Here we will present research work performed in the framework of the DICTA-SIGN project, closely related to Sign Language Synthesis and Animation and especially intended to cover for the need of creating lexical resources and evaluating them when performed by a signing avatar. Along these lines, a tool has been created to automatically generate SiGML transcriptions of any given HamNoSys string, as well as the relevant transcription file, by providing the HamNoSys characters of a sign. Users are allowed to create a phrase of up to 4 sign units, by introducing the corresponding HamNoSys notations in a sequence of appropriate fields. The related xml script is then automatically created, allowing also for on demand storage on the server. The here reported tool is web based, accessible by everyone, and allows users to interact with it without any special installations on the client side. Users may register, but this is not mandatory for use of the tool. Registered members can save their created scripts on the server in contrary to the non registered ones. Online and offline manuals are available to the users as well as a FAQ facility. As regards further tool functionalities, users are also enabled to see the HamNoSys notation of a sign chosen from a validated list of lemmas or by entering the raw xml script in the proper field. Users are able to switch between SiGML data and HamNoSys notations on an instant by just selecting the wished function. This way, it is possible to test/ see the results of creation of a lexical item, either by consulting the HamNoSys sequence, for those familiar with the HamNoSys syntax, or by animating the results through the avatar with the use of the SiGML script. Users can create HamNoSys sequences by choosing the proper selection on the menu. This is a new feature, enhancing the tool's functionalities, added -upon completion of an evaluation phase- to allow users to create HamNoSys strings on line and then proceed with automatic creation of the corresponding SiGML scripts. Furthermore, along with the HamNoSys manual characters, users may add non manual characters to the creation of the SiGML script. If needed, users may add more than one movement of a particular body part, i.e. head or shoulders, to make animation look closer to natural signing. The final step is creation of the script. The user is then able to copy and paste the script to the avatar page to visualise the results of the created sequence, the latter been performed by the avatar. Registered users are able to maintain/modify the data created by them. The tool is based on open source internet technologies for easy access and compatibility. Technologies that have been used are mostly "php" and "java script".
@inproceedings{goulas:10008:sign-lang:lrec,
author = {Goulas, Theodoros and Fotinea, Stavroula-Evita and Efthimiou, Eleni and Pissaris, Michalis},
title = {{SiS-Builder}: A Sign Synthesis Support Tool},
pages = {102--105},
editor = {Dreuw, Philippe and Efthimiou, Eleni and Hanke, Thomas and Johnston, Trevor and Mart{\'i}nez Ruiz, Gregorio and Schembri, Adam},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the {LREC2010} 4th Workshop on the Representation and Processing of Sign Languages: Corpora and Sign Language Technologies},
maintitle = {7th International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation ({LREC} 2010)},
publisher = {{European Language Resources Association (ELRA)}},
address = {Valletta, Malta},
day = {22--23},
month = may,
year = {2010},
language = {english},
url = {https://www.sign-lang.uni-hamburg.de/lrec/pub/10008.pdf}
}
| Fotinea, Stavroula-Evita