iPhoneFreak recently reviewed Sign4Me, our latest Sign Language learning and reference tool, giving it a score of 4.5 out of 5. Read the full review here.
For more information on Sign4Me, please visit the iTunes App Store page.
ORLANDO, FL., April 30, 2009 — Vcom3D’s successful line of sign language software, Sign Smith, has gone mobile. “Sign 4 Me” combines our patented SigningAvatar® 3D Technology with our knowledge of sign language. Developed by our sign language team, which is comprised of 8 Deaf professionals, Sign 4 Me gives the user what they need to learn as little or as much sign language as they want!
Sign 4 Me provides sign language instruction in 3D! Our 3D character can be zoomed in or out and rotated to give you the best vantage point for every sign. You control the placement of the character and the speed of signing. Zoom in closely to see the hands and how they are shaped.
The sign language library contains more than 11,400 words. As you type in sentences, phrases, and words, they are saved in your History. This allows you to look up previous content you have entered and keeps you from having to retype again and again. Go back to find your content either by date or alphabetically. You also have the option to loop the signing over and over so you can practice or just see it one time for reference!
Sign 4 Me is currently priced at $9.99 for someone who is interested in learning sign language. It is the ultimate tool for learning because the features let you view how and how often you want.
“Combining the innovative technology behind the iPhone and iPod Touch with Vcom3D’s award winning language and culture products provides everyone the opportunity to learn and practice, anytime, anywhere,” said Vcom3D CEO Carol Wideman. “Vcom3D has had much success with the Deaf community because of our continued research into how to help them learn as children and become successful working adults when they transition from college to the working world. Providing an easy way for more people to learn sign language only strengthens our sense of community spirit and acceptance.”
Vcom3D’s Sign Smith Studio sign language authoring tool was used to create the videos in this app. Look for more sign language apps from Vcom3D soon. We welcome feedback (customerservice@vcom3d.com) regarding mobile apps that our customers would find most useful.
Founded in 1997, Orlando-based Vcom3D, Inc. is revolutionizing education, accessibility, training and communication. The company has established itself as a leader in providing improved learning outcomes that include its multi-lingual, culturally-appropriate, life like characters. Learning is delivered on desktop and mobile devices. For more information, please visit www.Vcom3D.com.
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Cindy Barson
Sign Smith Product Manager
Vcom3D, Inc.
3452 Lake Lynda Drive, Suite 260
Orlando, FL 32817
Office: 407.737.8488 x121
Fax: 407.737.6821
Website: www.Vcom3D.com
Email: CindyB@Vcom3D.com
Click here to read the news release. (PDF)
Click here to visit Sign Smith ASL on the Apple App Store. (iTunes Required)
Vcom3D and TERC have completed the Signing Science Dictionary product and it is now available for purchase on the Vcom3D web store. The Signing Science Dictionary is the first illustrated, interactive 3D sign language science dictionary. It was designed for students who are Deaf/Hard-of-Hearing and use American Sign Language or Signed English in the classroom. It is also intended to serve as a resource for teachers and parents.
TERC, in collaboration with Vcom3D, used SigningAvatar® accessibility software to animate 1,300 science terms and definitions. The SSD supports access to standards-based science content among elementary and middle school students.
This work was funded in part by grants from NEC Foundation of America, the National Science Foundation, and the U.S. Department of Education.
Go here if you are interested in adding this to your classroom collection.
“The Forest” by Jason Stewart
Vcom3D and the Laurent Clerc National Deaf Education Center of Gallaudet University are researching and developing a proof-of-concept system for creating and delivering animated stories using the full range of facial expression and body language of American Sign Language, as well as manual signs. Results from this Phase I proof-of-concept will provide the basis for developing an Authoring System and run-time software for creating these animated stories.
For this research, we will evaluate how the use of newly developed “Lifelike Expressive Avatars” affects the reading comprehension of Deaf and Hard of Hearing students. The evaluation tool includes the following story, titled “The Forest”, which was written by Jason Stewart, teacher at Kendall Demonstration Elementary School.
Source: NCTI
An Intersection of Passion and Technology
Jason Hurdich represents a hopeful statistical anomaly, a person born Deaf who is not only employed, but impressively serving as the Lead Manager for the Sign Language Division and Chief Linguist at Vcom3D. Through their work, Jason and Vcom3D hope to make it easier for others to follow his lead.
We hope our programs will lessen very high unemployment rates and very low literacy rates for the Deaf and tear down the barriers so that people with disabilities will have more success.
Vcom3D produces a suite of products for Deaf and hard-of-hearing consumers as well as learners of foreign languages. Digital animation is at the heart of the company’s concepts for learning by using animated avatars that sign fluidly. In Sign Smith Studio, ASL Animations Volumes 1-4, and Sign Smith Illustrated Dictionary, the characters, including a lizard designed to engage young children, can be manipulated for distance and position in virtual space allowing users to learn to recognize signs from various natural positions as in reality. Words or blocks of text are transliterated for students who are Deaf so that they build lexicon and conceptual knowledge. Gesture Builder allows users without programming experience to create custom or locally relevant gestures and map them onto avatars.
Focusing on these products for learners who are Deaf, Jason explains,
Teachers use the program to relate English words and their ASL (American Sign Language) correlations. The program distinguishes a best match using a filter, and there are drop down lists that can help. It’s very helpful to the Deaf in improving reading comprehension.
He explains that when Deaf individuals encounter words that cause confusion and frustration it is extremely beneficial to be able immediately to have the word and concept translated into familiar and recognizable ASL, even as the program helps to develop more sophisticated abilities in sign recognition itself.
Unique Aspects Of The Company
Vcom3D, according to Jason, is the leading company in a very small field generating applications expressly to help the Deaf and hard-of-hearing learn, and has taken on the challenge of mediating between languages with fundamentally different vernacular and grammatical structures, a complex technical process. Jason indicates that he can even envision a time at which systems will be able to mediate between English speech recognition input and animated ASL output at some point in the future: “We’re studying how to do that right now!” Grants from the National Science Foundation and Department of Education are substantially fueling development of various projects.
On Design
A core design concept for Vcom3D involves creating virtual learning environments that are as lifelike as possible.
As a linguist, I have discussions with the software team about the sign clarity and comprehension—it’s a complicated program based on having it able to sign fluidly.
Sophisticated algorithms with patents pending have been developed to permit a level of sharpness and fidelity in movement to allow tiny animated digits to be seen clearly on-screen. The application of compression permits Vcom3D products to use very little bandwidth, a design feature intended to support educational environments.
Collaboration
The desire to create products that involve substantial realism and accuracy forms the basis of a partnership with Gallaudet University, the flagship university for persons who are Deaf. In the collaboration, nuance in sign language behavior is studied for transfer into digital environments. This includes incorporating features of the sign styles and even minor behaviors—such as how different users of ASL tilt and lean their bodies—into separate avatars, allowing learners to be exposed to and prepared for natural variations. This extends even to the study of gender differences.
We are studying the sign styles of men versus women, how much the wrist is involved, what is feminine and masculine.
The collaboration is also assisting the company in helping to compensate for imbalances it recognizes in distance learning opportunities for persons with hearing loss even as it promotes a view of persons who are Deaf participating naturalistically in daily activities. Jason indicates the company is involved in developing a PDA-based application, and says,
Right now we’re having our current avatars behaving like normal human beings, moving around in 3-D environments—like walking around a basketball court—using their eye expressions and mouth movement. The Deaf can take that home for mobile applications. It’s for Deaf people who are having frustration doing long distance learning at home—like having a mobile instructor.
He hopes this will also meet another critical need: having children who are Deaf and their hearing families “learn sign together simultaneously.”
Knowing Users And User Requirements
Jason extends the concept of collaboration into connections with the marketplace and highlights the company’s responsiveness:
Collaboration is just very important. Without it, you wouldn’t know what the market needs, what people want. For example, people use to say the old avatar was too stiff in its animation. We’ve gotten a lot of feedback and the marketplace has caused adjustments to our facial expressions, our gestures, our animation. We work on making everything more fluid.
Vcom3D targets surveys to mainstream programs and schools for the Deaf in markets of all different sizes to help gather information. It partners with a third-party company, TERC, to administer testing that shows the effect of the software products through testing. Jason reports that substantial gains in reading have been obtained. (See the case study and final report from the NCTI-sponsored Technology in the Works research awarded to TERC in 2005.)
Changing Perspectives
Jason has seen some initial skepticism in the Deaf Community about technological supports simply because there are so few examples to see. Still, he indicates that persons who are Deaf have been very receptive to the concept of digital avatars presenting learning through animated sign language due in part to quality they see in the company’s animation. Even more importantly, the community is strongly motivated to see products help overcome substantial barriers and become integrated into strongly needed improvements in educational strategy. Vcom3D products also incorporate math and science vocabulary.
Etceteras
Jason emphasizes that the design of the company’s products supports
An independent learning style. Users don’t depend on a teacher so much or their parents—they can work free from that. It’s independent life learning. It’s empowering for the Deaf and hard-of-hearing.
Source: NCTI
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Cindy Barson
Vcom3D, Inc.
P 407.737.8488 x121
E cindyb@vcom3d.com
VCOM3D INTRODUCES SIGN SMITHTM STUDIO VERSION 3.0
Orlando, FL, June 29, 2007 — Vcom3D, Inc. brought Sign Smith Studio to the world of educators, researchers, and developers in late 2002. Studio is the world’s first system for creating animated sign language. In the summer of 2007, we take it one step further. Sign Smith Studio Version 3.0 will have the best of everything. The user interface is crisp and intuitive. The behavior controls provide the user with a simplified approach to adding facial expressions, gaze, mouthing or lip-synching and adding in co-signs. The pièce de résistance is the new export to video feature.
Sign Smith Studio Version 3.0 will give the user a process to export to QuickTime movie, Windows Media Player video, or AVI in just a few clicks. From here, the possibilities are endless – making Vcom3D true to its promise to “Author Once; Use Everywhere”.
The Sign SmithTM Studio authoring tool was designed to provide educators, instructional system designers, and anyone who creates content the tools to bring the magic of 3D characters that communicate through sign language to the PC. No previous animation or programming experience is required. Signed English translations are automatically generated. Authors who are fluent in American Sign Language (ASL) can create content that incorporates the signs, facial expressions, mouthing and eye gaze that are integral to communicating in ASL. The SigningAvatar® animated characters communicate your multimedia in sign language.
“Sign Smith Studio is very beneficial in the educational environment for creating curriculum-based signed text, developing transliterating skills, providing greater access for families to ASL and increasing comprehension of English print,” says Julie Longson, Instructional Technology Specialist at Gallaudet University. “I believe this is opening more doors to accessible digital communication for deaf people.”
“Research has determined that the average Deaf or Hard of Hearing high school student reads at a fourth grade level. For these learners, it is critical to provide sign language access to education, training materials, and the Web. Our Sign SmithTM products fulfill that need with engaging animated 3D characters who communicate using sign language. It is our focus to offer tools to help equalize education, training and employment opportunities for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing,” says Carol Wideman, President and CEO of Vcom3D, Inc.
About Vcom3D, Inc.
Vcom3D, a software tools and technology company based in Orlando, Florida, develops award-winning Sign SmithTM products that utilize engaging animated 3D characters who communicate through American Sign Language (ASL) or Signed English (SE), and deliver rich, full access to Deaf and Hard of Hearing users. Vcom3D’s Sign SmithTM Studio authoring tool assists developers of educational resources, training courses and Internet websites in making their content accessible to Deaf learners. The company also provides Vcommunicator authoring tools and run-time software with characters that communicate through lip-synched speech, body language and action. These characters act as online virtual mentors and in role-playing simulations that improve learning outcomes.
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Orlando, FL, November 1, 2006 – Vcom3D, Inc. proudly announces the addition of volumes 3 and 4 in its library of sign animations.