Crossing the Uncanny Valley

[billroper]

My brother-in-law, jeff_duntemann wrote about problems with animating humans and the uncanny valley, where things that look almost human look creepy. This Wall Street Journal article explores a new technology that may -- or may not -- get animation of human beings to the non-creepy side of the valley.

Of course, you end up with creepy, green-glowing images during the process, but they go away before you're done.

Comments

[drzarron.livejournal.com]

VERY cool stuff. I do miss talking with Jeff, too cool for school

More on the same subject

[hvideo.livejournal.com]

Today the San Jose Mercury News had a similar article:

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/business/technology/15163964.htm

[blueeyedtigress.livejournal.com]

One thing that "they", the researchers, don't seem to glom onto is the idea that the valley exists in different places for different (groups of?) observers. Case in point: Polar Express. I recall many people telling me how creepy the faces, the eyes, the humans in general were in that production -- I, OTOH, found them fairly comfortable, so much so that I was constantly within a hair's-breadth of forgetting it was animation. Definitely not within my definition-range of "creepy".

Although I will admit that my disbelief has always been a little easier to willingly suspend than many others'. ;]

[madfilkentist]

Weird thought of the day: I wonder if there's any connection between the "uncanny valley" phenomenon and racial hostility. People of different genetic makeup look almost like "normal people," but not quite, and this causes nervousness; then people come up with rationalizations for their nervousness by attributing various negative characteristics to these strange-looking others.