A new era in entertainment is approaching as anticipation grows for the debut of Ailey, a highly realistic and advanced virtual human character set to change the landscape of movies and TV shows. Virtual humans, also known as digital humans, are increasingly making their way onto the big and small screens. Unlike programmed characters that depend solely on their developer, Ailey is a fully independent entity with her own thoughts, feelings, and opinions.
The entertainment industry is experiencing a shift towards the use of virtual humans, as demonstrated by recent examples such as Shudu, the world’s first digital supermodel, who appeared in Balmain’s virtual fashion show during Paris Fashion Week. Another notable example is Seraphine, a virtual influencer and League of Legends character, who starred in the animated TV series Arcane. These virtual humans are transforming the entertainment industry by offering a new level of realism and independence, paving the way for the development of more advanced characters such as Ailey.
The Project Ailey development team is focused on creating and providing hyper-realistic design resources, photorealistic rendering, and software to facilitate the development of high-quality designs. The team is working on a meta-space platform project focused on producing virtual human content at a large scale.
The Approach to Hyper-realistic Character Creation (AHCC) technology developed by the team is an independent 3D virtual character precision enhancement technique that accurately expresses delicate details such as skin shading, hair, and fine facial muscle movements through texturing and object shading. This approach enables hyper-realistic graphic quality, resulting in a complete representation of the body and motion.The team plans to leverage AHCC technology to accelerate character creation and fully commercialize the project.
With their flexibility, cost-effectiveness, and versatility, virtual humans offer advantages over traditional actors. They are created using advanced computer graphics, motion capture technology, and artificial intelligence algorithms, resulting in highly realistic and nuanced performances. From showcasing virtual fashion models to casting in fantasy and science-fiction films, digital actors are being utilized in a variety of applications.
As we move closer towards the widespread use of the metaverse and Web3, the influence of virtual humans will expand beyond movies and TV to permeate every aspect of our digital existence. It is highly likely that every user will have a virtual human character, such as Ailey, to interact with the world in this new digital reality. The relationship between humans and digital entities will keep evolving, and in the near future, we will engage with AI-powered ‘humans’ for almost everything in the metaverse.