Yongsheng Animation, a Guangdong animation enterprise that has created a national animation IP Pig Man, set up a digital person incubation and operation studio Ying Brain Technology, and after launching Guangzhou's first meta-universe café "YMeta Coffee" and the digital stand-in "BEN" of the experience store manager, it released the second hyper-realistic virtual person "Xi Xi" again on April 1, chairman Gu Zhibin said: In April, the first hyper-realistic digital human life live broadcast project "Xi Xi's World" will be launched, and the company has fully accessed the meta-universe.
"West Tide" Source: Official
Guangzhou enterprises launched the hyper-realistic digital person "Xi Xi", and the live broadcast program was launched in April
On April 1, the ultra-realistic digital person "Xi Xi" made his first positive appearance, with his exquisite appearance, highly similar to the real person's behavior expression, and the "human design" that meets the appetite of the Z generation, he swept the screen and officially debuted. This is the second "Guangzhou local" surreal virtual person released by Ying Brain Technology after launching guangzhou's first meta-universe café "YMeta Coffee" to experience the digital stand-in "BEN" of the store manager.
In order to make "Xi Xi" more out of the circle and the image vividly displayed, Gu Zhibin, chairman of Yongsheng Animation, revealed to reporters: "The first hyper-realistic digital human life live broadcast project "Xi Xi's World" has completed the live broadcast test of asset construction and technology, and will be launched in April to meet with everyone. Relying on real-time capture technology and virtual live broadcast system, as a "cultivation system" digital person, Xi Xi will show a unique metaversic world view and growth path in the program, and interact with the audience in the virtual live broadcast scene. ”
Last year, the "meta-universe" became a fire concept as soon as it was launched, and with it, virtual digital people opened a series of activities such as concerts, endorsements, and live broadcasts, attracting hundreds of millions of traffic attention and being highly sought after by capital. In this regard, the Communication University of China also released a report, saying that the rapid increase in demand for digital life under the superposition of the epidemic situation, coupled with the application of smart phones and consumer-grade VR hardware, the development of virtual digital people has begun to enter the fast lane.
Especially compared with traditional idol stars, virtual digital people as idols, spokespersons, etc., undoubtedly have many irreplaceable advantages. For example, safe and reliable, not easy to "collapse", stable personnel, in addition to technical support, language advantages and skill advantages, etc., can be quickly and accurately adapted and adjusted according to the brand and scene.
According to the "2021 China Virtual Digital Person Influence Survey", more than 60% of users are most concerned about whether the virtual idol is "good-looking", "distinctive" and "colorful". For "Xi Xi", the behind-the-scenes production team Ying Brain Technology believes that in addition to meeting the above conditions, they have also achieved "both internal and external repair".
The team leader said in an interview: "Digital people need content and technology to better light up the digital life, compared to the world's beauty, but also to pursue both internal and external cultivation." "Xi Xi" must not only have the attributes of a virtual star, she must also link reality and virtual worlds. In order to better achieve the "cross-dimensional" high degree of integration and interaction, we apply it to the world's leading face capture, motion capture and top special effects technology. ”
Pig Man becomes a virtual spokesperson Image source: Official
The parent company, Yongsheng Animation, said it has been fully integrated into the meta-universe
The reporter learned that the parent company of the enterprise Ying Brain Technology behind the hyper-realistic virtual person "Xi Xi" is Guangdong Yongsheng Animation. As a leading digital animation film and television content enterprise in China, Yongsheng Animation has successfully developed a series of well-known original animation IP such as "Pig Man", "Hundred Changes School Bus", "Super Learning Pioneer", "Tease Didi", "Coltan Dragon Battle", etc., to accompany generations of teenagers to grow up.
For the launch of "Xi xi", Yongsheng Technology introduced to reporters: The reason for the newly established digital person incubation and operation studio - Ying Brain Technology is to stand at the new outlet of the cultural industry, innovate, and achieve the iconic landing of the animation giant in the strategic layout of the meta-universe by launching a hyper-realistic digital person.
In fact, Yongsheng Animation has made many attempts on the virtual digital image of the meta-universe, as a company that deeply cultivates original IP digital animation, it has accumulated the ability to create virtual IP, and also has a series of well-known IP images, such as February 15, Pig Man walked out of the animation for the first time and was invited to become the virtual image spokesperson of the Guangfu Temple Fair to play the meta-universe.
But Gu Zhibin, chairman of Yongsheng Animation, said: "The cartoon style is too familiar to us, and we hope that the company will make a certain challenge, so in the application of this virtual person, we are positioned in the hyper-realistic virtual." ”
In addition, Gu Zhibin revealed that at present, Yongsheng Animation has been fully integrated into the meta-universe, and with the continuous expansion of digital human application scenarios, Yongsheng Animation not only pays attention to the online virtual person incubation operation, but also will pay more attention to the offline space.
Previously, Yongsheng Animation created the first meta-universe café in Guangzhou, "YMeta Coffee", and used Gu Zhibin, chairman and president of Yongsheng Animation, as the prototype to reproduce the digital person "BEN" of the experience store manager. Through "cross-dimensional" ordering and interaction, the audience can experience a cup of "meta-universe" coffee handmade by virtual people at close range, and interact with virtual people offline.
"Ben" Image Source: Official
There are dilemmas in virtual human creation, but animation companies have an innate advantage
At present, there is still a huge space in the mainland virtual person market, it is reported that by 2030, the overall market size will reach 270 billion yuan, and with the gradual maturity of technology, consumer demand for virtual entertainment products will continue to rise, and the commercial value of virtual people will continue to rise.
However, despite this, there are still difficulties and problems in the digital virtual human industry ecology. On the question of whether there are concerns about the development of digital people, Yan Bing, vice president of Yongsheng Animation and general manager of Ying Brain Technology, also said frankly: "The bottom layer of technology is accelerating to mature, but it is still subject to the constraints of basic technologies such as computing power and transmission. The ecological aspects of digital people and digital content can be said to be 'mixed', and there are still many problems. ”
However, Yan Bing also believes that it is worth affirming that animation companies have natural advantages in entering the meta-universe track, because they have high-end digital animation production technology and mature original IP incubation and operation capabilities. "For example, we have a mature animation production team with virtual application technologies such as graphics and algorithms, as well as rich project resources and standardized intelligent management system for CG animation production, which is a huge advantage in the development of efficient mass production of virtual human IP."
Ying Brain Technology Digital Human Ecology Image Source: Official
From animation cartoon production to virtual world creation, the development of the incubation and operation track of Yongsheng Animation hyper-realistic virtual people undoubtedly reflects the breakthrough and choice of traditional animation companies under new opportunities, transforms the inherent advantages into the needs of market hotspots, and uses technology to achieve new empowerment.
Yan Bing finally told reporters that she believes that virtual people like "BEN" and "Xi Xi" will appear in the public eye more and more frequently in the future, and Yongsheng Animation can also create IP with the influence of "National Little Porco Rosso" Pig Man.
At present, the virtual person industry is still in the early stage of cultivation, Yongsheng Animation chooses to jump out of the comfort zone, launch the brain technology, layout in advance, on the one hand, to give more direction and possibilities for the development of virtual people, on the other hand, it is undoubtedly facing greater challenges and uncertainties, the long road is long and unknown, and the reporter will continue to pay attention.
Aoyi News reporter Liu Jie