Development of a hybrid teleconference application with personalized avatars

• Main Author: Ng, Zheng Hao
• Other Authors: Cai Yiyu
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2021
• Subjects: Engineering::Computer science and engineering::Software; Engineering::Mechanical engineering
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/150561
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Driven by the improvements in telecommunication technology and the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, the popularity of online teleconferencing platforms has been soaring in the past year. This global shift in mode of communication creates opportunities for novel interaction methods such as hybrid teleconferencing. Hybrid teleconferencing bridges the interaction experience between on-site and remote users as it enables mutual interaction between all parties. This paper aims to develop a hybrid teleconferencing application with photorealistic virtual avatars named Hybrid Teleconference and Classroom (HYTAC). Users are able to either control these photorealistic virtual avatars or communicate separately through video calls. An interactive classroom scenario and a hybrid meeting room scenario are designed for the application. Various coding architectures and external software are also integrated into the application. The application is then put through multiple rounds of small-scale tests and refinement in order to develop a working prototype. The positive feedback from the testing shows promise for the initial prototype of the application. Potential improvements for the application in the near future are subsequently discussed.