Webtoon + K-pop — The birth of virtual K-pop idol 'PLAVE'

Article published: August 31, 2023

Original source: https://m.entertain.naver.com/article/032/0003246277

English translation: plaveintl

Initial sales of the first mini-album "ASTERUM: The Shape of Things to Come" of the virtual K-pop idol group "PLAVE" recorded 200,000 copies. Analysts say that it has shown the growth of virtual groups, which are still unfamiliar to the general public. 

How did the virtual group PLAVE, which is definitely not an artificial intelligence (AI) and is difficult to call a real person or even a person at all, come into being?

At the Unreal Fest 2023 conference hosted by Epic Games Korea, VLAST's CTO (Chief Technology Officer) Hyunwoo Lee revealed the birth and technical creation of PLAVE. 

VLAST is a virtual content startup that brings together experts in visual effects (VFX), game engines, and animation. PLAVE is the first five-member virtual boy group released by VLAST.

Korean webtoon style artwork instead of Japanese anime style + K-pop

The idea for PLAVE came about when VLAST, which was looking to develop virtual intellectual property (IP), decided to create "manga-style virtual human content. The market was already saturated with virtual YouTubers stylized as Japanese anime characters.

"The strength of the VTubers was that they could get started quickly and easily with a webcam and create a variety of things," says the CTO. 

"We thought it would be difficult to create sustainable IP if we competed with the VTubers."

As they shifted to creating slower, more advanced content, they also changed the way they drew their characters.

"We were thinking about how to reach a wider audience," says Lee, "and we decided to target the public with webtoon illustrations, a genre that many people enjoy, and K-pop. PLAVE was our new endeavor."

As for why they initially ruled out a style that was as close to human-like as possible, such as Rosie, "We didn't know how many years it would be before (our target audience) would really see the same value in a virtual human, even if the technology got better."

Motion capture technology, which is also used in PLAVE is an old technology that has been used since Gollum in The Lord of the Rings (2001). 

In conventional motion capture, the actor's performance is recorded as data and imported into a 3D program for processing, and the differences in body proportions between the actor and the character are completed by hand by animators. 

However, this post-processing method cannot create content such as a live concert.

“We focused on developing algorithms to technically solve the problem of physical errors," says the CTO. 

"The members of PLAVE are very good dancers, but in the beginning, our technology was not good enough to show the full range of their dance skills. As the technology improved, we were able to show them live. The goal is to hide all the technology behind the scenes that connects you to the virtual."

When asked about whether he plans to produce other virtual idol groups besides PLAVE, he said, "Our goal is to become an entertainment company like HYBE, JYP, and SM in the virtual industry, but it's still a long way off."

"For the time being, we will focus on PLAVE," he said.