April 03, 2004

Miss Digital World: "The first online beauty competition, for the most beautiful and glamerous models made using the most advanced 3D graphic tools. Miss Digital World will take place on the internet in a three-dimensional environment. All the contestants will parade along a virtual catwalk, and - of course - there will be a virtual presenter and guests who will help to create the atmosphere of a beauty contest. The model who, at the end of the preliminary rounds, has the highest number of votes from net users, will be crowned on the site in a breathtaking, tear-jerking ceremony." (Teaser)
posted by naxosaxur 20 years ago
  • Can I be the first to go on record that I think this is soooo *creepy*? Guh. I can't wait for the first disqualification when someone submits a furry for evaluation.
  • Err, creating virtual models is no more creepy than common human body related art (why nobody finds Michelangelo's David creepy escapes my mind). The creepy part might be that they are labeling this as a "beauty competition". By the way, the works displayed in the teaser are clearly n00byish by current digital art standarts.
  • Tear-jerking huh? Onanism joke writes itself. I wonder if these people have seen any of the Poser porn out there. Suspect not, 'cause I can't imagine soliciting for more.
  • If they had the animation set for any of the software I use, I'd enter one of my "girls" in it, but ... there's little chance of me both acquiring and then learning how to use new software before the deadline. I think it's a cool idea! But then, I spend a lot of time working with female "models" of this sort. LOL!
  • I like the Canadian one, Webbie - pretty, but sensible. The one called Adanna Skye Cassady is just scary. I'm trying to get it up in me to be offended, but naw, it's not there. They may be all beautiful women, but what I see are beautiful graphics and portrait work, and I'm impressed by the realism of the textures (is that the right computer graphic term?), especially for skin and hair. I like best the ones that find beauty in a face that has a distinct character, like the entry called Kaya - it's hard to believe that isn't taken right from a photograph.
  • I've seen that Kaya entry a long time back. Pretty good. jb, you've referring to the overall skin shading, which is damn good in some of these works. It's as much a function of the lighting as the applied texture.
  • Can I vote for the girls from Dead or Alive?
  • More about Kaya and digital people in The Age. Kaya has a demo film. (quicktime and avi)
  • That film is terrific, zedediah. A little less convincing than the stills, largely because of the not quite on mouth animation, but more realistic/interesting movement than I have ever seen from a digital model.
  • Hmm, reading that article in The Age with its mention of one man making a digital Marlene Dietrich leads me to ponder possible copyright issues that might arise regarding the use of well-known, dead -- or living, people. Is anyone familiar with objections possibly being raised by family or from movie studios? Can actors, for example, legally claim their own faces/voices as their property? Or politians or murder victims? *Really curious about this.*
  • That has been an issue, beeswacky - Fred Astaire has been shilling vaccuums.
  • whoa, that kaya video is quite realistic. But it has that something that gives it away. Still it's few pixels away of being the real deal, on video.
  • Since they say the contest will hinge on the catwalk parade, it's gonna be motion capture what wins here, even more than the model's detail. I recall the first of these 'idoru', Kyoko Date, which, at the time, looked simply amazing; but on the few animations I saw, it semed to be suffering from arthritic joints and two left feet.
  • Um, isn't this all about 1.61803399n (the golden mean)? And for those of us that attended community college or are hoping to write for the Red Hots: \O"nan*ism\, n. [Onan (--Gen. xxxviii. 9): cf. F. onanisme.] Self-pollution; masturbation As usual, I'm late to the party.
  • While some of these aren't that good, a few make me think of the "uncanny valley" explanation for how we react to things like this: The Uncanny Valley Though originally intended to provide an insight into human psychological reaction to robotic design, the concept expressed by this phrase is equally applicable to interactions with nearly any nonhuman entity. Stated simply, the idea is that if one were to plot emotional response against similarity to human appearance and movement, the curve is not a sure, steady upward trend. Instead, there is a peak shortly before one reaches a completely human
  • Wow, the uncanny valley is an interesting read. Thank you.
  • vapidave, some people disagree.