, and to display on said preview screen a character having facial characteristics expressing a desired basic facial emotion; providing a second menu for enabling the user to select a particular manipulation of one or more of the facial characteristics of the selected and displayed character to produce a manipulated facial emotion-expressing character having a desired different facial emotion; providing another menu for enabling the user to select, via inputs to said interface, a basic emotion-expressing character pose for the displayed character, or to select adjustments to be made to particular character body part dispositions of the displayed character, and to manipulate the pose characteristics thereof to produce a desired different emotion-expressing posed character; providing a storage unit for storing data corresponding to the selected and displayed character or manipulated character; and using a processor of the computer to generate storyboard data including the stored character or manipulated character.

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Claim 4:
4. The computer-implemented method of claim 1 , further comprising: converting the storyboard data into one or more file formats; and storing the converted file.