Set a High Bar for Digital Characters

If a digital character is not 3D rendered and animated quite right it can be said to be in the “uncanny valley”, a term coined by roboticist Masahiro Mori. A character is in the uncanny valley if it is not quite photo-realistic, causing humans to react with a sense of unease and eeriness. Therefore, the bar must be set very high during development to create believable digital doubles.

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Today, using state of the art 3D scanning methods, we stay out of the uncanny valley by building dense data clouds that capture every subtle nuance of the scanned character, making them a reliable stand-in. Cyber-characters are showing up in every media channel now, and the internet is a hungry player. With the growth of virtual reality, we will likely become even more accustomed to watching entire stories featuring cyber-characters, a la Rogue One.

.At TNG Visual Effects we use Artec structured light 3D scanning technology coupled with Photogrammetry to build highly realistic digital human heads and bodies. The scanned bodies and heads can be used and reused with subtle tweaks, so ultimately they can prove to be a cost-effective digital asset for your digital library. Furthermore, once the 3D models are built they can take multiple rounds of punishing action that will continue to extend your storytelling without driving up a hospital bill. And, if you set the bar high they will step into your story and do it seamlessly.

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