2008-07-19 WARNING
This release is more than usually preliminary, that is,
incompletely tested and configured.
This purpose of this release is to simplify HTML applet usage by means of the JNLP Applet Launcher. There is a change list which summarises the changes this involves.
JASigning is a software system for scripted performance of sign language animations by a virtual human, or avatar. The scripting language used to define these animations is SiGML (Signing Gesture Markup Language).
SiGML is an XML application language, derived from HamNoSys, the sign language notation system developed at the University of Hamburg.
JASigning is based on work undertaken at UEA in conjunction with our partners in the ViSiCAST and eSIGN projects. It is an alternative to the Avatar Plugin software released at the end of the eSIGN project. One important difference is that JASigning runs on Mac OS X as well as Windows.
JASigning is a combination of
Java software with supporting native libraries.
So, to run JASigning a computer system must have the
Java runtime
software, version 5 or later, installed on it.
(Java is pre-installed on all Mac OS X systems, and on many Windows systems.)
The standard method of accessing a JASigning application or applet is via Java Web Start using JNLP, the Java Network Launch Protocol. For example:
SiGML URL Player
An application
providing avatars that can perform a sign language sequence
given a URL link to its SiGML definition.
SiGML Service Player
An application whose avatars perform SiGML sign language sequences
delivered via a TCP/IP connection.
SiGML Client
An application that acts as a client for the SiGML Service Player: it allows
SiGML files to be loaded, edited, and transimitted to a local or remote
instance of the Service Player.
Instead of accessing a JASigning application via Java Web Start, it is possible to use a conventional Web browser to access a JASigning applet in an HTML page.
By using the experimental JNLP Applet Launcher, this version of JASigning allows signing applets to be used in a Web browser without any prior installation of the native libraries that JASigning uses.
Note that the first time a JASigning applet is started, there will be a considerable delay while the supporting software libraries are downloaded and cached loacally.
Note also that before a JASigning applet can be run the computer system's Java Applet Runtime parameters may need to be updated to specify settings such as memory requirements and Java graphics switches on Windows.
These are the currently available JASigning HTML applet examples.
JASigning is a collection of software libraries which support virtual human signing applications, together with a few demonstrator applications and applets.
So the JASigning libraries can be used to develop new applications and applets as alternatives to the demonstrators provided. To support this there is some rudimentary JASigning developer's documentation.