In a 2018 interview with GamesBeat, Libreri, CTO of Epic Game Studio, said: "At the moment, if we want to make the game 60fps or VR frame rate, we need a very powerful graphics card to render a huge amount of hair, so it is difficult to do; unless the game uses cartoons or other character images that do not require hair details. Therefore, this generation of games, if not handled properly, is prone to the uncanny valley effect. However, this will not be the case on next-generation consoles. At that time, the realistic appearance of the character will not be a selling point, because this technology will be everywhere; grasping the complicated changes in the details of the character's face and other details is the focus. Epic has a strong confidence in the "uncanny valley" effect to be able to cross, and of course, now we know that his confidence comes from their Unreal Engine 5, which they will launch in 2020.
Uncanny Valley Effect
In 1970, Masahiro Mori, a well-known roboticist at Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan, published an article called "Uncanny Valley" in a very obscure Japanese magazine, Energy. In this article, Masahiro Mori proposed the theory of "uncanny valley". (The term "uncanny valley" was proposed by Ernst Jentsch in his 1906 essay "Uncanny Valley Psychology", and his ideas were elaborated by Freud in his 1919 paper "Uncanny Valley", thus becoming a famous theory.) ）
Masahiro Mori
Its core view is that with the change in the degree of authenticity of the simulation of the simulation of the simulated object (such as robots, dolls, etc.), people will also have changes in their affinity, the general law is that the affinity increases with the degree of simulation, but when the degree of simulation reaches a higher critical point, the affinity reaction of the person will suddenly fall into the bottom, and suddenly there will be negative psychology such as rejection, fear, and confusion of the simulation.
This theory did not arouse much repercussions in the academic circles in the following years, but in the early 21st century, especially in recent years, the uncanny valley theory has set off a small research boom in Western academic circles. From the uncanny valley theory itself to the bionic robot research, from psychological research to sociological research, from communication to digital image art, many fields are involved, and "uncanny valley" has gradually become a highly cited theoretical hot word. The term "uncanny valley" is used to describe the rejection of robots that resemble them to a certain extent.
The "valley" refers to the relationship diagram of "favorability versus similarity" in the study, before the similarity is close to 100%, the favorability suddenly falls to the level of disgust and rises back to the range before the goodwill.
Explanation
The uncanny valley phenomenon can be explained by the idea that if an entity is "not humane enough", its humanoid characteristics will be conspicuous and easily recognizable, producing empathy.
On the other hand, if an entity is "sufficiently anthropomorphic," its non-human characteristics become conspicuous, creating a strange feeling in the eyes of human observers.
Another possibility is that the sick person and the corpse have many visual deformities similar to some humanoid robots, eliciting the same panic and emotional reactions of the observer. Behavioral deformities include behavioral characteristics of the disease, neurological states, or even mental dysfunctions, which evoke severe negative emotions in the observer.
This phenomenon can also be explained by the theories of evolutionary psychology. First, the entities in the Uncanny Valley are anthropomorphic enough to be considered a member of the human species. According to the theory of evolutionary psychology, after millions of years of natural selection, there is a kind of logical favoritism in the brain of existing humans who have not been eliminated by nature, providing a high degree of ability to sense and reject those who reflect genetic diseases or lack of health, the overall appearance of human deformities. Therefore, consciously or unconsciously, the potential impact that abnormal humanoid individuals will have in the human gene pool will also arouse the vigilance of the observer. This explains why humans don't usually find humanoid entities that can engage in sexual contact attractive.
Unreal Engine 5
Unreal Engine 5, EPIC's fifth-generation game engine announced in May 2020, is Epic Games' development tool for next-generation game real-time visualization projects and immersive interactive experiences.
Core technology
Nanite virtualized micropolymer geometry system
Video loading...
Lumen full dynamic global illumination solution
Hands-on demonstration
From the real camera screen, Epic shows a number of technologies that are eye-catching, Nanite's ultra-fast rendering speed allows every frame of the picture to show pixel-level details, Lumen's light rebound effect, AI rationality, convolutional reverberation of live generation, etc., giving people a strong sense of immersion.
Brain hole moments
However, although in the video, the simulation of the environment has been very realistic, the sound effects, environmental graphics, physical effects, and AI, etc., can even be said to reach the standard of "perfect". But there is still one thing that makes people feel uncomfortable, that is, the realism of the "person" in the picture, and the facial details of the "virtual person" in the game do not reach the level of "perfection". But this is also understandable, after all, people are extremely sensitive to human faces, and the irrationality of any detail is easy to cause discomfort. But I believe that in the near future, when the micro-expressions of virtual characters are completely restored to the extent of false reality, they can "perfectly" realize the virtual environment and achieve the possibility of recreating "reality".
Readers are welcome to leave a comment in the comments section. (Text from https://wiki.mbalib.com/wiki/ Uncanny Valley Theory Video from Unreal Engine official)