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Dispatches From The Uncanny Valley

Dispatches From The Uncanny Valley

Kara Shows Off Scarily Realistic Motion Capture on PS3

by Max Eddy | 1:48 pm, March 9th

On the left is actor Valorie Curry (Veronica Mars) and on the right is Valorie Curry as rendered by Quantic Dream and their new motion capture capability. The screenshot right was taken from a short film called Kara, which is rendered in real-time on a PS3 sing Quantic’s new motion capture engine. Unlike previous techniques, the system uses 64 cameras to record the entire actor in one go, capturing body and facial expressions all at once. For it’s part, Kara is a remarkable piece of work, and features the most scantily clad robot in recent history. Clearly Quantic knew how to grab headlines: Amazing technology, semi-naked robots.

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Dispatches From The Uncanny Valley

Show Your Loved Ones You Really Care With A Hyper-Realistic Mask of Yourself

by Max Eddy | 3:55 pm, October 10th

The husband enters the room, bearing a gift box in his hands. His wife of 10 years watches eagerly, the remains of a steak dinner in front of her. “Darling,” he begins. “I wanted to give you the best gift imaginable to commemorate our time together.” She draws in a small breath as he lifts the lid of the box. “So I gave you a photo-realistic mask of myself.”

The preceeding scenario has not and, hopefully will not, ever happen, but don’t tell that to Japanese company Real-f. Using a system called 3DPF, or “3 Dimension Photo Forms,” a series of photos taken from multiple angles are composited into freakishly lifelike images and fixed to vinyl chloride resin shaped after your own visage. The company says that minute details like pores and blood vessels are what set their product apart. Fantastic. The masks go for around $3,920 for the first, with each subsequent mask costing a paltry $780 each. You can even get a complete replica head made, for $5,875 for the original and copies for $1,960 after that. Why you would want to do that is anyone’s guess.

Are these masks impressive? Yes. Unsettling? Very yes. More images below, if you can handle the weird.

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Dispatches From The Uncanny Valley

There’s a Shop in Japan That Will Put Your Face on a Creepy Doll

by Max Eddy | 2:16 pm, July 24th

Thanks to the Japan-based company Clone Factory, you can give the gift of an unsettling plastic simulacrum formed deep within the uncanny valley. Blogger Danny Choo has a post up explaining the entire process, which involves multi-angle photography, face-mapping, and custom 3D printing. The cost of your very own pint-sized doppleganger is 138,000 yen or around $1,700, but the effect of it is priceless.

Clearly there’s a lot of high-technology and craftsmanship going into these dolls, but that doesn’t change how unbelievably creepy they are. See for yourself, after the break.

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