Abstract: Apparatuses, methods and storage medium associated with animating and rendering an avatar are disclosed herein. In embodiments, the apparatus may include a gesture tracker and an animation engine. The gesture tracker may be configured to detect and track a user gesture that corresponds to a canned facial expression, the user gesture including a duration component corresponding to a duration the canned facial expression is to be animated. Further, the gesture tracker may be configured to respond to a detection and tracking of the user gesture, and output one or more animation messages that describe the detected/tracked user gesture or identify the canned facial expression, and the duration. The animation engine may be configured to receive the one or more animation messages, and drive an avatar model, in accordance with the one or more animation messages, to animate the avatar with animation of the canned facial expressions for the duration. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

Abstract: Apparatuses, methods and storage medium associated with animating and rendering an avatar are disclosed herein. In embodiments, the apparatus may include a gesture tracker and an animation engine. The gesture tracker may be configured to detect and track a user gesture that corresponds to a canned facial expression, the user gesture including a duration component corresponding to a duration the canned facial expression is to be animated. Further, the gesture tracker may be configured to respond to a detection and tracking of the user gesture, and output one or more animation messages that describe the detected/tracked user gesture or identify the canned facial expression, and the duration. The animation engine may be configured to receive the one or more animation messages, and drive an avatar model, in accordance with the one or more animation messages, to animate the avatar with animation of the canned facial expressions for the duration. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.