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**Saitama Institute of Technology’s AR Tourism Project with Virtual Character**
The Human Social Sciences Department at Saitama Institute of Technology collaborated with the local community to launch a tourism support project using cutting-edge CG & AR technologies. To promote the tourist spots in Tadami Town, Fukushima Prefecture, where the JR Tadami Line resumed operations after 11 years in 2021, an original video was created featuring the town’s approved character, “Mitsuishi Yukari”. This project was developed by both the Morisawa and Motoyoshi labs, with the video being introduced at the “JR Tadami Line’s 60th-anniversary ceremony” on August 20, 2023. The video will be broadcasted at various locations in Tadami and shared via social media platforms like YouTube.
The character “Attendol” was developed as a virtual idol to introduce the charms of tourist spots. It utilizes real-time animation, allowing for efficient video shooting. For the production of the PR video, they employed 3DCG character production software, a mini motion sensor, and smartphones, capturing scenes on location in Tadami’s tourist spots.
Mitsuishi Yukari, the character introducing Tadami town, was born as part of the JR Tadami Line utilization project and is currently being used for promotions as the town’s official character.
The Attendol project aims to develop content using the “Attendol” CG character, which specializes in real-time animation. It targets domestic and international tourists and offers features like multilingual translation and on-location filming. The software “VRoid Studio” is primarily used for character model creation, and the CG model in the VRM format for Attendol can be operated in real-time using the “Mocopi” mini motion sensor.