**Kim Hyung-il, CEO of OnMind, â??We will grow into the worldâ??s best virtual human production companyâ?**
[CEO Invitation Seat] A pioneer of virtual humans, creating a virtual human ‘Sooa’
Recently, as Metaverse has established itself as a trend in the information and communication technology (ICT) field, OnMind’s core technology, ‘3D Digital Human’, is drawing attention.
On Mind, a subsidiary of Neptune, a Kakao affiliate, is a digital human development company. We are developing high-end virtual humans and producing contents in various fields using various characters. It was established in April 2020 with the cooperation of the 3D stereoscopic image (3D) character development team in the domestic game industry. In November of the same year, it was incorporated as a subsidiary of Neptune under Kakao Games.
Onmind consists of R&D that develops characters, art that creates styles or backgrounds for various characters, and a creative organization that plans content related to characters. Based on the self-developed 3D digital human realization technology and real-time rendering technology, the company is expanding alliances and cooperation with global IT leaders such as Unity and AMD.
â??CEO Kim Hyung-il, who focused on virtual human beings, shone ‘pioneering eye’â?
Founder Hyung-il Kim, CEO of Onmind, is a veteran in the related field who has been active as a character artist for over 13 years. He shows a keen interest in things related to virtual humans more than anyone else. After seeing a tech demo video of a virtual human being announced overseas, he was convinced that the field had no choice but to grow rapidly, so he decided to start a business to develop his own market.
He was a dreamy boy who liked animation and games. He was also curious about things that others didn’t and he liked to try new things. He recalled, â??The curiosity and challenge of virtual humans is to pioneer a new genre that others have not been interested in or have not been interested in.â? This background became the basis for the present On-Mind.
Being engaged in the profession of creating characters also played a part. I have been making characters in the game industry for a long time, and I have a desire to make Korean characters in a situation where most of the characters are from foreign countries. The first character Kim made with this determination is ‘IU’, which appeared in Nexon’s Sudden Attack. The virtual human character created with this character as the cornerstone is now Sua.
When asked about the background of the challenge, CEO Kim said, “The creation of virtual humans is related to human nature’s desire to create shapes that resemble human beings. â??He said. He said he is convinced that the birth of a virtual human that is more attractive than a real human will bring about a big change throughout the industry.
â??If virtual humans evolve to the level of thinking and acting on their own in combination with artificial intelligence (AI) in the future, many changes will occur in our lives,â? he said. However, he said, â??It is not easy to create a virtual human that requires real-time interaction, because it requires a high level of technology and artistic sense.â?
The typical difficulty he points to is the subtle discomfort between real humans and virtual humans. He explained that he made the physical form similar, but he had to project human emotions as well, but he has not yet reached that level.
To go beyond this, research and development (R&D) for technological advancement is essential, and this is the background for attracting investment. It is for this reason that in November 2020, seven months after its establishment, Neptune, a subsidiary of Kakao Games, accepted its opinion on the acquisition. In November of last year, it attracted investment of 7.9 billion won from SK Square.
What is ‘Suah’, a virtual human?
Onmind’s own virtual human character ‘Sooah’ is also actively developing technology that can be applied to various fields. Sua is the first real-time virtual human capable of real-time interaction in Korea.
Sua was created using the Unity engine. OnMind’s own 3D digital human implementation technology and real-time rendering technology have been added to enhance the level of perfection.
OnMind joined hands with Nasdaq-listed AMD last year to upgrade AMD Tres FX technology, which uses 3D character ‘Hair Simulation’ technology to make the virtual character’s hair move more realistically.
With the slogan of ‘Do what I want’, the virtual human ‘Sooah’ is active as a metaverse celebrity (a well-known celebrity) on social networking services (SNS) TikTok and Instagram, with a bright, clean image and bouncing charm. are doing Recently, it is actively collaborating with various brands such as ‘Dunkin Donuts’ and ‘Laneige’. She also signed an advertising model contract with Unity Korea.
CEO Kim said, “Sua is almost complete, and in the second half of the year, new content will be introduced in various fields, including SNS and advertising models, as well as real-time broadcasting.”
The world’s best true aim in the field of virtual humans
CEO Kim set the goal of growing ‘Onmind’ into a company with the world’s best technology in the field of virtual humans. Onmind is evaluated for its unrivaled technological prowess not only in digital human synthesis technology but also in the field of full 3D digital human capable of real-time interaction, but CEO Kim thinks there is still a long way to go.
Since they need the help of experts in various fields, they spare no expense in recruiting excellent talent. “Only when we gather talented people with passion and expertise and continuously develop technology, we will become a company with the world-recognized ability to create virtual humans and content.”
He said, “In the future, through Instagram, we plan to infuse the character’s vitality with Sua’s worldview and storytelling while highlighting visual aspects such as lifestyle and fashion. I will also appeal to my charms as a creator through the appearance of â? he said.
Recently, the metaverse has become a hot topic and its importance and role are growing. Onmind’s real-time interactive virtual human production technology is expected to play an important role in the metaverse ecosystem in the future.
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