TOPIC:

Did anyone watched yesterday ABBA’s global announcement of their „We’re back after 40 years!“ Show? Seems to be a real spectacle next year, with its own venue in London and ‚holographic‘ band (I’m aware it’s not holograms in tech terms, more a 21st interpretation of Pepper’s Ghosts).

What irritates me: Abbas de-aged faces really look good - but the motions are… uncanny. One should think, motion-tracking is after 20 years in use no big thing…. But esp. Fridas movements are… not natural. Maybe they should've asked Andy Sertis to dance LOL

No ticket-prices announced yet.-

I'm sure a lot of people are going to go expecting them to be there for real. Pay money for a hologram?? No too sure

Wait, people actually still listen to ABBA? Wow! And now they're holograms! I learn something new every day. Like Justin Bieber is not a girl! I mean, like, who knew? And The Rolling Stones are not dead! Well, that just changed...

From what I understand, it's not de-aging per se. I think they created digital avatars as performers. I wonder if the performances will actually be "live" via real-time mo-cap or preproduced beforehand.

There's actually a bit more here. Some other internal links with more details, too.
blog.inf.ed.ac.uk/atate/2021/09/02/abba-avatars/

Oliver wrote:

From what I understand, it's not de-aging per se. I think they created digital avatars as performers. I wonder if the performances will actually be "live" via real-time mo-cap or preproduced beforehand.

hmm, well… quote "3D computer models look like band members as they were in the 1970ies" is a kind of de-aging, in my humble understanding.

The 'Pepper's Ghost' tech best known example is at Disneylands/worlds Haunted Mansion..... or, a while ago, with a special appearance of rapper Tupac

..... (vaguely remembering a virtual Elvis, too? Probably mixing that with Blade Runner2049??? anyhow)

here some moving images behind the scenes (sorry, German VO) , which tells, it's not 'live'
www.spiegel.de/panorama/leute/comeback-a...14a2b2cf?jwsource=cl

Cool. Thanks for posting. German VO is fine (I speak it). I guess the technology still isn't good enough to do live mocap and translate that in real-time into fluid motion. Then we still have some time until the robots take over

Oliver wrote:

… I guess the technology still isn't good enough to do live mocap and translate that in real-time into fluid motion. … .

uhm, well… the pure tracking is meanwhile very fluid - watch e.g. this demo of Wetas Virtual Camera, which allows the camera-man to 'frame' in a virtual set:



… but the rendering of the scenery is a complete different cup of coffee.
And then comes ILMs STAGECRAFT!


… which IS indeed imho the future of film-making (imagine a 14h Golden Hour, switching locations with a snap of a finger etc).

OK, I don't know wether the UnrealEngine is able of 'subsurface-rendering' and all that pixie-dust a 'natural' rendering demands nowadays.
In real-time.
But anyhow.....


… aware of all that, it surprised me, that the movements are so.... awkward ....

peteramwiggins wrote:

… Pay money for a hologram?? No too sure

Prices published:
starting 27th May 2022, 100min show, tickets 63-204€ (plus hotel, travel to London/GB, etc )

compared to London Eye Ferris wheel , ~30min, 25€... not bad.

Yes, but on the London Eye, the skyline is real

Or maybe the London skyline is just one big Volume