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Leaping the Uncanny Valley

Posted by timothy on from the compare-this-to-the-final-fantasty-movie dept.

reachums submits this glance at "the newest level of computer animation," intended to get past the paradoxical "uncanny valley" — that is, the way animated humans actually can appear jarring as the animation gets hyper-realistic. "This short video gives us a glimpse of what we can hope to see in the future of computer games and movies. Emily is not a real actress, but she looks like a real person, something we haven't truly seen before in computer animation."

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  1. Re:Not really animation by gznork26 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Video wasn't proof of anything on 9/11/01 either. Eyewitnesses on the scene, even those speaking to anchors in the studio, were overridden when they questioned the reality of the imagery seen by the anchors of aircraft striking the WTC. If we can think about video fakery here, then lets apply the same standards to the impossibilities that were portrayed then. I wrote a story called "The Halo Effect" about some techies attempting to bring the question of video fakery into public discussion. It starts like this...

    + + +

    Derek shook his head doubtfully at the duct-taped video camera I'd showed him. "Tell me something, Jake. How do you expect me to be inconspicuous carrying that monstrosity around?"

    Now, granted, it was a bit on the clunky side, but there wasn't any elegant way to fasten a 3D mouse, cigarette-pack PC and a GPS to it. "Give me a break," I said, nestling the contraption beside my chicken satay on the small food-court table. "It's just a prototype. Early versions of the military's field disinfo kits were probably just as ugly."

    The lunchtime crowd threading past our spot near the pizza franchise were too preoccupied to notice the bundle of tech we were arguing over. They also made getting a glimpse of the thing, either in person or with the mall's badly hidden security cams, problematic. We may have overplayed the geek theme a bit to make ourselves part of the visual noise by wearing old, faded convention shirts, but one thing we didn't exude was how risky this meeting really was.

    Derek lowered his shake, peered at my handiwork, and tapped one of the puttied-in connectors. "You're sure it'll work?"

    + + +

    Read the whole story here: http://klurgsheld.wordpress.com/2007/07/21/short-story-the-halo-effect/

    P. Orin Zack