We present Ed, he can blink, look around and show expression. He almost looks too perfect, and that's because he is. Ed is a computer-generated face that debuted in a video by Australian designer and digital artist Chris Jones, but the 'human' head is not what he seems.
Using Lightware, Scuptris and Krita, Jones created a computer-generated human face, that includes oils and pores on his face and wrinkles around his soulful eyes.
The eyes of the 'human face' look around, and Ed comes to life in the video. Jones zooms out the camera to reveal that the computer-generated images are only that of a head and neck. A hand that is closed to comically resemble a puppet comes for the neck and hops off screen.
Jones uses the hypothesis of the uncanny valley, which says that we instantly recognize human features when they look and slightly move like human beings, an aesthetic that is used in robotics and 3D computer animation.
While there are shots in the video where one can tell Ed isn't human, overall his appearance and movement could be almost too real to even notice he is only a face. Jones did not scan a human face for this project, but rather created the computer-generated face from scratch.
Jones started working on the project in 2012, creating the first humanoid computerized face.
How would Ed compare to the graphics of video games? Check out the video below.
