Realistic avatars have become a way of humanizing interaction with technology. “Its current mission is to offer a close and reliable virtual presence, capable of reproducing human features with great precision and transmitting empathy in experiences such as customer service, training or entertainment,” explains Diego García, co -founder of Mioti Tech & Business School and CEO of Mineo With an appearance and interaction modes closer to us, they reduce the digital gap and facilitate access to technology. «In addition, its history goes back to the first graphic simulators of the eighties, when we could barely represent low resolution faces, so its evolution reflects how the progress in 3D processing and design has allowed to reproduce human features in a way Even more plausible, ”he adds.
According to a recent European study (European Commission, ‘Digital Avatars Market Outlook’, 2023), investments in the global digital avatars market could exceed the 10,000 million euros for 2030promoted by sectors of education, entertainment and advertising. This trend is added to public and private initiatives, especially in countries where virtual and augmented reality technologies are growing at high speed.
Realistic avatars automate communication tasks, attend users and serve as a brand image, creating emotional ties thanks to their visual closeness and ability to respond in real time. «In education, they serve as interactive tutors, and in health, they simulate patients to train professionals. They are also protagonists in advertising campaigns or as digital influencers, generating engagement in social networks, ”the CEO of Mineo puts as examples. International companies such as Soul Machines or Synthesia AI have shown how an avatar “can perform as varied functions as customer service 24/7 or the creation of custom training material,” he adds.
The Institute of Biomechanics of Valencia (IBV) has developed a new generation of hyperrealist and anatomically precise human avatars, with Advanced characteristicsto improve fidelity with the person in the real world (real counterpart). “For its creation, we have used our Move4D dynamic body scanning technology, an avant -garde technology developed by the IBV and that has positioned itself as a world number 1 for the dynamic scanning of the human body,” says Carmelo Lizarraga, director of Innovation in the Technologies Area in IBV. This technology allows to capture the surface of the human body in motion and automatically obtain its realistic and precise digital model, including the skeleton.
The Biomechanics Institute of Valencia (IBV) has created a new generation of hyperrealist and anatomically precise human avatars
«Our avatars stand out for their high level of realism and are destined for both innovation in fields and ergonomics, sports or clinical biomechanics, clothing design or computer vision and video games or audiovisual applications and other emerging sectors such as Extended reality, ”says Lizarraga. In addition, cases of accessibility improvement are explored as real -time translators of the spoken language to the signing tongue, where 3D avatars can express messages through arms movements, hands, body posture and facial expression.
The IBV innovation director ensures that the new generation of avatars represents a significant advance in terms of realism, efficiency and applicability. The improvements introduced have made this generation not only more advanced in technological terms, but also “their use and their integration by companies in their design and development processes are easier, compared to previous generations,” he adds. While you cannot speak of a generalization of the use of avatars, the IBV does point to an increasingly widespread use in areas such as design and ergonomics research; anthropometry; Biomechanics both sports and clinic and clothing design. And then in emerging sectors and industry such as entertainment with video games and extended realities as spearhead.
Among aspects that can be improved, Carmelo Lizarraga speaks of the emotional expression where “improvements in the gestures of the face are necessary so that the interactions are more credible since they may seem unnatural”; of the texture, “to achieve greater visual fidelity and digital identity, as well as reduce the occlusion in the catches” and the processing speed once “the industry demands the processed in real time.”
Digital employees
As an example of bringing this technology closer to companies, it is worth mentioning the platform designed by the Malagueña Clonebyme startup with which it is possible to design custom virtual assistants that make up intuitively. “Clonebyme’s agents are as advanced digital employees that you can integrate into your business to reduce operational load,” explains José Cánovas, general director of the company. They are not just a text chatbot, “you can see, listen, speak, understand the context and make decisions in real time. They can also execute complex actions, automate processes and adapt to different areas such as experts with a doctorate, ”they highlight. They also have physical presence through avatars, which makes them closer and easier to interact.
They say that creating and training them is super easy with this platform, «you just upload files with your business information and voila. They learn and work autonomously without having to worry about anything, without the need to program or get into technical issues. In addition, it is safe and private, because it can work within your local network if you need it, ”says Cánovas.
Clonebyme has designed a platform that allows you to create digital employees capable of seeing, listening, speaking, understanding the context and making decisions in real time
Clonebyme allows you to create digital employees who do the work of experts in different sectors, saving time and improving efficiency to all of them without exception. «In Industrial Engineering, an AI agent interprets technical schemes and automatically complete the legal documentation, preventing the engineer from wasting time in process or that the administrative has to deal with technical data. More productivity and more capacity to assume projects without extra paperwork, ”he sets as an example.
From Clonebyme they are aware of the growth that the use of avatars is having and do not believe it is a passenger fashion. “More and more companies use them because they humanize the interaction with AI and make virtual attendees closer and easier to use,” says the person responsible. They ensure that in some cases human treatment will always be preferable, especially in situations where empathy and interpretation of emotions are key. “But in those where an Avatar of AI can do well and the human being demands it, it has all the way.” Therefore, in the coming years, with the improvement in AI and 3D modeling, «avatars will be even more realistic, expressive and integrated in all types of platforms. What seems innovative today, will soon be a standard in the way we interact with technology ».
In April of last year Microsoft presented Vasa-1, its new model of AI with which realistic avatars can be created from a static image and a voice clip. Faces simulate being people thanks to the tools of the Stylegan2 and Dall · E-3, but none of them corresponds to real identities. As the company explains on the web, the movement of the lips is carefully synchronized with the audio. In addition, it makes it clear that with this research it is not intended to create content that is used to induce error or deceit and we are interested in applying their technique to advance the detection of falsifications.
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