Gate.io Blog The "Virtual Human" is Sweeping Across the Whole Metaverse

The "Virtual Human" is Sweeping Across the Whole Metaverse

01 February 09:24

【TL; DR】
1. On 31st October 2021, Liu Yexi, "virtual human" idol, released her first video in tiktok. In one day, the video garnered more than 2 million likes and her fan base grew by over 1.3 million.
2. The Virtual human refers to a virtual image with anthropomorphic appearance based on CG technology.
3. According to the style of image art, virtual humans can be divided into super realistic, realistic, anthropomorphic, cartoon and other styles.
4. Virtual idols have incomparable advantages over traditional idols in many aspects.
5. The popularity of the virtual human industry benefits from the development of the concept of the metaverse. Many virtual humans need the metaverse as their scene and stage, and these virtual humans in turn have become an important component of the metaverse.

On 31st October 2021, Liu Yexi, "virtual human" idol, released her first video on tiktok. In the video, Liu Yexi wears traditional Chinese clothes and make-up in a mysterious background. In one day, the video garnered more than 2 million likes and her fan base grew by over 1.3 million. Currently, she has got more than 8 million fans on Tiktok. In the subsequent videos released, Liu Yexi used different styles of fine makeup and that enthralled her fan base. In the comments under her videos, netizens have also been asking questions about items like lipstick makeup. In Liu Yexi's official Tiktok bio, she writes that she is a virtual beauty expert who can hunt demons. This perception created in her bio, also gives Liu Yexi the potential to commercialize her account in the future.

Source: the team behind Liu Yexi - Chuangyi Technology

In 2021, with the explosion of the concept of the metaverse, the virtual human track has also received more attention. Virtual humans are even considered the tickets to the metaverse by many people. But, "what are virtual humans?", "Are virtual humans real people or AI's?", "Are virtual humans good business?" and other questions have also been searched repeatedly on various search engines.

What are virtual humans?
As early as 1989, the National Medical Library of the United States launched the "visible human program", which first proposed the concept of virtual digital human. The Virtual human refers to a virtual image with anthropomorphic appearance based on CG technology. Behind some virtual humans, real people will "play" virtual humans or dub for them through dynamic capture technology.

These real people behind them are called "real people in virtuality". Some other virtual humans do not have a real person to "play", and directly constructs a model or generates a model by AI. According to the style of image art, virtual humans can be divided into super realistic, realistic, anthropomorphic, cartoon and other styles. In addition, virtual humans can also be divided into many categories in accordance with functions and application scenarios.

Idol-style virtual humans (virtual idols) have a long history, which can be traced back to Japan in the 1990s, for example, virtual idols with singing and dancing elements such as Hatsune Miku. These Idol-style virtual humans have strong 2-D cultural attributes. The user communities of these early virtual idols were mainly created and operated by users spontaneously, and was slowly commercialized till entered into the mainstream market. One example is Luo Tianyi, who also appeared in the CCTV New Year Gala in 2021. Later, with the birth of the concept of virtual YouTube (vtuber), the commercial attribute of idol-style virtual humans became much more stronger. The earliest experimenter in this field was Kizuna AI, and then there was the A-Soul groups hatched by Yuehua Entertainment and ByteDance.

Gradually, the style of virtual idols expanded from the 2-D style to personification, realism and so on. Starting from 2020, a large number of super realistic virtual idols were born, such as super realistic virtual human AYAYI, Lil Miquela, Ling, etc. Some virtual humans have been generated by splicing computer-generated heads into real model photos, while others are completely generated by 3D technology.

Lil Miquela, a virtual human, is set as a 19-year-old girl living in Los Angeles and she was born of Spanish-Brazilian roots. She acts as a virtual idol and musician. She often "shares her life" on social platforms, performing real life activities such as taking photos with friends or attending brand activities. In China, the trend of virtual humans being brand ambassadors is rising. Ling mentioned above is the spokesperson of Florasis, a beauty brand. At present, product endorsement, business cooperation and other forms of business partnerships are the main sources of income for virtual idols. Such interaction adds to the authenticity of virtual idols.

Because they are artificial images, virtual idols have incomparable advantages over traditional idols in many aspects. Compared with traditional or real idols, virtual idols never have gossip and can always maintain their beauty. As long as they build their own public personas well, they won't ruin them generally. Virtual idols have the characteristics of "virtual and real symbiosis", which is more fashionable and attractive to young people. In addition, for brokerage companies, virtual idols are also "safer" and more convenient for business cooperation.
At present, creating a look close to a real person costs a lot. Such super realistic virtual humans often can't live broadcast for a long time like VTuber, but are active on social media in the form of short videos or pictures. How to overcome difficulties in technology and make virtual humans really move and live in the digital world is still an urgent problem to be solved.

Next Stop: Metaverse
According to the research report on the development of China's virtual idol industry and netizen survey in 2021 by iiMedia Research, in 2020, the core market share of China's virtual idol business was RMB3.46 billion, and the market share of accessories was approximately RMB64.56 billion. It is estimated that by 2023, the core market share will reach RMB20.52 billion and the scale of the market share of accessories will attain RMB333.47 billion.

The popularity of the virtual human industry benefits from the development of the concept of the metaverse. Many virtual humans will finally need the metaverse as their scene and stage, and these virtual humans in turn will become an important part of the content of the metaverse. In addition to those completely artificial virtual humans, in an immersive virtual world such as the metaverse, perhaps each of us needs a virtual human as our own avatar to better meet our social and entertainment needs.

if virtual idol images (such as Hatsune Miku) which are jointly organized and re-created by players is "virtual human 1.0", then the virtual anchors who can interact in real time through motion capture and other technologies are "virtual human 2.0", while the current popular super realistic virtual idols and virtual KOLs (i.e. key opinion leaders) are "virtual human 3.0". But even so, the current virtual humans are still immature in terms of technical means, application scenarios and commercial channels. In the future metaverse, all kinds of digital virtual humans will become a significant part of people's life. In the metaverse, what people need most is imagination. Maybe we will have not only virtual musicians, virtual models and virtual KOLs, but also virtual teachers and even virtual doctors.

In the following articles, we will also deeply analyze the relationship between the virtual human industry and the metaverse. Please keep an eye on the following updates on the Gate.io platform.

Author: Gate.io Observer: Ashley.H
Disclaimer:
* This article represents only the views of the observers and does not constitute any investment suggestions.
*Gate.io reserves all rights to this article. Reposting of the article will be permitted provided Gate.io is referenced. In all other cases, legal action will be taken due to copyright infringement.

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