Virtual Shapers & Movers: Form and Motion affect Sex Perception

Abstract

An experiment to determine factors that influence the perceived sex of virtual characters was conducted. Four different model types were used: highly realistic male and female models, an androgynous character, and a point light walker. Three different types of motion were applied to all models: motion captured male and female walks, and neutral synthetic walks. We found that both form and motion influence sex perception for these characters: for neutral synthetic motions, form determines perceived sex, whereas natural motion affects the perceived sex of both androgynous and realistic forms. These results have implications on variety and realism when simulating large crowds of virtual characters.