MUMBAI: Tata Elxsi‘s Visual Computing Labs (VCL) has launched India‘s first ePuppet, an innovative marketing tool for the Magic Iris vehicle of Tata Motors.
The ePuppet is an interactive animated model, of the Magic Iris vehicle that reflects the actions and the emotions of the user behind the scene.
This is the first of its kind initiative to host an automobile launch in Mumbai. The innovative product launcher presented various product features in a live environment with an audience where it talked, moved and answered questions about itself.
Said VCL creative director Pankaj Khandpur, " Animation has become an integral part of the marketing and advertising industry today and the concept of using an ePuppet was designed to break the monotony of amongst typical vehicle launches. Since the animations are in real time and interactive, the technology can be used beyond marketing and advertising as well. Real time motion capture and lip-syncs can be used for creating episodic virtual television shows and complete animated character projects as well including talk show hosts."
The ePuppet was developed by the team at VCL using a 3D model of the vehicle, which would allow it to represent facial expressions and actions. The digital puppet has the technology to process real time input data from hardware devices that control the animations.
Head trackers and motion sensing cameras were used to transfer live data and character motions from a controller behind the scene, on to the ePuppet. At the vehicle‘s launch, every action including facial expressions and lip sync was simultaneously mimicked by the puppet.
