Evolver (3D Avatar Web Portal)
Encyclopedia
The web site Evolver claims to be the first solution to provide a central portal to design, manage and transport 3D digital avatars. Evolver enables social media
experience through "avatars or user's representation" across applications which use them, such as virtual world
s, video games and social network
s.
The site allows users to create a 3D avatar or clone quickly and for free, exportable for use in many destinations. Advanced 3D artists can export high resolution models rigged for animation. For example, the University of Southern California
uses it for its class on performance-capture, co-instructed by producer Robert Zemeckis
. Evolver allowed the class to create six mocap-ready character skeletons, with textures and skinning, without knowing how to build 3D characters.
Avatars are built by morphing different ready made avatars (called ancestors) together using sliders. It is possible to select a specific feature to adjust, such as an eye. Alternately, users can upload a headshot photo to create a custom 3D clone. The user can then make subtle or major changes to the “clone” avatar by tweaking the facial and physical attributes. It also includes a complete library of clothing options to give each character an individual style.
The final characters are rigged for animation.
The characters come in four resolutions, from game quality, all the way up to feature film quality. All resolutions are fully skinned to a customize skeleton.
The service is entirely web-based, requiring no downloads. Avatars can also be transported server to server and dropped into existing animations.
Evolver uses a "virtual gene pool". The gene pool is a set of pre-designed body types and facial features that can be fed into special morphing bins and use as a modeling tool. Facial features, including overall face, eyes, ears, mouth, chin, nose and cheeks, and physical attributes including overall body, arms, shoulders, chest, stomach, hips and legs, can be customized along with skin tone, eye color and hair.
Darwin Dimensions is the developer of Evolver. The Montreal, Canada-based company emerged out of the Darwin Research Project directed by Michel Fleury, PhD and associate professor at Université du Québec à Montréal. The commercial viability of Evolver software led entrepreneur and co-founder of LavaLife David Chamandy to join Fleury in the launch of Darwin Dimensions.
In 2008 Brian Nilles became the firm's CEO after leaving Vicon as Chief Executive Officer and being there for ten years.
Social media
The term Social Media refers to the use of web-based and mobile technologies to turn communication into an interactive dialogue. Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein define social media as "a group of Internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0,...
experience through "avatars or user's representation" across applications which use them, such as virtual world
Virtual world
A virtual world is an online community that takes the form of a computer-based simulated environment through which users can interact with one another and use and create objects. The term has become largely synonymous with interactive 3D virtual environments, where the users take the form of...
s, video games and social network
Social network
A social network is a social structure made up of individuals called "nodes", which are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, financial exchange, dislike, sexual relationships, or relationships of beliefs, knowledge or prestige.Social...
s.
Overview
Evolver users may move creations across virtual worlds. Because each Evolver avatar is created with a custom face and body animation rig, it can be transported to many 2D or 3D platform.The site allows users to create a 3D avatar or clone quickly and for free, exportable for use in many destinations. Advanced 3D artists can export high resolution models rigged for animation. For example, the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
uses it for its class on performance-capture, co-instructed by producer Robert Zemeckis
Robert Zemeckis
Robert Lee Zemeckis is an American film director, producer and screenwriter. Zemeckis first came to public attention in the 1980s as the director of the comedic time-travel Back to the Future film series, as well as the Academy Award-winning live-action/animation epic Who Framed Roger Rabbit ,...
. Evolver allowed the class to create six mocap-ready character skeletons, with textures and skinning, without knowing how to build 3D characters.
Avatars are built by morphing different ready made avatars (called ancestors) together using sliders. It is possible to select a specific feature to adjust, such as an eye. Alternately, users can upload a headshot photo to create a custom 3D clone. The user can then make subtle or major changes to the “clone” avatar by tweaking the facial and physical attributes. It also includes a complete library of clothing options to give each character an individual style.
The final characters are rigged for animation.
The characters come in four resolutions, from game quality, all the way up to feature film quality. All resolutions are fully skinned to a customize skeleton.
The service is entirely web-based, requiring no downloads. Avatars can also be transported server to server and dropped into existing animations.
Technology
The Evolver web browser interface gives access to its server-side components. The builder has been developed as a complete professional software family first and then made accessible by a web interface.Evolver uses a "virtual gene pool". The gene pool is a set of pre-designed body types and facial features that can be fed into special morphing bins and use as a modeling tool. Facial features, including overall face, eyes, ears, mouth, chin, nose and cheeks, and physical attributes including overall body, arms, shoulders, chest, stomach, hips and legs, can be customized along with skin tone, eye color and hair.
History
Evolver emerged from the reorganization of research in the media arts, driven by the process of technological innovation and promoting interdisciplinary teamwork between artists and researchers. Hexagram was the consortium with the mandate of renewing the field and is a collaboration between two universities in Montreal: University of Quebec and Concordia University.Darwin Dimensions is the developer of Evolver. The Montreal, Canada-based company emerged out of the Darwin Research Project directed by Michel Fleury, PhD and associate professor at Université du Québec à Montréal. The commercial viability of Evolver software led entrepreneur and co-founder of LavaLife David Chamandy to join Fleury in the launch of Darwin Dimensions.
In 2008 Brian Nilles became the firm's CEO after leaving Vicon as Chief Executive Officer and being there for ten years.