In 2011 Japanese fans of popsinger Aimi Eguchi were shocked to discover that she wasn’t actually real. She was a computer composite of six members of the girl band AKB48. But, the computer animation was convincing enough for her to generate a real fan base.
Now, we have a new animated character from Activision R&D that takes things to a whole new level. It is so real, it’s both amazing and scary at the same time.
Once you get past the characters whinging about yoghurt parfait, you will be mesmerised by the skin, by the muscle movements behind the expressions. And, the eyes. Just look at the eyes!
There’s a full blog post here by the animation creators on the rendering, technologies and specifics behind creating this characters. But, I for one, am happy to watch it and be freaked out by its likeness to real people.
Activision R&D, is, as the name implies, the research and development division of gaming company Activision Blizzard. It has produced some very popular games including Call of Duty, Crash Bandicoot and Guitar Hero.
Developing photorealistic characters has been some of the company’s core research for many years. No doubt, characters this real will be making appearances in upcoming games.
Animated characters have come a long way since Max Headroom.
