Not quite like those old Max Bygraves record albums, but another example of the same Lat-style Miku model we saw yesterday (version 2·3, which seems to be the favourite of all her models for amateur Augmented Reality experimenters), this time singing and moving to match the piano playing.
How it is done is shown and explained, and it a good example of how the Vocaloid technology can operate in either direction. At a concert the band have to synchronise with the performer, but in this case it's the other way round. Of course, the pianist has to keep proper timing otherwise it's going to come out rather strangely, but apart from that it seems to be a logical development.
It certainly works well here, even if Miku gets a little nonplussed if certain actions are made too repetitive...
Showing posts with label augmented reality. Show all posts
Showing posts with label augmented reality. Show all posts
Wednesday, 13 November 2013
Tuesday, 12 November 2013
Dancing on the Table
Now, I've heard of table dancing, but I have a feeling it does not conventionally refer to what Miku is doing in Augmented Reality (AR) on this table.
This is a relatively early application of AR to Miku, and features the really nice Lat-style model of her. Apart from (minimal) 'sliding feet syndrome', it is very good indeed. The motion is from a performance by a 'Yumiko', apparently: I hadn't heard of that name in this context before.
At this time (earlier this decade) there were at least two popular AR programs/systems around:OpenCV and ARToolKit. From viewing several of each, I do gain the impression that the latter was the better quality, though no doubt everything has moved on a fair amount in the intervening two to three years.
The song here is Tell Me!! The Magical Lyrics...
This is a relatively early application of AR to Miku, and features the really nice Lat-style model of her. Apart from (minimal) 'sliding feet syndrome', it is very good indeed. The motion is from a performance by a 'Yumiko', apparently: I hadn't heard of that name in this context before.
At this time (earlier this decade) there were at least two popular AR programs/systems around:OpenCV and ARToolKit. From viewing several of each, I do gain the impression that the latter was the better quality, though no doubt everything has moved on a fair amount in the intervening two to three years.
The song here is Tell Me!! The Magical Lyrics...
Tuesday, 16 July 2013
Miku in Roppongi Hills
This Augmented Reality (AR) event is running from today until 21 July, with a performance every ten minutes of the song Packaged (by 'kz livetune', who is most famous for Tell Your World).
So, if you are lucky enough to be able to get to Roppongi in Japan, and have an Android device or a PlayStation Vita, you can download the app, go and point your device at a specific building (the Metro Hat), and get the performance on the evenings of these six days.
Oddly, the specific hours it works aren't related to any specific transmissions, as one might have thought, but are taken from your own 'phone/device's closk(!). Here are the details of the event, complete with a download link for the app.
For the rest of us, this video (in rather a noisy location, so the sound isn't clear – but you'll get the idea) will probably have to suffice, though I now learn (at 0600 hrs on 17 July) that this image of the building can be used as a substitute...
So, if you are lucky enough to be able to get to Roppongi in Japan, and have an Android device or a PlayStation Vita, you can download the app, go and point your device at a specific building (the Metro Hat), and get the performance on the evenings of these six days.
Oddly, the specific hours it works aren't related to any specific transmissions, as one might have thought, but are taken from your own 'phone/device's closk(!). Here are the details of the event, complete with a download link for the app.
For the rest of us, this video (in rather a noisy location, so the sound isn't clear – but you'll get the idea) will probably have to suffice, though I now learn (at 0600 hrs on 17 July) that this image of the building can be used as a substitute...
Saturday, 13 July 2013
Miku Live In Your Hand
Readers of this who remember Lapis at Vocafarre and the Domino's Pizza live performing Miku on the pizza box will recognise this latest use of the same Augmented Reality (AR) technology to do much the same as (especially) the latter of those two, but at a specific location rather than anywhere you take your pizza box.
Because of that, again it isn't something that we here in the west can (yet) have; but it reminds us of what can be done these days with a smartphone or tablet that shows the scene via its built-in camera. Note that there are laser and glowstick effects added into the scene as well...
Because of that, again it isn't something that we here in the west can (yet) have; but it reminds us of what can be done these days with a smartphone or tablet that shows the scene via its built-in camera. Note that there are laser and glowstick effects added into the scene as well...
Thursday, 28 March 2013
Virtual Meeting at Home
To anyone reading this who thought my short story (posted here nearly two months ago) was in any way far-fetched, check this out and also bear in mind how much has (at last) been achieved in this whole area in just a few years, after a period of apparent stagnation in this area of technology.
Now extrapolate that rate of development from where we are now to where we are likely to be in another sixteen and more years from today, and you can surely accept that all that I envisaged ought by that time to be possible.
This, today, is Augmented Reality, which I now understand better than I did when writing about the VocaFarre event a while back. You'll see what I mean about this interactive technology that places a virtual character in your own on-camera environment, such as in your home or neighbourhood.
Of course, you'll need to wear the special glasses; but I can see this merging with Google's experimental glasses so it could easily become commonplace worldwide quite soon...
Now extrapolate that rate of development from where we are now to where we are likely to be in another sixteen and more years from today, and you can surely accept that all that I envisaged ought by that time to be possible.
This, today, is Augmented Reality, which I now understand better than I did when writing about the VocaFarre event a while back. You'll see what I mean about this interactive technology that places a virtual character in your own on-camera environment, such as in your home or neighbourhood.
Of course, you'll need to wear the special glasses; but I can see this merging with Google's experimental glasses so it could easily become commonplace worldwide quite soon...
Tuesday, 22 January 2013
Fairy On My Shoulder
Well, it's Lapis Aoki who is on the guitarist's shoulder for Little Wish (following her Daydream Flight) in this Vocafarre live conference event, which also features the likes of Tone Rion, Gumi (Megpoid) and Akikoloid.
This was a remarkable event as it featured the vocaloids as true holograms (at last!) whereas they are usually either merely rendered on computer/game console screens or – at concerts – projected onto two-dimensional displays/surfaces. I say "at last" but this was over a year ago, and it still hasn't been made sufficiently technically viable to become mainstream. It's obviously on the way, though...
Technically, the main method being used here is Augmented Reality (known as 'AR') along with some more conventional methods, as with the action at the side wall and with the dummy-like figures at the rear of the main stage. Specifically, although no commenter I have yet encountered on this event has said this, I believe it is what is known as Spatial Augmented Reality, with a lot of projectors, that has achieved what we encounter in watching this event.
The consequence of the new technology is that, even when sharing a stage with human performers, the vocaloids have had to be behind the humans. That limitation has now gone, and they can strut their stuff at the front along with the best of them. Okay, so they probably are the best of them, at least in respect of strutting/dancing, but you get the point!
Meanwhile, others have been trying other so-called 'full body' projection. For example, Miku has appeared thus using a water tank as a 3-D display medium, though I have no details or photos on that as yet.
Now, with this event, there's a lot of warm-up and nothing very interesting to us as non conference-goers happens until thirty and a half minutes in, so do feel free to 'scroll' to that point, certainly on your first viewing I'd suggest. Each featured vocaloid is then first introduced via still images and samples of tracks, then we go to the real action, whether it's on the main stage, the 'fairy stage', or the solo guitarist.
It has to be said that the technology isn't quite there yet: the technical quality isn't quite as good as the best Dreamy Theater productions I have been featuring here in recent weeks – though this will show only in full-screen play – and there is an occasional minor glitch, causing the holographic elements to suddenly move a little. But this all shows where the business is heading and it is without any doubt good enough for now. We can live with the imperfections!
As per the slogan I recently added to this 'blog's banner, in the next few minutes this could well melt hearts (especially the Lapis part at 40 minutes in) and cause jaws to drop. Watch especially for the mobile camera shots that prove this is truly holographic...
This was a remarkable event as it featured the vocaloids as true holograms (at last!) whereas they are usually either merely rendered on computer/game console screens or – at concerts – projected onto two-dimensional displays/surfaces. I say "at last" but this was over a year ago, and it still hasn't been made sufficiently technically viable to become mainstream. It's obviously on the way, though...
Technically, the main method being used here is Augmented Reality (known as 'AR') along with some more conventional methods, as with the action at the side wall and with the dummy-like figures at the rear of the main stage. Specifically, although no commenter I have yet encountered on this event has said this, I believe it is what is known as Spatial Augmented Reality, with a lot of projectors, that has achieved what we encounter in watching this event.
The consequence of the new technology is that, even when sharing a stage with human performers, the vocaloids have had to be behind the humans. That limitation has now gone, and they can strut their stuff at the front along with the best of them. Okay, so they probably are the best of them, at least in respect of strutting/dancing, but you get the point!
Meanwhile, others have been trying other so-called 'full body' projection. For example, Miku has appeared thus using a water tank as a 3-D display medium, though I have no details or photos on that as yet.
Now, with this event, there's a lot of warm-up and nothing very interesting to us as non conference-goers happens until thirty and a half minutes in, so do feel free to 'scroll' to that point, certainly on your first viewing I'd suggest. Each featured vocaloid is then first introduced via still images and samples of tracks, then we go to the real action, whether it's on the main stage, the 'fairy stage', or the solo guitarist.
It has to be said that the technology isn't quite there yet: the technical quality isn't quite as good as the best Dreamy Theater productions I have been featuring here in recent weeks – though this will show only in full-screen play – and there is an occasional minor glitch, causing the holographic elements to suddenly move a little. But this all shows where the business is heading and it is without any doubt good enough for now. We can live with the imperfections!
As per the slogan I recently added to this 'blog's banner, in the next few minutes this could well melt hearts (especially the Lapis part at 40 minutes in) and cause jaws to drop. Watch especially for the mobile camera shots that prove this is truly holographic...
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