Avatar Live System by Digital Emotions

We thought we'd find out if Unity can be useful outside the game development industry.


It does. And it does it beautifully.


Avatar Live is Polish developer Digital Emotion's live animation system.




And what we mean by that, is we've developed a system that translates - in real time! - an actor's performance onto a virtual character shown at the big screen during interactive stage shows, educational shows, media events etc.







We hooked up pro mo-cap tech and bunch of other helpful stuff we could think about, to make an easy to use character control system. It allowed us to stage shows with digital and live actors interacting with themselves and with the audience.


The way people react is incredible




Avatar Live isn't an artificial intelligence. It's human intelligence. In simple words: when people talk with our Avatars, they basically talk to another person... but they're not aware of that. And they are genuinely shocked when a digital character reacts like a human being. Kids in the audience of our interactive shows are simply amazed that they can talk to a giant cartoon whale... but the adults are even more.





Let's say we do a promotional event for a company. We install a large screen inside a shopping mall and our actor / Avatar starts coversations with passers-by. First they're offbeat: a character from the screen just talked to them, what the...? Then they think it's a pre-programmed bot and try to find its weak spot. They ask something non evident or want an opinion on current issues. Then they get a witty improvised answer and they're simply amazed. They just don't know what's going on. It's like experiencing movie magic for the first time. The effect is spectacular. We get a lot of laughs and we are remembered.


Our main attraction are stage shows


We have gigantic screens set up in front of the audience, we write a screenplay and hire an actor to host the show in person. He or she talks to the animated character and they both interact with audiences. It's mostly edutainment – Bluey the Whale tells about aquatic life, iRo the Robot talks technology, and so on, but we also do pure entertainment.







It all works great because learning about stuff is much more fun when you get to talk to a dinosaur or an alien. Also, there are quizzes and games during our shows, there are dance routines by background characters, and more. Basically every time we get full audience and people WANT to participate. It's amazing.









So how does it work?


Depending on the compexity of a character, we use one or two operators, which are skilled actors. We can set up an installation in about 45 minutes, and operate it remotely from any place in the world. It saves us a lot of money, as we don't have to transport the actors, only the core equipment. The control panel is as simple as possible, so the actors don't have to go through a complicated training.






Our tech has no limits. Seriously!


At the time when we started our work, we wanted to do media events. Promotional stuff, that's all. We didn't expect that the technology would be used in medicine to treat kids with mental issues (i.e. autism), but it turns out talking to a cartoon character helps them to open up to the world.


Now we cooperate with child healt clinics, science centers, theme parks and many, many more places.







We have Avatars of historical figures and fantastic creatures, operating in jungle, cybernetic, underwater and other kinds of environments. If there's a limit to our work, it's the limit of imagination.


If we seem excited, it's because we are. We simply love our work.


If you'd like to know more, or perhaps hire one of our Avatars, please visit www.digitalemotions.pl.


If you have any questions – we have answers.

 

I'd love to see it in action! Do you happen to have a (short) video of it? You've made a great product

 

thank you

few short videos with Avatar Live in action:

and how it looks from animator side :