Can virtual humans be the “ticket” to the metaverse?

Today, virtual characters "have a blank face", and the technology and content present are still far from our imagination.

The real characters from left to right are Xi Xiaoshi, AYAYI, ALiCE, and Reddi.

The girl in this photo is holding the cat in her arms and making a face to look at the camera with a smile on her face. "

A girl named Imma works on social platforms and is no different from a modern fashion blogger. She shows off her beautiful face, no worries with her beautiful face and beautiful makeup, goes shopping for afternoon tea or hangs up in fashion. event type.

The only difference: he is not human.

I thought it was too much, but it turned out to be a bad habit?

Like Imma, there is also Anini, Gina, Luna, Reddi and Zero. By 2021, there will be nearly 100 VR characters on social platforms. However, not all performers are designed to look like real people, as each group has its own uniqueness and beauty. Some avatars also have good CG power for their appearance. "It's getting more and more pretentious", "Your nose is a bit fake", "It's a bit sloppy" ...

Already in 2018 abroad, there is a model to create "surreal virtual characters" with real textures. Over the past two years, as Metaverse's popularity has grown, more and more internet companies have competed to develop digital people, and some entertainment companies, MCN organizations, and film and television production companies with CG talents have also entered the fray.

However, due to the limitations in the level of technology, virtual humans at this stage are still at the stage of blank faces due to bad facial expressions, no distractions, and person's attitude and artistry. Many skeptics only have virtual faces and when they need to show bodily movements it is usually a “face swap” where you can embed your face into an actual image.

Professor Jin Xiaogang from the State CAD and CG Laboratory of Zhejiang University said, “Technology doesn't have to be good. He says.

Current technology is still not able to support the greatest business value of virtual humans, but for some teams of virtual humans who have already invested in manufacturing, the most important thing is to create an address first. IP and a picture, then enter the site and talk to them. . "Everyone wants to be part of the transition and find a way to engage with the concepts of the virtual world," said the human rights expert.

A perfect man of paper has no soul

Most of the false symbols on the market today are images of young women and a few are of men.The main goal of the designers is to make the virtual human face as perfect as possible and to best meet the aesthetic tastes of young people. .

Surreal Avatar AYAYI

AYAYI, Ling, and Xi Xiaoshi are all representatives of virtual humans with their best practices and realism.Most of the artificial images that people create out of thin air are real beauty.

AYAYI's first public photo was posted on the Internet as "Shenyan ID Photo". This virtual human figure is subtle, it's hard to tell whether it's real or fake. AYAYI's manufacturing company, Ranmai Technology, revealed that AYAYI plans to become a digital art consultant and digital marketing manager. Based on the character history data written by the analyst, the team selected the final design after more than 40 edits, looking for actual images of similar behavior based on the use of the design.

Ling, Liu Yemei and Danfengyan follow the national road. Chen Yan, CEO of production company Next World Culture, told CHIRON Entertainment that the group dismantled and removed the faces of Liu Yifei, Qin Hailu and Zhang Ziyi, referring to the eyes of the Peking Opera. I make an oriental face. .

Designed to be the portrait of a female student, Xi Xiaoshi references the portraits of more than 20 girls between the ages of 16 and 18 in her models. Xi Xiaoshi, production manager, Cai Feilong, described the team's efforts to make Xi Xiaoshi pure and attractive to reach young people "because I think beauty is easy to accept."

Fake characters, who look like real people, look novel and sci-fi at first glance, but they have a problem. They're on a plane like paper dolls, and a bit cold and harsh. It's flawless, but it still makes you feel 'human'.

“Now all the images are the same. It's done on special CG films, even with a few changes. It's just a very private way,” said Cai Feilong. . "I don't think it's a digital person. A true digital person has to work in the digital world. Most virtual people don't have this ability."

Xi Xiaoshi Group is an on-campus project that includes an art group from Zhejiang Media Institute and a computer group from Xiamen University. Cai Feilong Group no longer allows Xi Xiaoshi to broadcast too much community content, but instead teaches his voice and improves his facial expressions. He believes these are the miracles that digital people need to remember.

Imma from Japan is the world's first virtual CG blogger launched in 2018. It's no secret that she has posted many great photos of her life, and the path behind those photos is to shake your head. 3D make the body real and the future, in a way that changes her hair.

Developed by Tsinghua University, the virtual human "Hua Zhibing" was once famous for videos of him playing guitar and singing. Jibing Hwa's movement in movies is natural, smooth and wonderful. However, in the following paragraph, the staff acknowledges that the arm and leg behavior was taken from actual video models.

"The few pictures we do now also change the face. That doesn't mean you can't. The price is too high." Cai Feilong said human digital ideas cost millions, especially in the arts.

One developer, who did not want to be named, said: "Avatar images with changing heads are easy to get on sight, and animation is more prominent." A good model for shooting, then change your hair. And put Avatar P on it. . virtual people. "

nigga life pictures

In addition to facial expressions, the representation of false symbols is also an often criticized problem. Most of the avatars have beautiful faces and two smiley faces, but their expressive faces are always the same, and the smiley faces don't change much.

Currently, creating images of virtual people remains a huge challenge. The easy movement of frowns and pouts affects changes in the structure of the entire face. “Our skin is made up of the dermis, epidermis, skin and fat. It is a complex system. A computer adapts to the skin only through certain parameters, but no matter how bad it is. 'fits, he's certainly still lost, "Cai Feilong said.

On the other hand, most of the dynamism presented by these virtual characters is photographic, and there are some films. Although virtual bloggers are often used in social media and welcome their fans to the sound, netizens always directly point out: "This is a newsletter from a real estate publisher!"

The creator of virtual human Asia, Jesse, said that virtual human virtualization for a variety of situations and has other functions such as photography and video imaging equipment, eye-catching interactions and skills in the face face to face require a wide range of tools and research and development. complex procedure. The digital human is still in its infancy, and there are many process issues that need to be addressed based on the characteristics of each digital human.

Created by Jessie, Axi is one of the few non-fiction characters capable of creating movies and making beautiful faces. Surprisingly, Axi's avatar was created by Jesse himself. As a leader in CG animation, he has been in the industry for over 10 years, is well versed in the technology of each link, and has a goal of development. The efficiency is therefore very high.

avatar axis

However, the emergence of Asia has not yet reached the stage of hyperrealism, and the understanding of the drama remains there. "At first glance, you can tell he's not a real person. The eyes and ears are cartoonish, but they have skin textures and lights and shadows close to life. really."

Jesse said the process of making a movie would be too cumbersome to reach the very high level of hyperrealism. The reason Axi has some drawbacks is to balance the manufacturing process with quality. As a private manufacturer, he adapted the necessary process to the smallest scale and the best cost control.

Virtual people who have a realistic, face-to-face, and functional appearance and are able to interact with people in real time are digital people with a soul. Creating these digital people requires the help of intellectual property, which is also a frontline issue for the industry.

There are paid listings, but they are hard to earn.

The surreal virtual human remains only at the visual and conceptual stage, but many names are willing to pay for it. Ayai, which is a booming fashion brand, has partnered with brands such as LV, L'Oreal and Porsche. Axi has worked with Chery Automobile, Jingdong Mobile, Zhongxue and other brands such as automotive, restaurant, fast food, equipment and other services.

What the brand sees is the trendy and technological understanding of virtual characters. The ads and posts for each ad contain almost the same phrases as “Think Endless Metaverse,” “Open Metaverse Together”, and “Metaverse VS Fashion Circle”. Mark your avatar.

Another appealing attraction of the business is its renewed focus on attracting younger customers. Young men will be curious and interested in false symbols, and women will be attracted to the most valuable people. According to Burning Mai Technology, more than 70% of AYAYI's fans are girls, and nearly half of its fans are between 18 and 24 years old. Gen Z. Jessie said 80% of Asians are women.

In addition, compared to real stars, false stars are more controllable, more stable and less "explosive".

Despite the popularity of the brand, the market for domestic virtual people remains uncertain due to limitations in content design and technology production.

Currently, the main monetization method of virtual human dependence on the integration of the advertising industry, and the form of cooperation is unique, most of the broadcasts are presented on the basis of image, and sales do not are still just images. Incompatibility, video processing complexity, and low IP interference make it difficult for virtual humans to measure for multiple enterprise monetization models.

Cai Feilong said scammers don't make much money from the advertising industry.

Virtual human is not a good business because it requires CG production of the whole process and the cost of publishing content is high. Chen Yan, founder of Next World Culture, said more than 90% of virtual human creation businesses are now struggling to make money.

The biggest problem is that most current events are true only with their shell, but without their own identity, history and function.

While the public is feeling tired of the shared image of virtual human and the new concept of metaverse disappearance, the popularity and traffic of consumer virtual human is not steady. One only has to look at the insignificance of actual user interactions that virtual humans do in today's media to show it. With only a handful of avatars that were popular at first, it was hard for other new avatars to like and engage in publicity.

Jesse said that at this point virtual people usually don't have actual content, so human intelligence and not following virtual people does not exist. Many storytellers don't make people feel addicted and affectionate. In fact, virtual human IP can have an unreliable reliance on content.

This could explain why Liu Yexi's misbehavior could be the immediate blow.

The three shorts have all been released for more than two months after fake character Liu Yexi's account was opened on Douyin, and the number of fans quickly increased to 8 million. The videos give the film a unique aesthetic to create an old fashioned cyberpunk style, while the story is a mix of surprise, twist and heat. In the video, Yeshi Ryu appears as a virtual beauty who can catch ghosts and has a cool, vague attitude. Demons and spirits, dead relatives.

In fact, Liu Yexi is not an intelligent and interactive virtual human, but the film and television industry relies on intelligence to deliver unique benefits and capture with real people. However, Liu Yexi, as one of the few stories to create characters and stories from short films and depict the world of the Metaverse, has received a lot of attention in the East Wind of the Metaverse.

Liu Yexi's industry will not be limited to traditional registration and export, said Liang Zikang, CEO of Chuangyi Technology, the Liu Yexi manufacturing company. "The realization of Liu Yexi's market value can only emerge from the new battle, not the old battle."

He said, “In the future world of the Metaverse, the boundaries of games, movies, and animation will blur, so there is only one connection: IP. In the metaverse, the intellectual property value chain itself is very long, and there are many business models there. "

The founding team of AYAYI originated from IP and fashionable animation themes improving the MCN business and organization of internet celebrity incubator, incubating internet celebrities such as Zhu Once and Rou Mian Orange. They also believe that IP functionality is really important in the realm of surreal digital people. At first, it may attract fans with "likes" or "be smart", but in the long run, the competition from virtual humans will be an IP management battle.

The technology and content presented by virtual humans today is still far from our imagination. For virtual humans to survive in the digital world, there are still many challenges to overcome. He had to be like God in a good face, with the skills to express thoughts, interact with people, and have their own story and history.

When the marketing of virtual human technology achieves positive results, the virtual human enterprise can replace the larger vision.

come first

The human virtual market is still in its infancy, but the market is already hot. In addition to Baidu, NetEase, Tencent, and other large, hard-working internet companies, some CG art capable film and television companies and game companies have also followed suit.

Chief Li Fang was also the one who was forced into this power station. He pointed out a circle of friends criticizing the Metaverse, and the next day asked companies to set up funds like Liu Yexi to shoot short films for the character.

The publicity was swift. Marketers found that China Online, an online writing company, was caught up with the idea of ​​Metaverse and the soaring prices of its products, so their organizations wanted to get involved in the game. this is a metaverse bubble, we should benefit from this bubble, ”the trader said.

Within two weeks, Li Fang wrote many domestic and international science fiction films and wrote many fake character stories. In the story, the real person and the real person live together, and after the death of the real person, their memory can be sent to the cloud to become a virtual person. Obviously, this story was written by Li Fang away from the current state of virtual human development.

After the popularity of the metaverse concept, many false positives have appeared on the Internet. For a moment I thought "everything can be a virtual person". The real person appears on the camera for the video, and the face is transformed into a CG image or raw video, allowing you to call yourself a virtual person.

"I've been in this industry for about 10 years, and I know a lot of industry professionals. They're also seeing an increase in human economy and human digital industry involvement. They're also creating great characters CG, but they're not, so to speak, said Jessie, the beginnings of modeling are weak, and there are still some geniuses who can model, but still have Few people think about what digital people are and how to do it.. Digital Marketing Products.. Lots of people follow it completely passively.

Since false characters can only register current trademarks, they do not have the intellectual property protection to intervene. After the image was copied and pasted, there was no way to fix it, Jesse said.

Burning Mai Technology said that many IPs on the market are now called digital images, and the quality is different. Currently, there are not many teams in the world who have completed the production of surreal digital graphics, and the total production capacity has been limited, cannot meet the needs of the world.

“In the home business, 90% of the team develops the image and concept upstream. Cai Feilong said that the beginning of the creation of virtual human surrealism is very high, requires significant or deep capacity of the team. "Otherwise, you have no choice but to shell out first and then stir up the concept."

After talking to his colleagues, he found that "everyone wants to be in court now and they don't want to give up, but they don't see the prospect and they don't understand."

But Cai Feilong still thinks it's good for all competitors equally, and it's also a way to popularize the concept of virtual people, like investment, and invest in research and development.