AI technology is advancing rapidly, opening up new ways for us to create AI-generated visuals. This year has been a hotbed of innovation, particularly in allowing people to digitally transform themselves into various characters. Yet, achieving a true-to-life representation remains a challenge, especially when merging text-based descriptions with backgrounds and people.
“We’re leveraging AI tools to enhance digital realism in fan engagement. Our aim is to transform concepts into immersive and shareable experiences, extending beyond traditional formats. Imagine applications where you can become part of your favourite sporting team or appear on custom movie posters with lifelike accuracy. The potential for reshaping fan engagement is boundless. We’re crafting shareable, immersive experiences that captivate on a personal level.”
– John Martinelli
Head of Production, Solarflare Studio
Want to explore the possibilities of new technologies? Get in touch to explore ideas.
In an Era of AI Innovation
Our recent experiments have taken us into the exciting realm of crafting digital personas. While these digital personas are fascinating, they sometimes fall short of capturing the individual’s true essence, particularly against AI-generated backgrounds.
Consider the app EPIK, which transforms photos into yearbook-style portraits with various fun designs. Our goal, however, was more ambitious: to enable anyone to see themselves as any character they choose. We delved into different methods before finding one that really works.
Using Midjourney, we crafted both the backdrop and a lifelike figure, achieving an impressive level of realism. We focused on enhancing the authenticity through Photorealistic (GPT Plugin), paying close attention to aspects like camera lens perspective, colour schemes, and subject positioning. This streamlined the process, allowing for rapid iterations and refinements.
InsightFace AI's Role in Achieving Authenticity
To integrate personal headshots into this setup, we paired them with InsightFace AI, which is skilled at capturing facial nuances in the generated scenes. It took some trial and error, but the end results – combining personal photos with a pre-generated photorealistic image – are truly impressive.
THE RESULTS
Our team tackled two intriguing questions, producing outputs that reflected their unique answers.
How AI-Generated Personas Can Reshape Fan Engagement in Sports and Entertainment
This method significantly enhances the potential of digital and experiential installations, ideal for brands and clients aiming to create immersive experiences. For example, sports fans can be virtually placed in a Premier League football lineup or celebrate a Grand Slam tennis victory, creating a unique and engaging fan experience. On the other hand, movie studios could create custom movie posters, allowing fans to see themselves as part of their favourite films. It not only increases fan engagement but also adds a personal touch to promotional materials.
More than just enlivening content, this approach has wide appeal, offering an engaging and shareable experience.
If you’re excited by the potential of this technology to transform digital and experiential installations, we’d love to discuss how it can be applied to your projects.
Don’t hesitate to get in touch with us.
