February 2, 2004
F’rubber
Here’s a new article highlighting some of the issues involved with creating virtual humans, including a mention of the “Uncanny Valley” phenomenon.
This is an issue for robotic and on-screen animated characters alike. We were faced with avoiding the creepiness factor when making Babyz; we did so by keeping the characters cartoony enough. But it was an issue during the design, that we focus tested. Similarly, Facade is rendered in an illustrative style. Of course more abstract faces and bodies have the advantage of being easier to implement — a double-win.
February 9th, 2004 at 9:18 pm
Here’s a short article that discusses the uncanny valley from the perspective of artists and writers creating characters for print and film.
June 13th, 2004 at 7:59 pm
Here’s a new Slate article on the uncanny valley, by Clive Thompson, a prolific journalist who often writes about digital culture (and who posted some comments on this blog last February when we discussed his NYTimes magazine cover article, “The Enemy Within”).