Shaping the future of gaming with HUMAIN’s AI-generated digital characters

Abstract:  

As the digital frontier expands, the creation of highly detailed and expressive 3D avatars has become a cornerstone in immersive experiences, particularly in the gaming industry. At Humain, we are at the forefront of this innovation, dedicating our efforts to harnessing AI technologies to revolutionize the production process of these avatars. Our seminar at the University of Surrey will delve into how Humain has been pioneering in the field, striving to improve not just the efficiency but also the quality of 3D avatar creation. We are excited to highlight our ongoing collaboration with the University of Surrey's AI Centre, aiming to establish a close partnership that furthers our mission. We will discuss our multi-disciplinary approach that blends psychology, anatomy, animation, coding, and art to craft avatars that are not only visually stunning but also capable of conveying complex emotions and actions seamlessly. This talk will explore our journey, the challenges we've overcome, and how AI has been instrumental in achieving our goals, offering insights into the future of 3D avatar technology and its implications for the gaming industry and beyond.

Short bio:

Greg Maguire has been instrumental in the launch and development of numerous heavy-hitters of animation including Walt Disney Feature Animation, Industrial Light & Magic, Lucasfilm Animation, and Digital Domain. His film credits include Academy Award-nominated Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Academy Award-winning Happy Feet, and Avatar. He was an R&D Supervisor at Lucasfilm Animation and a Creature Supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic. As a Professor of Animation at Ulster University, he founded the 3D computer animation program at Ulster University and led its research cluster, Future, and Virtual Worlds. He sits on the board of directors of Northern Ireland Screen is a member of the Visual Effects Society and MIT alumnus.

Robert Kosk is an Applied Research Scientist at Humain. He developed novel methods in geometric deep learning of 3D faces and personalised blendshapes generation. As part of his Engineering Doctorate (EngD) degree at the Centre for Digital Entertainment (CDE) at Bournemouth University, he introduced Deep Spectral Meshes, a deep learning method with state-of-the-art results in geometric and perceptual quality of synthesised 3D meshes. Robert has a background in computer graphics and VFX. He received his bachelor's degree in Computer Visualisation and Animation from the National Centre for Computer Animation (NCCA), Bournemouth University, UK. His research interests include geometric deep learning, computer vision and computational geometry.

Tianxiang Yang is an R&D Software Developer and KTP Associate at Humain. With a solid foundation in Computer Science from the University of Liverpool, by leveraging cutting-edge machine learning and deep learning techniques, he is at the forefront of developing innovative solutions to dramatically reduce the time and cost of creating highly emotive, interactive digital humans.