Meet Saya, an Ultra Realistic, Computer Generated Japanese Schoolgirl

[Michael Tabbut]

Anyone here played Song of Saya?
Pro-tip, don't, it is seriously messed up.

Was wondering when somebody would bring that one up. That will be the next model I'm sure.

 

[Lightknight]

Pictures are one thing, movement is quite another. Very cool though.

 

[Casual Shinji]

There's two kinds of 'realistic' in this regard; Physical realism, and the impression of life. If you told me this was the newest real-doll I'd be inclined to believe you. But anyone trying to even remotely pass this off as indistinguishable from a real life, flesh and blood human really needs to get out more. Bugs Bunny is more lifelike than this girl.

You're only saying that because you know that she isn't real. If you saw this picture somewhere on the internet you'd probably think it was some kind of fashion model. Heavily Photoshopped and with a lot of makeup perhaps, but real nonetheless. There's nothing about her that looks like CGI or plastic.

If it was a thumbnail, maybe. But the size picture in this article... no. Nothing in that face looks like it posses motion of any kind. Again, if you told me this was some wax scuplture, I'd buy that, but there's no way I'd mistake this for a living person.

You can produce a CGI face that is indistinguishable from reality, but this isn't it. Show some imperfections in the skin, make her pose in a way that comes off natural, maybe tilt the head a bit, and ruffle up the hair just enough. She can still look like a fashion model, just one with a pulse.

People criticize that kind of Realistic CG as very Uncanny Valley, but persoanlly I find giving realistic hair strands and realistic skin texture to very cartoony looking characters in Frozen more Uncanny Valley than something like Heavy Rain and Beyond Two Souls.

Well, that's the other extreme, and while I didn't have that problem with Frozen I certain did with Brave, where the textures were just too realistic for the artstyle, making a lot of the characters look like creepy troll dolls come to life.

 

[Major_Tom]

Whoops, I clicked quote instead of edit.

 

[Callate]

The reflective/translucent effect of the eyes and skin is, indeed, impressive. I wonder how long it takes to render such an image?

Comparatively, their dissatisfaction with the hair seems like a minor point; hair is a beast in regards to processing time, but otherwise it seems to be a problem that others working in CG have more or less licked.

 

[Cold Shiny]

But does she have a sister named Diva?

Or more importantly, does she have a Chello playing butler/boyfriend named Haji? >

OT: Anyway, pretty well done. Saya looks pretty real. Then again, she is standing completely still. Getting a person to not look weird in motion is the really hard bit I'd imagine.

In the interest of validating you, I will simply acknowledge your reference so that you know at least one other person got it.

I love that anime

 

[viranimus]

... And with that let the clamoring for a new console generation begin.

 

[kyp275]

I've seen in-game character models that look more realistic than this.

Highly doubtful, I'd bet a million dollars that if you take one of these pictures and another one of any other video game characters and show them to random people in the street, the overwhelming majority is going to disagree with you.

Honestly? I have yet to see a more convincing performance than the moment in Half Life 2 where Alex saves your butt from getting its ass kicked from Combine officers, early in the game. Because indeed, as Shinji and someone else said; it's the imperfections and movements that matter. And Alex embodied that, despite the texture resolution being lower, despite the lighting being a lot more crude.

Wait what? there's good animation due to motion capture, but that's hardly the only thing that contributes to "looking like real life" Frankly, while these pics are arguably still in the uncanny valley, nothing in HL2 is even on the same continent.

I'm sure a lot of work went into making this, but it looks too pristine, which is likely due to Japan's obsession with girls being all pure and demure.

sigh, I'd say what Jake Martinez said to Cowabungaa about ill informed cultural interpretation applies to you as well.

 

[Baresark]

I see a bright future for companies that make virtual girlfriends.

 

[loa]

So where's the video to see the thing in motion?
Oh, you think "pole vaulting the uncanny valley" has to do with still images looking pretty?
That's cute. In other news, people made a 3d model. Shocking.

Not quite the inane bullshit that the donald trump photoshop article was but still, I see this nonsense crop up on the news feed and still wouldn't know that undertale exists if I trusted this site alone.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

The CGI Tintin still has some of the best CGI work I've seen. It isn't trying to be realistic, but it gets close enough to trick you into thinking everyone has a giant nose in real life that I'm happy.

 

[Metalrocks]

certainly impressive work. no doubt there. but of course on closer inspection you can see that she is indeed fake. but still, well done.

 

[Cowabungaa]

Well, I thought it was more humorous to be sarcastic than to point out your cultural xenophobia!

snip

Because God knows being critical of a culture immediately implies being a xenophobe.

Look, if you want to read all of that in that short sentence I wrote, go right ahead. But I have better things to do than counter straw man arguments all day. But for the record; I'm glad this isn't sexualized, I never even thought it was.

Wait what? there's good animation due to motion capture, but that's hardly the only thing that contributes to "looking like real life" Frankly, while these pics are arguably still in the uncanny valley, nothing in HL2 is even on the same continent.

Well, there's a difference between looking like real life, and looking, well human. And to me, Half Life 2's characters gave me a lot more human feeling than this model does. It leaves me cold, whereas Alex Vance's smile while she helped me up felt a lot more genuine, a lot more warm. I won't deny that this model is a lot more high quality. Just look at those textures and whatnot. But that doesn't seem to cut it for me.

 

[pookie101]

I'll be the not full of shit guy, totally wouldn't know its CGI without someone telling me. Impressive indeed.

i probably wouldnt either but there is something off about it i cant put my finger on

 

[Metalrocks]

I'll be the not full of shit guy, totally wouldn't know its CGI without someone telling me. Impressive indeed.

i probably wouldnt either but there is something off about it i cant put my finger on

i would say she looks a bit too shiny and clear, so as too clean; which you would not see on a human being in a photo. you can clearly see it when you have a closer look. but yes, when i saw it first i also thought it was real. until i read the title and started looking at it more clearly. then you start to see the CG which others have pointed out as well.

 

[Aesir23]

Hmm, her skin is too perfect, as well as her hair, and her shirt is apparently made of plastic. Also, what's the deal with the thousand-yard stare? Is she a Nagasaki survivor or something? I looked at their site and I think they did much better job with this dude:

Spoiler

Look at the tiny hairs on his ears! Now, that's impressive. You can also see the weave pattern on his shirt.

I would definitely agree with you about the thousand-yard stare since I think I would more likely mistake her for one of the wax figures at Madame Tussaud's than a real person. That picture in the spoiler is very impressive though and I think I would definitely more easily mistake him for a real person. Either way, regardless of the subject of the photos I think it's safe to say that these artists are incredibly talented.

 

[FFHAuthor]

Nope, can still tell it's not a real person.

It's exceptionally good, but a portrait profile gives the human eye and mind too many parallels with real people for it to be tricked. Of course, at a distance without the image looking dead at the camera it would be more than ample at convincing me that it's a real person, but then that's trying to deny the brain enough information to properly process it rather than trying to get it every bit of information that's perfectly real.

 

[stormtrooper9091]

Does she show boobs? Nobody would care if they weren't at least hoping she would

 

[CrystalShadow]

You know, thinking about it, I find it oddly disturbing that someone would describe girls as having skin that is 'soft and moist'.

They're not apple pies you know. >_>
~Shudder~ Wow, that makes it even worse. XD

 

[laggyteabag]

I could tell that it was CGI after seeing the picture in which she looks straight on at the camera, but in the others, it is a lot harder to tell, and probably wouldn't have noticed if I wasn't told.

But yes, show me how she moves and speaks, and then we will see if it looks realistic or not.

Also, schoolgirl because of course she is. Never change, Japan. Never change.