tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63298162024-02-28T03:24:36.614-08:00Virtual Humans -- Will they replace us all?This Blog is about Virtual Humans and Virtual Human Actors. It's about crossing the uncanny valley with style and grace. The picture is me hosting the Virtual Humans Forum at FMX in Stuttgart, Germany in 2008Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329816.post-19150357150217178362008-07-14T08:25:00.000-07:002008-07-14T08:31:42.518-07:00As predicted virtual humans are becoming popular. Unfortunately the most common ones are the brain dead ones on the phone. And then there are the virtual human actors that creep us out, like in Polar Express and Beowulf...although the latter had definite improvement. It seems the film makers, especially Robert Zemecks, just don't understand the psychological factors involved in creating Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329816.post-66449274257496200092008-07-14T07:56:00.001-07:002008-07-14T07:59:49.240-07:00Something very cool. I'm now on the International Board of Advisors for the Digital Design Foundation in Beijing. I'll be working with some legends of our industry helping the Chinese Government to set national standards in education and certification of animators and vfx artists. I'll also be teaching the occasional classes in how to create a killer demo reel and virtual human design. HeresUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329816.post-36784065821151022932008-07-14T07:17:00.001-07:002008-07-14T08:02:37.279-07:00I just got back from the Mundos Digitales Conference in A Caruna Spain. Awesome time, great people and amazing food and wine. I fell in love with Spain.I did a talk entitled "Crossing the Uncanny Divide" about the psychological factors that make us find virtual human actors creepy the more real they look. The second talk was entitled "Creating a Killer Demo Reel" the title pretty much says Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329816.post-1144679639971168802006-04-10T07:25:00.000-07:002006-08-10T09:33:27.493-07:00It's been four months and I've been busy writing articles for StudioDaily. I currently reviewing a ton of dvd training courses in film, audio and film effects including 3D animation. Many of them have a narcotic impact on one's brain. Some are excellent. I'm also preparing for my presentation at this year's FMX in Stuttgart Germany. This one will be a look at the global job situation in Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329816.post-1133998937340017432005-12-07T15:10:00.000-08:002006-02-02T11:31:04.690-08:00It's been a while since I posted...gonna have to do better. I've put up my new personal website OrdinaryMagic where I've added a bunch of links to interesting virtual human stuff as well as Visual FX sites. I'm also a digital artist and my galleries are there as well. Some of you may know that recently I've been the Digital Eye columnist at VFXWorld.com in Hollywood and contributing editor at Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329816.post-1104717625509134072005-01-02T17:55:00.000-08:002005-01-02T18:00:25.510-08:00I just read an interesting book entitled "Mind Catcher" by John Darnton. It's a far out look at possible consciousness experiments using machines to provide pathways for the mind...It looks at the mind as separate from the body, and age old controversy. As "Anima" the author proposes that the mind can be separated from the body and that it can travel in a different dimension or medium that may Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329816.post-1094747676443985702004-09-09T09:29:00.000-07:002004-09-09T09:34:36.443-07:00Telluride.
The August TechFest in Telluride Colorado was a lot of fun. They set up a 2million volt Tesla coil in the middle of mainstreet at night and made lots of lightning. I was one of the featured speakers and brought Sylvie with me. She was a huge hit. We did a second presentation to the children of the town...very bright children I might add. Afterwards I had an flock of kids Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329816.post-1076600801704503502004-02-12T07:40:00.002-08:002004-02-12T07:55:01.060-08:00V-teachers will make learning more efficient.
PSI
My old friend and mentor Fred S. Keller was a very wise man who understood learning at a deeper level than most of us ever will. Fred had achieved a vast state of maturity when I was privileged to receive weekly doses of his wisdom at the Institute for Behavioral Research in Silver Spring, Maryland. Fred came up with something he called the: Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329816.post-1074102350391626642004-01-14T09:31:00.000-08:002004-01-14T09:50:38.093-08:00Most of us are not aware that Virtual Humans are on the rise. They're showing up in web pages as intelligent hosts, have been set up in computer stores to answer questions about specific systems, and are everywhere providing information on scheduling, products etc. If you call Amtrak you get Sylvia, a voice-only virtual human who is intelligent enought to get you the information you need on Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0