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**Rapid Advancements in the Digital Persona Industry: The Evolution of Virtual Characters and their Impending Commercial Impact**
On July 26 in Shanghai, virtual artist Chuncao sang her debut song, “Breaking Through,” at the launch of “The Legend of Chuncao: The Crisis of Muhe.” This sparked a wave of shock within the industry and market: how quickly have digital humans evolved?
Chuncao is the main character of the domestically produced, movie-like, cloud-native game “The Legend of Chuncao,” which was born in August last year. From the early Luo Tianyi and Ye Xiu to the ultra-realistic “Teresa Teng,” Chuncao, Ji Feng (the digital human of artist Gong Jun), and various digital hosts, virtual humans have entered our lives in various ways, continuously expanding life’s boundaries.
Next, a large wave of digital humans is about to strike: the digital human “Shan Feng” of star Qin Lan, digital humans of the 10 boys in “Farming, Young Man!,” and virtual humans of classic characters like Li Xiaoyao and Zhao Ling’er in “The Legend of Sword and Fairy”…”They (virtual humans) are the future stars of the digital domain,” Guo Jianjun, the founder and chairman of Weiling Times, told the Daily Economic News reporter. “If we are to enter the future virtual world, then everyone needs a virtual avatar.”
The door to the next era has already been opened, but in a city full of virtual humans, how to break through? How will these virtual humans establish connections with businesses?
Creating a virtual human will be as simple as taking a picture.
The blessing of AIGC has made virtual humans the darlings of the market. They can livestream to sell goods, become singers, models, participate in programs, become presenters, etc., and more and more companies and capital are also involved in the investment and production of virtual humans.
“‘Chuncao’ is a digital human actor we created, and she has now become a digital human singer,” Guo Jianjun said. The process of making Chuncao was “very painful”. “We have high aesthetic requirements and also want to summarize a set of methods suitable for the industry while creating Chuncao, and create a production platform for future developers to create 3D digital humans.”
According to Guo Jianjun, the company is trying to use AI to do more things and hopes that players can also create virtual humans themselves in the future. “We will open the platform, open all abilities and tools, and each player can not only create their own AI but also have benign interactions with AI, and even emotional ties.”
Guo Jianjun stated that in the process of massive player production of virtual humans, many AI tools will be autonomously learned. “At first, abilities are weaker, and you can first design clothes for the virtual human. Currently, this can be achieved through ‘mapping’. For example, first take a photo of a piece of clothing, and then make it using VR in the platform. You can also choose voices, hairstyles, etc. that you like for the virtual human.” As players become familiar with AI tools, “you can later go to places like 798, the Forbidden City to take photos of grand scenes, form scenes through stylization, and your character (virtual human) can live in them.”
Guo Jianjun believes that the future of virtual humans is promising. AiMedia data predicts that by 2025, the size of the Chinese virtual human-driven industry market and the core market will be 6,402.7 billion yuan and 480.6 billion yuan respectively. The virtual human industry will maintain a steady growth trend. The “Deep Industry Report on Virtual Digital Humans” predicts that by 2030, the overall market size of our country’s virtual humans will reach 2,700 billion yuan.
Animation, film, music, games, live broadcasts and other rich digital application scenarios will all be places where virtual humans can show their skills. However, as virtual humans land in various industries, they will have to face various complex scenes and situations. Having an attractive appearance alone is not enough. They must “evolve” more real, more intelligent, and more human-like instant interactive abilities, expressive abilities, etc., to meet more business needs.
How to make virtual humans generate greater business value is a problem that is plaguing insiders.
“Last year, we held a metaverse New Year’s Eve concert for Ji Feng and Chuncao and released it on multiple platforms. Chuncao also served as a digital host and participated in the variety show ‘Come for the Voice.’ We also had many commercial cooperations with brands like Pop Mart.” Regarding this, Weihai Can Entertainment CEO Cai Juntao said at the launch of “The Legend of Chuncao: The Crisis of Muhe” that the work has combined film and television with games, and next will use the integration of virtual star IPs to connect the people, goods, and places of the virtual world for commercial realization.
Cai Juntao believes that celebrity virtual humans can bring more new tricks to commercial realization.
Guo Jianjun bluntly stated that doing various virtual human economies is actually laying the foundation for the construction of a virtual world.
“I believe the virtual world is meaningful. We currently have almost no choices, but if a huge virtual world similar to ‘Ready Player One’ can appear in the future, I believe that everyone’s talents can be displayed in different worlds.” Guo Jianjun believes that everyone will have more choices, find their comfort zones, and more choices are the greatest value the virtual world brings to humans.
“XR is certain for us. Why? Because the only channel for humans and the virtual world is VR and MR, we have no reason to block the connection with the virtual world. Digital humans are our avatars to the virtual world, and this avatar will represent us as the first protagonist of the virtual world,” said Guo Jianjun.
https://www.sohu.com/a/706731804_115362
https://www.sohu.com/a/706731804_115362