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Computer generated fashion models will take over the industry – Is it happening already?

Jan 21, 2019 by John Aldred 2 Comments

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This is a topic that I’ve seen come up every few months in some form or another. Removing photographers from the process of image creation. And every time CG makes some incremental improvement, getting closer to the appearance of reality, I hear doom and gloom from photographers that their future is in jeopardy and “they won’t even need photographers anymore in a couple of years”.

And while that future might already be here for some product photography, it’s not quite happened for human subjects. Yet. But we may not be far off, if Imma’s Instagram account is anything to go by. Because Imma is actually not human. She’s a CG “virtual model”, who has mostly managed to claw her way out of Uncanny Valley.

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A post shared by imma (@imma.gram)

When the world is reduced to pixels, as it has with digital photography, it was only really a matter of time before CG really started to catch up to reality when it came to people. CG Buildings, vehicles, explosions, quite a few animals, and a whole lot more already appear seamlessly mixed with live action footage in movies, and it’s becoming virtually impossible to tell what’s real and what’s not in most of them these days. And while Neo spinning around a pole in the Matrix movies was quite obvious, even CG people now are becoming very realistic.

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A post shared by imma (@imma.gram)

According to IT Media, Imma was created by Tokyo-based CG company Modeling Cafe. Imma is a wordplay on the Japanese word “ima”, meaning “now”, and now, Ima is gracing the cover of CGWorld magazine. And as you scroll through her Instagram feed, you’d be forgiven for thinking that most, if not all, of the images of Imma are actually photographs.

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A post shared by imma (@imma.gram)

When you look at some of the details close up, though, while still very impressive, the “perfection” becomes quite obvious. Sure, her skin obeys all the rules for things like subsurface scattering and her hair backlights the same way that real hair does. Her clothes, too (which was also perfected in CG at least a couple of decades ago) looks like real material and hangs realistically with natural creases and folds in all the right places.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn-VXK6huJt/

But is she really that realistic? Or are we just so used to seeing too many models photoshopped to “perfection” over the last 15 years or so that we can’t really tell anymore? I’ll leave that one up to you to decide.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by imma (@imma.gram)

Personally, I don’t think she’s there quite yet, but I don’t think it’s far off. And even while the technology may become perfect in the next few years, I think it will still be out of the reach of many for a while yet. Just as Ikea puts out CG catalogues, many other furniture makers still rely on photography. Because it’s easier and cheaper.

I’ve seen a handful of these “virtual models” pop up on Instagram over the last year or two. Many of them initially purporting to be real people. Balmain is a brand that instantly springs to mind. Although, Balmain’s models definitely look more like images that have spent too much time in Photoshop.

Regardless, CG has certainly come a very long way since its early days.

[via Kotaku]

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Related posts:

Why Computer Generated Effects Seem So Cheap To Us? Can you guess which of these faces is real and which is computer-generated? Fashion Industry Turning To Solutions That Remove The Photographer From The Process Children Give Unfiltered Opinions On How Models Are Portrayed In Fashion Photography

Filed Under: news Tagged With: CG, cgi, computer, Virtual Model

John Aldred: from diyphotography.net

About John Aldred

John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

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John Aldred: from diyphotography.netJohn Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.

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