Tune expressiveness

Make a Convai character's body language read as subtle or theatrical using the expressiveness preset, a runtime override, and per-behavior gains.

Set how big, how frequent, and how rich a character's body language reads by choosing an ExpressivenessPreset on its ConvaiBodyLanguageProfile, or by overriding the dial at runtime through ConvaiBodyLanguageController.Expressiveness. Use this page when the shipped Natural tuning reads as too flat for a theatrical performer or too busy for a calm, understated character.

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Prerequisites

• A character with ConvaiBodyLanguageController added — see Body language quick start.
• A ConvaiBodyLanguageProfile assigned to the component, if you want to author the preset on the asset rather than only override it at runtime. Create one via Assets > Create > Convai > Embodiment > Body Language Profile.

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Choose an expressiveness preset

ExpressivenessPreset is the single dial on the profile's Expressiveness section. Every other amplitude, cadence, and optional-behavior toggle in the profile is scaled by whichever value you set here:

Preset	Resolved value	Reads as
Subtle	0.25	Minimal, understated motion — small amplitudes, slower cadences, and the optional behaviors mostly absent.
Natural (shipped default)	0.5	Clearly visible at a normal 2-meter conversational camera distance, without reading as performative.
Expressive	0.75	Larger, more frequent, more varied motion — an animated, lively character.
Theatrical	1.0	Maximum amplitude, frequency, and richness — a broad, theatrical performer.
Custom	The profile's own Custom Expressiveness field, 0–1	Full author control over the exact resolved value instead of one of the four fixed anchors.

Set Expressiveness Preset in the profile Inspector's Expressiveness section. Select Custom and set Custom Expressiveness when none of the four fixed anchors is exactly right.

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Override expressiveness at runtime

Set ConvaiBodyLanguageController.Expressiveness from a script to change a character's expressiveness without swapping its profile — useful for a character that should read as calmer under stress or livelier when excited:

using UnityEngine;
using Convai.Modules.BodyLanguage.Components;

public class SetCharacterExpressiveness : MonoBehaviour
{
    [SerializeField] private ConvaiBodyLanguageController bodyLanguage;

    private void Start()
    {
        bodyLanguage = GetComponent<ConvaiBodyLanguageController>();
        bodyLanguage.Expressiveness = 0.75f;
    }
}

Expressiveness is a 0..1 float. Setting it wins over the profile's own resolved value until the next profile hot-swap, at which point the override clears and the controller falls back to the new profile's resolved value. Reading the property always returns the effective value as of the most recent tick — the override when you have set one, otherwise the profile's own resolved value.

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Understand what the dial actually changes

The resolved 0..1 value derives three separate gains, and each behavior category responds to them differently rather than being scaled by one flat multiplier:

Gain	What it scales	At Subtle	At Natural	At Theatrical
Amplitude	Degree and centimeter maxima — posture, breath, sway, stance, reactions, hand micro-motion, beat and pulse intensity	0.62×	1×	1.75×
Frequency	How often scheduled behaviors happen — beats, weight shifts, fidgets, listening tilts fire more often as this rises	0.75×	1×	1.5×
Richness	How much of the optional-behavior repertoire shows at all — shrugs, idle hand and wrist micro-motion, stance settle-steps	0.45×	1×	1.5×

Amplitude gain does not apply evenly across posture. The sustained posture silhouette — a character's overall openness, lean, and shoulder tension — gets half-strength amplitude coupling, so even a Subtle character still holds a readable shape. Transient motion — posture pulses on a speech beat, the lean-in while listening, a weight shift — gets the full amplitude gain, so Subtle still reads as visibly calmer moment to moment.

Breathing rate is never scaled by expressiveness. It is treated as physiology rather than performance, so a Theatrical character does not breathe unnaturally fast even though everything else about it is larger.

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Apply a demeanor preset for a one-time personality pass

The profile Inspector's Demeanor row — Composed, Warm, Energetic, Reserved — applies a one-shot multiplier pass over the profile's posture bias, fidget, sway, beat-intensity, and weight-shift-cadence fields when you select it. It is an ordinary, undoable asset edit, not a live-swappable runtime mode like Expressiveness.

The same four demeanor names appear on the Emotion profile and the Body Animation config, so Warm is one word across all three inspectors. Each module still interprets a demeanor in its own terms, and applying one on this profile does not apply it anywhere else.

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Verify the setting

Enter Play mode and start a conversation. A character set to Subtle should hold a noticeably calmer, smaller-motion silhouette while still keeping a readable posture; a character set to Theatrical should shift weight and gesture more often and with visibly larger motion. Changing Expressiveness at runtime should ramp the difference in smoothly rather than snapping the character between looks.

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Next steps

Trigger gestures and reactionsBody language profile referenceHow body language works