2022 is not only the "first year" of the Metaverse, but also the "first year" of virtual digital humans. Due to the increasing demand for virtual content and the rapid development of consumer-grade VR hardware, virtual digital humans have also entered the fast lane. Generally speaking, a virtual digital human refers to a virtual character with a digital appearance. Different from physical robots, virtual digital humans generally rely on display devices, which can only be displayed through devices such as mobile phones, computers, or smart large screens. Virtual digital humans currently on the market are mainly divided into two categories: 2D and 3D according to the graphic dimension of the characters, and can be divided into cartoon and realistic styles in terms of appearance.
Divided by function, the current virtual digital human can be subdivided into two types: service type and identity type. The first type of "service-type" virtual digital person refers to the ability to provide services in specific scenarios and replace social roles in many service industries such as corporate employees, moderators, and housekeepers; the second type of "identity-type" virtual digital person is more inclined to It is applied in the field of entertainment, such as well-known virtual idols, well-known virtual anchors, etc.
From a technical point of view, a virtual digital human generally has the following three characteristics: the first is the appearance of the owner, with specific characteristics such as appearance, gender, and personality; The third is to possess the human mind, to have the ability to recognize the external environment, and to communicate and interact with people. On the whole, it means having image ability, perception ability, expression ability and entertainment interaction ability.
It is undeniable that the current virtual digital human is being widely used in the new ecology of the metaverse, responsible for information production and transmission, and is the link between "people" and "people", "people" and things or things and things in the metaverse It is a new medium that creates connection or twin relationship between human beings, and is an important carrier and an extension of the medium for human beings to enter the Metaverse. As a current hot spot, virtual digital humans have attracted a lot of money and companies have poured in. According to shilian.com, there are currently 288,000 companies related to virtual digital humans in my country, and in 2021 alone, there will be more than 180,000 newly registered companies. Within 5 years, the compound growth rate of newly registered enterprises is close to 60%.
In fact, virtual digital human is not a new concept, it can be traced back to 2007 at the earliest. At that time, the sound source library "Hatsune Miku" developed based on the speech synthesis program became the first phenomenon-level virtual idol. For quite a long time thereafter, most of the virtual digital humans are based on animation and game images, and are mainly used in the film and television entertainment industry. Later, from the digital reporter who appeared in the space station after the launch of Shenzhou 12, to the CEO of the technology giant Nvidia switching the digital human stand-in in a speech that attracted worldwide attention, to the digital anchor of JD. People seem to enter our lives overnight.
In this regard, senior practitioners believe that in recent years, the improvement of the technical environment has ushered in a positive development of virtual digital humans. Thanks to the popularity of the metaverse concept, virtual digital people such as virtual employees, virtual spokespersons, and virtual students are appearing more and more frequently in the public eye, creating real value in social, media, marketing and other fields. It is also because the virtual digital human image is becoming more and more realistic and the interaction is smoother, so it is playing a role in more and more fields.
With the explosive growth of virtual digital humans, virtual digital technology as a new technology and new industry has been included in the "14th Five-Year Plan" outline, and its innovative application will naturally become the only way for my country's industrial innovation. According to expert analysis, it is estimated that the "reproduction" speed of virtual digital humans will exceed that of humans on earth in 2025; virtual digital humans will become a new interface for human-computer interaction, carrying immersive experience in the digital world; programmable virtual digital humans will realize Intelligent and large-scale production content, and form a new industrial ecology.
In addition, it is expected that more than 10 unicorn companies will be born in China's virtual digital human race track in 2030; technologies such as AI emotional algorithm, multi-modal human-computer interaction, and brain-like science will develop by leaps and bounds driven by the virtual digital human industry; The virtual digital human industry will give birth to new occupations such as "people in the middle", "technical art", and Vup, and the talent gap in related industries is as high as 1 million; virtual employees will become standard equipment in consumer goods, finance, real estate, property, education, cultural tourism and other service industries .
It has to be said that the popularity of virtual digital humans reflects the general trend of integration of the virtual world and the real world, but there is still a big gap in the realization of large-scale implementation. For example, virtual anchors can customize news broadcasts anytime and anywhere, reflecting the deep integration of artificial intelligence and the media industry, but they still face challenges in terms of homogeneous competition and independent technical capabilities. The key to breaking the game lies in in-depth scene understanding and effective technical improvement, which many technology companies have already begun to explore. When technology and the new generation group both promote the arrival of the metaverse era, the development of digital virtual humans will get better and better.