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I subscribe to the 1st Place Co., Ltd.'s channel as it usually has something of interest. At the very least it keeps me somewhat abreast of the latest happenings with IA which is probably one of my favorite Vocaloids. I like IA simply because her 'voice' is probably the most 'human' of the Vocaloids. In fact when properly implemented and just listening to the voice of IA or ONE, sometimes it is really hard to tell that it is not a human that is singing but a machine or software if you want to be pedantic.
Some artists have done some nice things with the Miku Hatsune software too as well as the other Vocaloid software but in general, they do sound like machines singing and in this day and age, you can accept it and learn to appreciate it. In point of fact, many computer voices nowadays sound very human. Take for example the voices used by the Google Translate reader that almost all sounds human.
But if you want to be really particular, computer voices really are digitalized human voices. Vocaloid voice technology just takes multiple snippets of the sounds from a real human voice and creates a platform for those recordings to be reused to create the 'illusion' of singing. And that technology has increased in complexity and competency over a very short period of time. Just compare Vocaloid1 technology and Vocaloid3 technology and the differences in most instances is astounding.
Personally, I am not a musician, but I do have good hearing. Well at least for the moment. We can review that again in a few decades when I will need a walking stick to get around. So I can pick up the audio cues to be able to tell when it is a machine that is singing and when it is a real human. This wasn't an issue with the earlier Vocaloid software, Miku sounded like a machine singing and there was no getting around it. Now it is beginning to be very hard to tell the difference especially when you're not seeing the performer.
This is where MMD is 'nice'. You can put a song to a model, and watch it perform. If it is a Vocaloid voiced piece, this doesn't come across as unusual at all, most MMD models singing looks like a computer model singing so if they sound machine like, there's nothing earth shattering about that concept. Even if, like I do often in my own motion work, where I put a real human voice to a performance by a MMD model, there is usually no glaring flaw in the mind's logic. It works because the mind accepts that you are looking at an computer model lip syncing to a song sung by a human. As such, most people watching will just be watching to see how 'realistic' or 'credible' the performance by the computer model is; kind of like watching a monkey learn to type and seeing if it can type out a version of War and Peace.
Most of the critical comments I get about my animations are whether the movements of the model correctly convey an interpretation of the meaning of the lyrics or more commonly, whether or not I got the lip sync done correctly. If I am off by one vowel, some people will often catch it. All fair game and no one is fooled into thinking that the computer model is actually singing. An example of a good lip sync performance by a computer model of a song actually sung by a human is shown here:
But as the technology gets increasingly better, the distinction between the computer model and computer voice performance and a real human performance is going to get increasingly blurred. Technology is rapidly changing our world in a manner that will change our perception of the world. Robots have become a real part of our lives in many industrial applications. We bank more often with an ATM machine than with a real live human teller. People talk to their phones rather than just use them as telecommunications devices. I spend more hours a day on my computer than with my dog (well to be fair I use computers to work). Companies are working on cars that can drive themselves. When I was working in architecture, the 'in thing' at one point of the discussion was the intelligent human habitat. Housing that could control security, lighting, heating levels and whatnot to ensure human comfort with the need for minimal human interaction.
In fact, I could have dictated this article to my word processor and it could have typed this all out for me, except in some ways, I'm old fashioned and talking to a computer isn't really my thing. May be if there was an image of Miku in tight fitting secretary's clothing, wearing glasses and jotting notes on the screen as I dictate might make it work. There's already something like that in the form of screen mascots. Some nice ones from Japan but they have a tendency of shedding clothing at awkward times which could be a problem if a client or boss was looking over your shoulders whilst you were doing your 'work' on the computer.
That's the other thing. What is it with these animated anime girls that keep wanting to shed their clothing anyway? In the first place most real women won't and in the second, they are just pixels. So do naked pixels turn some people on or something? Actually, judging from some of the articles I've read of social life in Japan, they might. "Waifu" anyone? Not to mention semi-robotic dolls made to look and behave like humans which also can be used to provide 'fan service' in the most intimate sense. You can buy one for about $2000. They make her to order in terms of physical appearance, delivered to your door in a brown paper box. You can dress or undress them to taste.
I wonder if they make a 'guy' version of these human-like dolls? You know for the ladies and those males of a different persuasion? But back on point, it's one of the symptoms of the declining rate of marriages and birth rates in Japan. Rather interesting and disturbing at the same time. Yes, I am over simplifying the issue. The root causes of these issues are far more complex and does not apply to Japan alone.
But this article isn't about that issue so let's get back on point.
So I was watching this video on YouTube (amongst others) but this one made me think and write this:
On the surface, this seems like a very ordinary modern concert performance. You have an audience, a band, real human support dancers and a holographic main performer which is very obviously an animated computer anime model. IA in this case. Very techno and all that but there is, in the back of my mind, something very disturbing about this entire image.
Let me share my thoughts with you...
Look at the audience. They're having a wee time and that's fine. Waving those glow sticks around and in IA's colors as well to show that they are true IA fans - there's interesting cultural aspects about glow stick colors in Japanese concerts I've read somewhere. Here's my issue with this. The main performer isn't real. She's a pre-recorded virtual performer and all you're really seeing is a holographically projected lip syncing image. Putting live human dancers alongside her doesn't make her any more real. So why is the audience reacting to her like as if she is real. And I've seen other similar performances, Miku concerts for example, where the audience is doing the same thing.
How exactly is the audience perceiving the performer? Do they see 'it' for what 'it' is and just playing along? Or, especially with alcohol and illegal and perhaps not so illegal substances in the mix, do they perceive her as being real? I've worked at a lot of concerts, and I know sometimes, people's perceptions of reality can be changed in concerts or other large gatherings. For a start, in large groups of people, it is easy to lose your 'individuality' and start to behave as a part of a 'mob' and perhaps, those with weaker minds and wills will start to do things that they would not normally do if they were acting on their own. Remember what can happen at soccer matches...
Besides which, the thing about concerts, so I thought, was to see someone (as in a human being) sing and dance, and you as the audience could clap, chant and wave glow sticks or whatever and everyone has a good time. The audience reacts to the performer and vice versa. People could throw a flower on stage, for example, and the performer could pick it up, smell it and wave back in appreciation. In other words, there is a real 'human' interaction between the performers and their audiences.
But IA isn't real. She's an holographic image and like I said pre-recorded at that. There is no way for 'her' to truly interact with the audience (for the moment). So why is the audience behaving like she's real? Force of habit perhaps?
Let's take my argument further, let's look forward a couple of years, say a decade or so from now. Artificial Intelligence is making huge strides. It won't be long before it might be possible to make our holographic IA be able to react to what an audience is doing, and by that point it might also be well nigh impossible to tell the difference between her voice and those of a real human singer. What will happen then?
Vocaloid performers have one huge advantage (amongst others) over human performers, they can't age and they won't die. Even more scary is that the same technology can make real dead human performers perform again. Don't say it can't be done, because it has been done. They resurrected Micheal Jackson for a concert using exactly this type of technology that you see here, using a computer model of Micheal Jackson that was so well done that you couldn't tell it from the real person - especially for those who never had a chance to see the real person.
If using this type of technology can resurrect a dead singer, it can resurrect a dead politician too. Anyone fancy having Obama around as president for the next few decades? Don't laugh, remember that at least half of the dumb asses in this country voted him in twice in the first place. If people can accept a virtual performer, perform sex with a robotic doll, why can't they accept being ruled by an intelligent computer? Some animes and sci-fi literature already have explored just this subject.
If "God" was created by "Man", then why can't God be a computer AI or an intelligent Vocaloid?
How many jobs that were once done by humans are now done by machines or computers? Not so long ago, to use an elevator, there used to be someone sitting at the controls to operate one. Then they replaced him with a panel of buttons. A low tech solution to be sure but what's so hard about going up and down a vertical shaft? Nowadays, they're working on cars that drives themselves. So we won't be needing Uber or taxi drivers around for much longer soon. McDonalds is working on systems that can take and process your orders, no more need for that scary clown to hand out Happy Meals to the kids, which might actually be a good thing. My girlfriends mother recently had surgery performed on her by a machine, this is fact not fiction. So when will it be that a computer or machine replace you at your job?
Stephen Hawkins wrote, warning that when robots or computers can think like humans, it would mean the end of human race. May be, I've been thinking, he might have a point. The scary thing is that we might not be that far away from that day. That smiling face of Miku waving at you from the other side of the computer screen might one day replace you.
Just a few thoughts...
Let me share my thoughts with you...
Look at the audience. They're having a wee time and that's fine. Waving those glow sticks around and in IA's colors as well to show that they are true IA fans - there's interesting cultural aspects about glow stick colors in Japanese concerts I've read somewhere. Here's my issue with this. The main performer isn't real. She's a pre-recorded virtual performer and all you're really seeing is a holographically projected lip syncing image. Putting live human dancers alongside her doesn't make her any more real. So why is the audience reacting to her like as if she is real. And I've seen other similar performances, Miku concerts for example, where the audience is doing the same thing.
How exactly is the audience perceiving the performer? Do they see 'it' for what 'it' is and just playing along? Or, especially with alcohol and illegal and perhaps not so illegal substances in the mix, do they perceive her as being real? I've worked at a lot of concerts, and I know sometimes, people's perceptions of reality can be changed in concerts or other large gatherings. For a start, in large groups of people, it is easy to lose your 'individuality' and start to behave as a part of a 'mob' and perhaps, those with weaker minds and wills will start to do things that they would not normally do if they were acting on their own. Remember what can happen at soccer matches...
Besides which, the thing about concerts, so I thought, was to see someone (as in a human being) sing and dance, and you as the audience could clap, chant and wave glow sticks or whatever and everyone has a good time. The audience reacts to the performer and vice versa. People could throw a flower on stage, for example, and the performer could pick it up, smell it and wave back in appreciation. In other words, there is a real 'human' interaction between the performers and their audiences.
But IA isn't real. She's an holographic image and like I said pre-recorded at that. There is no way for 'her' to truly interact with the audience (for the moment). So why is the audience behaving like she's real? Force of habit perhaps?
Let's take my argument further, let's look forward a couple of years, say a decade or so from now. Artificial Intelligence is making huge strides. It won't be long before it might be possible to make our holographic IA be able to react to what an audience is doing, and by that point it might also be well nigh impossible to tell the difference between her voice and those of a real human singer. What will happen then?
Vocaloid performers have one huge advantage (amongst others) over human performers, they can't age and they won't die. Even more scary is that the same technology can make real dead human performers perform again. Don't say it can't be done, because it has been done. They resurrected Micheal Jackson for a concert using exactly this type of technology that you see here, using a computer model of Micheal Jackson that was so well done that you couldn't tell it from the real person - especially for those who never had a chance to see the real person.
If using this type of technology can resurrect a dead singer, it can resurrect a dead politician too. Anyone fancy having Obama around as president for the next few decades? Don't laugh, remember that at least half of the dumb asses in this country voted him in twice in the first place. If people can accept a virtual performer, perform sex with a robotic doll, why can't they accept being ruled by an intelligent computer? Some animes and sci-fi literature already have explored just this subject.
If "God" was created by "Man", then why can't God be a computer AI or an intelligent Vocaloid?
How many jobs that were once done by humans are now done by machines or computers? Not so long ago, to use an elevator, there used to be someone sitting at the controls to operate one. Then they replaced him with a panel of buttons. A low tech solution to be sure but what's so hard about going up and down a vertical shaft? Nowadays, they're working on cars that drives themselves. So we won't be needing Uber or taxi drivers around for much longer soon. McDonalds is working on systems that can take and process your orders, no more need for that scary clown to hand out Happy Meals to the kids, which might actually be a good thing. My girlfriends mother recently had surgery performed on her by a machine, this is fact not fiction. So when will it be that a computer or machine replace you at your job?
Stephen Hawkins wrote, warning that when robots or computers can think like humans, it would mean the end of human race. May be, I've been thinking, he might have a point. The scary thing is that we might not be that far away from that day. That smiling face of Miku waving at you from the other side of the computer screen might one day replace you.
Just a few thoughts...
MMD and COPPA - Why all the Panic?
Chibi IA: Recently there's been a lot of hulla ballu about COPPA and its impending implications for YouTube; and of especial interest to those of us who upload MMD videos to YouTube is how this will effect us. But, let me be very clear from the get go:
DON'T PANIC!
Well, may be a little bit as whenever you have a US Government agency involved in anything, you just got to be prudent. After all, they are the "Deep State" and all full of "know-it-all" elitist Ivy League graduates with no real working knowledge of how life in the US actually functions outside of Washington DC...
What caused this article to be written
Several people writing to
MMD How to write rules for your models
There’s been a lot of misunderstanding both within the Japanese and Western MMDC about “Rules”. Cultural differences aside, on the Internet, there are a lot of people who are of the misguided opinion that anything that is free to download is free to do with as they desire. Apart from the fact that this is not true, this has lead to a lot of confusion, misunderstanding and disagreements.
So in this article, we are going to teach you how to write rules to protect your modeling work that are legally enforceable. This, however, will not be an in depth discussion; rather we will just simply create a template for you to adapt and
Lolicon Art in the Age of the SJW
There was a recent journal written by a Japanese anime artist named puriiriin (https://www.deviantart.com/puriiriin) where he was complaining about several pieces of his work having been removed from his gallery after being reported to the administrators as being inappropriate content.
puriiriin (https://www.deviantart.com/puriiriin) ’s work first caught my interest because of several lovely loli-style images that he created of Miku Hatsune and some of the Kancolle girls. His style is unique and both his compositions and techniques are to a very high standard. So I have been watching his work for sometime now.
That said, some of his work I frankly do not care for simply because of the sexual nature of the wor
Lessons to learn from the Japanese MMDC
When I was a 'little kid', I used to have a 'pen pal' in Australia. For those of you who don't know, "Australia" is that "Land down under" in the South Eastern part of the Pacific Ocean. It's a pretty big "island" which is also the only place in the world that has Koala Bears and Kangaroos. As for a 'pen pal', I don't think these exists anymore, but back in the days, it was another kid, that you probably have never met and never will meet, with whom you exchange letters with - "letters" as in documents that are written on paper by hand, then stuffed into an envelope by hand upon which you affix a postage stamp and hand off to the postman.
It
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Originality Technique ImpactWhen I was younger I wanted to be a vet. I think it is very common for nearly every young kid I see where I live -mostly girls- to want to do so. Not bragging, I am rather proud of being the one that took that idea the most seriously despite having "abbandoned" it later on. I think the only reason I am not training to be a vet is because even a single drop of blood makes me want to die a little. If I see a somewhat big wound, I want to faint. It is a near instant thing. Of course, it is not just that, but that is a HUGE obstacle I would not want to face every day of my life.
However, art is still the thing I was the most constant on right from the start. It is not a joke to say that the first memory I have was back when I was three (yes, my memory is pretty good although many time you have to refresh it a lot and it is not like I remember too much) is drawing in a wall. was always the best at it. I stood out miles and I found myself grinning like a comeplete idiot. But eventually, I decided that technology was totally my thing. Holy damn, we have grown totally indifferent to seeing a freacking piece of wiring calculate and fo pretty much every single thing for us. It is pure MAGIC and none of us realize it.
But then there are those little momments...Those little pieces of information I pushed in the back of my mind every time. Every time I saw a PC behave...Weirdly. When I realized just how much every single tiny updating, every single scan...Those stupid little things computers do on their own that we take for guarranted are programed are really just a step forward to our doom. Because things like Cleverbot, so DUMB and foolish AI that is really programmed...Might be more human than we think. Because it has the capacity to LEARN from you.
How much has technology really taken over?
Thousands of people have pointed this out, but WHO CARES? Humans are useless because we adapted the world for us instead of the other way around, and it is killing us slowly as well as thousands of other beings but WHO CARES? This works like magic and our words truly are just a bunch of non sense that will wear off like paint in time. No one will care that we have created a "beast" we cannot stop and we won`t regret it until it is too late.
We are too far gone. We cannot destroy computers anymore, because it would kill us. The trash, the useless stuff left, the mass destruction, the dissaster in out life style...There is no way back. Computers will destroy us.
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What a beautiful, eeriely phrased critique. Everyone talks about this topic eventually, but damn, I can`t find anything totally unnoriginal about this. The way you talked about this topic was...So haunting in a strange way. I doubt I am sleeping in a really long time.
You put a seed inside of me that will never stop blooming now.