Unveiling Siren, the Digitally Crafted Entity That Mirrors Your Ideal Companion
In a groundbreaking reveal at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco, Epic Games introduced a digital human character named Siren. This remarkable project is a collaboration between Epic Games, Tencent, Cubic Motion, 3Lateral, and Vicon, four leading companies in the field of digital human creation and real-time animation technology.
Siren is a CGI character streamed directly into Epic Games' Unreal Engine, running at an impressive 60 frames per second. The team behind this project aimed to challenge ideas of what a synthetic human could be, pushing the boundaries of digital human realism.
The creation of Siren involved the motion capture of real actors, Alexa Lee and Bingjie Jiang, to record nuanced performance data. This data drives the highly detailed and realistic digital avatar of Siren. Technologies used include photorealistic rendering, real-time muscle and skin simulation, AI-driven animation smoothing, and advanced facial rigging.
Vicon, a provider of motion capture hardware, contributed to Siren's lifelike movement. The company's Shogun 1.2 software was used to capture Siren's body and finger movements, while Alexa Lee wore a full-body suit and head-mounted camera to provide motion capture for Siren's actions.
While Siren's uncanny valley implications are still present, particularly in the arms, the combined expertise of these companies aims to produce avatars viewers can emotionally connect with, blending technical innovation with artistic performance. When the video featuring Siren is paused, it appears real, a testament to the team's dedication to achieving lifelike realism.
This cutting-edge collaboration in real-time graphics, motion capture, and AI-driven character performance is expected to shape the future of digital humans, according to the speaker. For more precise details on the "Siren" project, you might want to look for announcements or showcases directly from Epic Games or the involved partners.
The digital human character, Siren, is powered by artificial-intelligence-driven animation smoothing within Epic Games' Unreal Engine. The lifelike movement of Siren was captured using Vicon's motion capture hardware and software, blending technology and art to create a synthetic human that is emotionally connectable.
