SignAnimating By André Lemyre Montreal, Quebec, Canada andre-andre@hotmail.ca SignWriting Symposium 2014 I live in Quebec, Canada. I am a Bachelor of Social Work and in Computer Sciences. I worked as a counselor helping immigrants adjust to living in Canada, and now I work as a software tester in the medical field. I have a long standing interest for written and spoken languages covering: French, English, Spanish, Creole, classical Arabic, Braille, simplified Chinese writing system, Quebec Sign Language LSQ, Tactile Quebec Sign Language LSQT and French cued speech LPC. I previously developed an activity guide to teach SignWriting to children. I posted four manuals on the web at https://www.signwriting.org/symposium/presentation0020.html • SignAnimating 1-Techniques is a step-by-step instructions on how to produce SignAnimating video or GIF files. • SignAnimating 2-Design is a reflection on several possible layouts of SignAnimating and the advantages and limitations of each one. • SignAnimating 3-Symbols for suggested conventions on how SignWriting symbols may be converted to SignAnimating symbol sequences. • SignAnimating 4-SpeechAnimating is a reflection on how to animate SpeechWriting. 1-Techniques document SignAnimating is performed in 5 main steps: 1. Export official signs from SignPuddle. 2. Import the signs in SignWriter Studio. Create intermediary signs to animate. 3. Split the intermediary signs into several image files in Microsoft Paint. 4. Assemble the image files in one animation. There is a choice of several free software available for animation. 5. Verify the results in a web browser or in a PowerPoint presentation. All these steps can be performed with free software: SignPuddle, SignWriting Studio, movie maker, gif maker… File Naming Conventions: The project may require up to 10 images per second. With such amount, it is better to define in advance the file name convention and directory structure. Write it down in a Project-Summary file and save it in the main directory. This file containing a description of the project parameters eases there re-use of its images and animations. The naming convention must define also how the files and directories drafts will be identified. Create in advance the directory structure; this will avoid having to sort huge amounts of files and drafts. Try a rapid prototype. The first step is to develop rapidly a few sample frames and insert them in their context to verify the feasibility of the project. They must contain most features that will be present in the final project. The frame size is based on the combined symbol sizes. A large frame will lose readability if it is minimized in a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation or on a web page. The subtitles and the fingers may become too small or lack resolution. Pale colors may fade in the background. Videos made with Windows Live Movie Maker require high resolution images instead of gif files. Storyboard help keeping an overview of the message. Get a written copy of the complete text to animate. The text must be final and produced with a SignWriting software. A single sign modification may require realigning the whole animation if it is larger than the other signs. Ensure the text is error free and well understood by the animator. A glosses transcription is required to name the image files and ease the reuse of signs animation. Create a storyboard table with one gloss per column on the first line and each sign in the second line. In the third line, prepare a draft on how the animation will be performed. This table can be handwritten. This storyboard will be used to ensure the harmony of the animation: frame size, face and expressions, similar number of frame for each sign. Faster and slower or repeated signs will have a different amount of frames. SpeechWriting may be used in animation. Several base frames are required for mouth configuration. The amount of visible syllables combined with the amount of hand configuration or displacement determines the minimal number of frames required. It is preferable to use a dedicated local workspace on a personal computer to create entries that contain decomposed signs in sub-sequences of movements. This avoids cluttering SignPuddle online database and personal local databases. SignWriting steps are as follow: 1. Select and export the SignPuddle official dictionary or a subset in a file. 2. Import a dictionary in SignWriter Studio. 3. Select an existing sign. 4. Create a copy of the sign or create a new sign. 5. Edit the sign by selecting symbols to duplicate or to reposition. 6. If necessary, add a face. It defines where the hands will be located. 7. Zoom-in or zoom-out the hand shapes to represent depth. 8. Remove most movement symbols. The frame preparation steps are: 1. Launch 2 instances of Microsoft Paint. 2. One will be used as a source of symbols for the whole sign and the other will contain the frame currently edited. 3. Enable the display of the grid. 4. Resize the Microsoft Paint display so each sign of the animation will fit. 5. I suggest: 6 cm by 4 cm. This represents 4 ½ head diameters by 6 ½ head diameters. 6. Save the file in .gif format. 7. Copy an image of SignWriter Studio symbols. 8. Paste the symbols’ image in Paint. 9. Paste with transparency the required symbols of the sign. 10. Always keep the head at the same location, otherwise it will move during the animation. 11. Create several copies of the file with the same name and a counter. 12. Edit each file to represent the movement. The animation steps are: 1. Load the files in a gif animator. 2. Warning, only 15 images can be included in each animation with this editor, other accept 30 images or more. 3. Select the duration of each image. 4. Choose to Edit the images. 5. Apply the background transparency if desired. 6. Save the file on the computer. 7. Open the file with an internet browser to verify that the intended result is obtained. 8. Insert the animation in Microsoft PowerPoint with a colored background to verify its transparency. 2-Design document suggests several alternative designs on how best to represent signs with SignWriting animation. It discusses the advantages and limitations of animations over static SignWriting. Animated gif images may be used on web pages, pop-up windows, buttons, e-mails, PowerPoint documents… SignWriting is more abstract and concise; it uses Movement symbols and leave out unnecessary details. In SignAnimating only a fraction of the SignWriting text is displayed at a given moment with a smaller surface. The animation tends to contain facial expressions and shoulder line that are not required in SignWriting. SignWriting videos can be used for long texts. SignAnimating focuses on hand shapes and facial expressions. The animated symbols follow the same rules as SignWriting. A good animation should be complete enough to allow reverting to SignWriting without ambiguity. SignAnimating is like a form of subtitling; it remains based on SignWriting rules. Most movement and speed symbols are replaced by displacement of symbols during the animation. SignAnimating, like SignWriting, is written from the Expressive view point. It is the view point of the signing person seeing her/his own hands. SignAnimating follows all SignWriting rules except for one: symbols change of size depending of their proximity to the body. The hand shapes are the same. Hand shapes may be written with a slant such that fingers point downward. It looks more natural. Contact symbols cannot be animated. It is suggested to always keep them in at least one frame when the contact occurs. Contact symbols may be confined always at the top left corner of the animation. It corresponds to the non-dominant hand side. This corner is less used for hand shapes. This provides uniformity through the animation. Almost all finger movement symbols can be animated. They do not need to be represented during an animation. Finger rotation symbols may need to be displayed if the finger motion is too subtle to be represented in the animation. Do not invent symbols! My last document is on animation of SpeechWriting. The SpeechWriting system was invented by Stefan Wöhrmann. He integrated it in animations. Mundbildschrift (exact translation: Mouth Picture Writing) It is a standardized writing system for picturing the sounds of human spoken language (speech). Compared to the International Phonetic Alphabet, Mundbildschrift is not as detailed and complete but easy to read and sufficient enough to support even young deaf students in their articulation process to develop better spoken language skills. It is used like a spelling system for writing complete words in mouth pictures, and can be applied to any spoken language. Mundbilder (writing what is seen, when Lip Reading) It is a standardized writing system for picturing the way the lips look when a person speaks words. These symbols do not represent sounds but can be associated with spoken words, that are seen on the lips when “Lip Reading”. Several free online phonetic translator can be used before conversion to SpeechWriting. Cued speech can be animated if it is combined with Wöhrmann’s SpeechWriting system. Cued speech was invented by the Dr. Orin Cornett in the United States in 1966. Speech has many phonemes that look the same by lip reading. Several phonemes are not visible by lip reading. Cued speech combines the visemes information with hand configurations and position. This allows distinguishing each phoneme. It is a syllabic system where: Oral syllables are displayed by the movement of the lips and the tongue, The oral consonants are distinguished by hand configuration, The oral vowels are distinguished by the hand positions relatively to the face. Cued speech differs from sign language. It is not a language. With this series of 4 SignAnimating documents, we demonstrated that SignWriting symbol set is complete and sufficient. It can be used for accurate animations of sign languages and spoken visemes when combined with SpeechWriting. Just like radio, television, books and handwriting are different forms of communication; SignWriting, SignAnimating, subtitles, avatars and videos are different ways to communicate with Deaf people. Each of these media has its benefit and cannot be fully replaced by the others.