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Author Topic: Passing uncanny valley
lem
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This video is just too cool. I wonder what video games my kids will be able to play in 10 years.

The eyes still look unreal to me--like they are not quite synced right on the face. However, if I did not know she was a computer animation and I saw her briefly in passing, I think I would be fooled.

Time to redo any of the Final Fantasy movies.

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Teshi
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It sort of looks like she has a muscular problem around her mouth and that she's been retrained by a therapist to smile etc.
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Jhai
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That is quite impressive.
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scifibum
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I'm not fooled yet, but it is very impressive.
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Jhai
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I'm not creeped out by it, which is certainly an improvement on previous attempts at realistic animation. Uncanny Valley is behind us.
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Vadon
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quote:
Originally posted by lem:
This video is just too cool. I wonder what video games my kids will be able to play in 10 years.

The eyes still look unreal to me--like they are not quite synced right on the face. However, if I did not know she was a computer animation and I saw her briefly in passing, I think I would be fooled.

Time to redo any of the Final Fantasy movies.

I saw the video a couple of months ago from blendernation.

For me, I noticed the seam between the actress' real face and the model. The eyes were also a give away when they were doing the short, emotive cuts. But as a whole, I agree that this is freakishly impressive. But there is a pretty big drawback that I see to this so far, the technology requires an actor for the facial animation. While this isn't a bad thing for all projects, I think it's perfectly reasonable to record actors giving their lines in a studio and using the video to make the facial animations. But to really excel, artists should be able to use tools that recreate human emotion without using a direct reference.

Perhaps drawback isn't the right word. I think the better word would be that while this is really impressive, I think we still have a lot we can and could achieve with CG animation. (Makes me sound less cynical, see. =P)

Oh, and on the FF movies. I vote yes on 'Spirits,' no on 'AC.' Advent Children wasn't designed to go for the realism that Spirits did. It was purposefully stylized to avoid the creepiness, and I think they succeeded and don't need to redo that one. [Smile]

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The Pixiest
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If I didn't know she wasn't real I'd have just thought she had a problem with her mouth.

I guess that means I'm fooled, but she's still not perfect.

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rivka
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quote:
Originally posted by Jhai:
I'm not creeped out by it

I am.
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Sterling
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It is very impressive work, but I agree that the eyes aren't 100% there, yet. I think something about the way real human eyes catch and reflect light is really hard for CGI to do.
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Glenn Arnold
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An article on the uncanny valley for the uninitiated.
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Phanto
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For me, the #1 problem was the lips. Besides that, impressive.
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Blayne Bradley
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I call Rule 34 of this.
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mr_porteiro_head
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quote:
Originally posted by Jhai:
Uncanny Valley is behind us.

Nope. We're still in it.
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Juxtapose
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A lot of the time, CG movements are just unnaturally smooth. Like an actor who has rehearsed way, way too much. It's a LOT better in the Emily video, but it's still there. Even the way she blinks is a just little too inhumanly graceful.

EDIT - they should study the way a total klutz moves. Or maybe a drunk person. I think it might help. I'd volunteer.

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Elmer's Glue
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I disagree. She wasn't overly graceful; she wasn't even closing her eyes at the same time.
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Juxtapose
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Let me try again. I think if you were to measure the speed at which her eyelids open or close, for example, you'd find the acceleration and deceleration much more uniform than in an actual person. It'd be a tiny difference, but I think it shows. Also, the middle portion of her upper lip moves slightly funny.

Then again, I'm not 100% confident that I would've realized she was computer generated if I hadn't been told, so go figure.

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Elmer's Glue
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I think her teeth look funny.
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dantesparadigm
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quote:
Originally posted by Blayne Bradley:
I call Rule 34 of this.

This isn't /b/ and you aren't anonymous. Try and keep those thoughts to yourself.
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Lanfear
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Whenever I think of uncanny valley..

http://kotaku.com/384789/the-uncanny-valley-explained-in-terms-of-porn-and-star-wars

Talks about porn a little bit. 30 Rock episode clip.

So hilarious.

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BlackBlade
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quote:
Originally posted by mr_porteiro_head:
quote:
Originally posted by Jhai:
Uncanny Valley is behind us.

Nope. We're still in it.
I'd say that at least the greater part of it is behind us.
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Raymond Arnold
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I probably wouldn't have been able to figure it out on my own, but as far as Uncanny Valley goes, I think we passed it in Benjamin Button.
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scifibum
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I don't think the uncanny valley issue really applies when (as in parts of Benjamin Button) you have a real face superimposed on another person's body.

At any rate, I was creeped out by the fake age makeup on both of the main characters; it didn't look real. I actually think it's less distracting to use a different, older actor to play the old version of a character, instead of attempting to make a young actor look old.

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Raymond Arnold
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The first third of Benjamin Button had a completely CGI head.

http://features.cgsociety.org/story_custom.php?story_id=4848

If you weren't aware of that, I think I can rest my case.

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scifibum
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<shrug> Yeah, I was fooled, sort of. I thought they had taken video of Pitt and manipulated it to splice it into other footage. It didn't look like a real person, though.
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Glenn Arnold
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I must say that I did, in fact, find Benjamin Button somewhat eerie. Bear in mind though that the uncanny valley doesn't just apply to CGI. Actors with makeup can have the same effect, if the makeup doesn't quite achieve the effect they're trying for.

Raymond would remember the story about when his sister achieved a high degree of uncanniness in person.

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Raymond Arnold
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Lol

Edit: Random tangeant - I paused before hitting the "post" button because writing "Lol" on a fairly sophisticated forum where people actually type stuff out felt wrong. But I honestly cannot think of another phrase that conveys the specific connotation that Lol has.

Although this particular forum DOES have fairly adequate smiley technology to accomplish the same thing:

[ROFL]

Anyways, there were times when I didn't think Benjamin looked correct from a "realistically aging a person" perspective, and I think there was one specific timezone (the one where he was old but with long hair) that irked me, but I don't think that section was CGI. Regardless, I didn't have a problem with the way he looked in his early life.

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