Virtual Idols: The Rise of a New Entertainment Trend

Virtual idols are emerging as a trend in the entertainment industry, with artists performing as specific characters rather than their actual faces. This concept may seem unfamiliar, but virtual idols have gained explosive popularity, especially among the MZ generation, and have achieved considerable success.

For example, Blast’s virtual boy group ‘Playb’ recently won first place on MBC’s ‘Show! Music Core’, beating out strong competitors such as Nmix and Taemin. Another virtual idol group, ‘MAVE:’, produced by Netmarble’s subsidiary Metaverse Entertainment, has also gained significant attention, with their debut song ‘Pandora’ surpassing 45 million streams on Spotify and their official music video surpassing 30 million views on YouTube.

So, how do virtual idols manage to perform live broadcasts and appear on music shows? The secret lies in the game engine technology, specifically Unreal Engine, which has contributed greatly to the activities of ‘Play’ and ‘Maeve’.

According to a Netmarble official, ‘Maeve’ is an idol group created through the combination of Metahuman and Unreal Engine. They explained that after creating realistic expressions and pipelines through Metahuman technology, they chose Unreal, which provides ‘real-time rendering’ for work efficiency.

Real-time rendering refers to a technology that displays graphics on the screen immediately when a user gives a command. This technology is essential for virtual idols, as it allows them to perform live broadcasts and appear on music shows without any delays.

At the 2023 Unreal Fest, Park Jang-ho, team leader of the Virtual Human Room Real-time Content Team at Metaverse Entertainment, shared the behind-the-scenes story of Mayve’s music broadcast stage production. He explained that the Unreal Engine’s level sequence system allowed them to efficiently manage and produce the video with a small number of people.

‘Playb’ is also actively utilizing Unreal Engine. ‘Playb’ is a group that actively communicates with fans through YouTube live broadcasts, and there are real people behind the characters. Due to this special characteristic, when a person waves or smiles, the character has to ‘immediately’ follow that action to enable smooth communication. And Unreal Engine is helping with this.

Unreal Engine’s ‘Live Link’ function streams and retargets motion capture data in real-time, allowing for smooth communication between the characters and the people behind them. Additionally, Unreal Engine’s ‘real-time collision avoidance solution’ automatically calculates and applies movements to avoid collisions at every moment, helping to enable more natural communication.

Although there aren’t as many cases as Unreal yet, virtual idols based on the Unity engine are also appearing. The main character, ‘Ionit’, is a five-member virtual boy group that debuted on the 28th and is affiliated with Onmind, a virtual human company that developed Nasua.

According to an Onmind official, the company has been researching real-time animation implementation using the Unity Engine for a long time, and the technology for implementing delicate facial expressions using this has been recognized both domestically and internationally. The company plans to apply this technology to the virtual idol ‘Ioniq’ and showcase the unique technology necessary for communicating with fans.

A game industry insider said, “Virtual idols, including SM’s newly debuted virtual idol ‘Navis’ as well as ‘Playb’ and ‘Isekai Idol’ that have been consistently loved, have become a trend in the entertainment industry.” “As such, the need for game engines that provide real-time, high-quality rendering is bound to grow.”