H. Meng
We have developed Crystal, a text-to-audiovisual-speech synthesizer that can automatically generate a cartoontalking head based on textual input. This avatar can speak in Cantonese or Putonghua. We are working on improving the naturalness of the avatar, both in terms of its spoken expressions, as well as facial expressions and articulatory gestures. This exciting project has many applications, e.g. electronic books, reading aids for the visually impaired, language learning, etc. Please see www.se.cuhk.edu.hk/crystal