VR Avatars

Genies Secures $150M Series C to Expand Development on Metaverse Avatars

April 14, 2022 From roadtovr

Genies, a 3D avatar company, announced it’s raised a $150 million Series C investment, something it says will be used to hire more engineering talent and continue development on its non-fungible token (NFT) based “avatar universe.”

The round was led by private equity firm Silver Lake, and includes participation from existing investors BOND, NEA, and Tamarack Global. This brings the company’s total outside investment to $202 million, with the company now valued at $1 billion.

The company’s main focus for now is on avatar creator tools and digital fashion collections which it hopes will be used across the metaverse—and not just sit in a crypto wallet. The company envisions creating avatar homes and social experiences in the future—presumably also minted as tradable NFTs.

In late 2021, Genies notably inked a partnership with Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group to launch its own NFT marketplace, called ‘The Warehouse’. Users and creators on the platform can buy, sell, and trade avatars and accessories, which are minted on Dapper Labs’ blockchain network, Flow. The deal also saw NFT partnerships with a number of musicians, including Justin Bieber, Migos, Cardi B, and J Balvin.

“We believe avatar ecosystems are going to shape Web3 the same way that mobile apps defined Web2,” said Akash Nigam, CEO of Genies. “With every advancement of the internet, an expansive new region of entrepreneurial skill sets is born. In Web3, Gen Z avatar ecosystem builders are going to be the leaders of innovation and, through our creator tools, we strive to empower their wildest imaginations, ideas, and experiences as avatar creations.”

It’s not clear whether this particular blockchain tech will become the standard for digital ownership in the Web3 future, where digital property ownership is set to go well beyond pictures of cartoon apes. Just the same, many household names in the XR industry are also jumping into the NFT craze. HTC opened its own NFT marketplace in December, albeit solely dedicated to ‘flat’ NFT art for now. Meta is planning to do the same on its social network Facebook, although there’s still no clear launch date.

Meta Announces Big Update For Its VR Avatars

January 31, 2022 From vrscout

These new-and-improved 3D avatars will be available on Meta Quest, Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram.

Meta today announced that its lineup of expressive 3D avatars will be getting a major face lift in the form of new facial expressions, assistive devices, and limited edition clothing options. These new-and-improved avatars have already begun rolling out on VR headsets as well as Facebook, Messenger, and—for the first time—Instagram Stories and DM.

Last year Meta spent a significant amount of time and energy on improving its 3D avatars with new customization options that allow users to craft their own digital persona with an impressive amount of detail. Today, the company announced new updates the promise to expand the platform even further.

This includes new facial shapes as well as improvements to the skin shader that add even more customizations. In an effort to remain inclusive, the company has added new items such as Cochlear implants, over-the-ear hearing aids, and wheelchairs in a variety of different colors. In honor of the upcoming Super Bowl between the LA Rams and Bengal Tigers, Meta has also introduced limited edition clothing for each time.

As previously stated, these new-and-improved 3D avatars will be available in VR via Meta Quest headsets as well as Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram Stories and DM. You can create separate avatars for each platform or use the same avatar across all three.

Image Credit: Meta

“Being able to have the same avatar across our platforms is an early step towards making this a reality, and one we’ve been working towards for a long time,” said Aigerim Shorman, General Manager for Avatars and Identity at Meta. “We hope your new virtual self enables you to represent yourself online the way you want to be represented—whether that’s to friends and family, your local community, or beyond.”

These updates will begin rolling out on Quest, Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram over the next few months, so don’t freak out if you don’t see the options available right away.

Feature Image Credit: Meta

Meta Visually Unifies Avatars Across Quest, Facebook & Instagram in Metaverse Push

January 31, 2022 From roadtovr

Meta released its new Quest avatar system last year, bringing a big upgrade over the previous in terms of expressiveness and customizability. Now the company announced it’s standardizing those across all Meta platforms—Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram—essentially letting users build and use the same 3D avatar for VR and social media.

Starting today, Meta says the visual style for 3D avatars on Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram will be “the same look and feel as the avatars you’re already familiar with on Quest.”

The company says its avatars don’t sync across its various properties yet, with the only exception being between Facebook and Messenger, and also Instagram Stories if you choose. For example: if you build an avatar for Quest, it won’t be ported over to your Facebook account. You have to manually build the 3D avatar there, and vice versa.

The update includes things like more expressions, faces, skin tones, over-the-ear hearing aids, cochlear implants, and NFL football shirts in preparation for the Super Bowl.

One thing that won’t be available to Quest users for now though is the inclusion of wheelchairs, which are coming to 3D avatars on its traditional social networks.

The 3D avatar update is gradually rolling out starting today, the company says. Users in the US, Canada and Mexico will be able to access it today, while other countries will follow.

The quasi-unification of its avatar systems across Quest and Facebook is ostensibly part a wider push to position its immersive tech closer to the core of its business. It’s also hoping to build more bridges to these platforms, or so we’ve gleaned.

In a Digiday interview earlier this month, Meta said it would be opening its social VR Horizon apps to non-VR devices at some point in addition to bringing its various experiences together in a more seamless way.

We haven’t seen that happen yet, however the entrance of uniform 3D avatars puts the company even closer to making that cross-platform space—the company’s vision of the metaverse—a significant step closer.

ABBA Enters the Digital Realm With 3D ‘ABBAtars’

September 3, 2021 From vrscout

ABBA returns after 40 years with new music and a unique concert experience featuring their de-aged 3D ABBAtars.

ABBA, theSwedish pop group behind massive hits such as “Dancing Queen,” “Take a Chance On Me,” and “Mamma Mia” (you know that every part of that song is a hook!) is returning to the stage as digital avatars—or ABBAtars—to promote Voyage, their first new album in 40 years.

The cutting-edge concert will use digital technology to take ABBA fans on a captivating time-travel experience during which the members of ABBA—Benny Andersson, Agnetha Fältskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, and Björn Ulvaeus—will perform a variety of songs from their latest album alongside a 10-piece band.

To create their digital variants, the band’s creative team turned to the same motion capture technology used in big Hollywood films like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. The motion capture suits were so cool that the members of ABBA decided to use a photo of themselves in their suits as their most recent press photo.

Honestly, they look pretty badass!

Image Credit: ABBA

ABBA’s digital concert experience, referred to as Voyage, will use a pre-recorded performance of ABBA in their mocap suits. The 10-piece band accompanying the virtual avatars, however, will be performing remotely in real-time.

To blend the live show with ABBA’s pre-recorded digital performance, the band worked with choreographer Wayne McGregor, the resident artist at London’s Royal Ballet. Industrial Light & Magic is responsible for all of the animations you’ll see on stage during the show as well as de-aging technology used for ABBA’s avatars.

Both the Voyage concert and album have been in the works for some time now. Originally announced in 2016 by the band’s manager, Simon Fuller (who is no longer representing them), the band needed the technology to be right in order for them to deliver something their fans would love.

During an interview conducted after the projects initial review, Andersson, who came up with the term ABBAtars, talked about why it would take a few years for the band to make this all a reality, saying, “It will take a bit of time, it takes time to digitize a face. It’s fun that it’s so technologically advanced.”

In a video created by The Guardian, Ben Morris, ILM Creative Director, said, “We create ABBA in their prime. We are creating them as digital characters and will be using performance capture techniques to animate them, perform them, and make them look perfectly real.”

The process required Morris and his team to capture the group as they rehearsed and interacted with each other. This data was then used to power the group’s digital avatars…I meant ABBAtars!

ABBA’s new album Voyage will be released on November 5th and is available for pre-order now. The Voyage avatar concert experience will launch in March of 2022 and take place in London’s custom-built 3,000 capacity arena in Queen Elizabeth Park called ABBA Arena.

Tickets for the digital show go on sale beginning on September 7th.

Feature Image Credit: The Guardian