Zhuolin's Blog

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1. Research theme

2. Research intention

3. Research objectives

4. Reference Information

5. Research process

6. Research results

7. Reflection and harvest

8. Bibliography

1. Research theme

The Guiding Significance of Uncanny Valley Theory to 3D Animation Characters

—- How 3D Animation Can Better Survive the Curves of the Uncanny Valley?

2. Research intention

With the continuous improvement of computer technology, more and more 3D animation films are coming out, and 3D animation is more widely used in various fields. Such as medical care, education, architecture, advertising, etc. It illustrates the advantages of 3D animation over 2D animation and flat images and shows a trend.

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3D Animation makes the visual more attractive and engages the viewers more effectively.

Realistic 3D Animation explains faster and much more efficiently than Texts, Images and ordinary video.

We can present more information in less time with the help of Animation.

Research suggests that retention of information is higher when it is communicated using both visual and verbal communication.

)

However, the IMDB’s ranking of The Best Animated Movies of the 2010s and 2020S shows that more audiences prefer 2D animation to 3D animation. Whether it is a 2D or 3D animation, there are more animations with high human-likeness, but the film reviews show that the evaluation’s polarisation is severe. And the word that appears frequently is that some characteristic of a character is uncomfortable.

For these discomforts, because the audience has fallen into the Uncanny Valley. When the character’s degree of human likeness cannot be completely comparable to the natural person, it may cause these uncomfortable reactions when it is in this curve range.

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Mortality salience: Viewing an “uncanny” robot elicits an innate fear of death and culturally supported defences for coping with death’s inevitability.

Pathogen avoidance: The more human an organism looks, the stronger the aversion to its defects. Motivate the release of potential sources of pathogens by eliciting a disgust response.

Sorites paradoxes: Stimuli with human and nonhuman traits undermine our sense of human identity by linking qualitatively different categories, human and nonhuman, by a quantitative metric, the degree of human likeness.

Violation of human norms: If the entity looks almost human, it elicits our model of a human other and its detailed normative expectations. The nonhuman characteristics are noticeable, giving the human viewer a sense of strangeness.

Conflicting perceptual cues: Perceptual tension occurs when an individual perceives conflicting lines to category membership, such as when a humanoid figure moves like a robot or has other visible robot features.

Threat to humans’ distinctiveness and identity: The increase in the anthropomorphic appearance of a robot leads to an enhancement of threat to human distinctiveness and identity. The more a robot resembles a real person, the more it represents a challenge to our social identity as human beings.

Religious definition of human identity: humans construct psychological defences to avoid existential anxiety stemming from death. The experience of the very humanlike “living” robot can be so rich and compelling that it challenges humans’ notions of “specialness” and existential defences, eliciting existential anxiety.

The uncanny valley of the mind or AI: people might experience intense feelings of aversion if they encounter highly advanced, emotion-sensitive technology.

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Therefore, we need to study how to make 3D animation better survive in the Uncanny Valley according to the research and theory of predecessors. What aspects should be paid more attention to in character design to avoid an uncomfortable viewing experience for the audience?

3. Research objectives

This time my research mainly wants to explore

1. Whether the consistency level between the degree of the realism of the scene and the human-likeness of the character is related to the audience’s likeability of the character.

2. Whether the complexity and form of the character’s actions impact the audience’s liking of the character.

In my opinion, both are related to the audience’s likeability of the character. Therefore, two experiments were developed using characters with different realism degrees and mixing different character characteristics.

4. Reference Information

Because according to the conclusion of Valentin Schwind & Solveigh Jäger‘s study, the more realistic character, the longer it takes to judge the realism of the character. I reasoned that this conclusion would apply to moving characters. So I set the length of each animation used in the research to be 30 seconds.

In addition, due to likeability and attractiveness are positive correlations. So I did not break down the favorability into specific emotions that may be included during the research. Instead, I only gave a rating range of 1-10.

5. Research process

Because, I think the complexity and morphology of the action are related to the character’s age. The younger humans have a lower complexity of the action and a lower degree of exaggeration. Young adults have the highest degree of complexity and hyperbole in their forms. When in older age, the complexity of the movements is minimal. So in the second set of experiments, four different age characters’ animated short movies were selected to be used.

6. Research results

In this study, 15 men and women aged 16-29 and 21-50 were invented.

According to the survey results

The first set of experiments shows that the consistency level between the degree of the realism of the scene and the human-likeness of the character has yet to relate to the audience’s likeability of the character.

According to the second group of experiments, regardless of the age group, they liked the role of younger babies more than other ages characters. The affection for the other three age groups is basically the same.

7. Reflection and harvest

None of the people surveyed this time gave very low scores. And everyone didn’t fall into the Uncanny Valley. It perhaps due to the characters in the research examples I gave are not extreme enough for realism. Everyone has a high tolerance for characters with moderate degrees of realism.

It gives me and others in the industry a suggestion for the character’s direction. If the film doesn’t produce for a specific group of people or a specific age group, setting the protagonist as a younger character and not being too imitative is a good choice. The acceptance and likeability of the audience should be higher than that of other ages and realistic settings.

In addition, this study found that many factors will affect the audience’s viewing experience of animated films. For example, even if a formula with the highest acceptance has been found for the characters. But characters only come alive when they live in a story or a situation. All the settings cannot be separated for discussion and research.

This evidence will:

➝add substance to your own ideas

➝allow the reader to see what has informed your thinking and how your ideas fit in with, and differ from, others’ in your field

➝demonstrate your understanding of the general concepts and theories on the topic

➝show you have researched widely, and know about specialist/niche areas of interest.

What is the difference between paraphrasing and summarising?
Paraphrasing and summarising are two similar and related ideas, so it makes sense that they’re often confused with each other. 

To tell them apart, think of them like this: Paraphrasing is putting an individual passage into your own words while summarising is putting a text or passage’s main idea, theme, or story into your own words. 

Summarising deals with the big picture, such as an entire body of work or a complete chapter, while paraphrasing deals with specific passages, from a few words to a few paragraphs, but nothing terribly lengthy. Summaries are always shorter than their original source, but paraphrases are typically around the same length as, if not slightly shorter than, their source. 

Another distinction is that summaries tend to gloss over the details, whereas paraphrases can still incorporate everything, as long as it’s reworded. 

How to summarise others’ work
Summarising is providing a condensed version of someone else’s key points. When summarising other people’s work, make sure that you:

➝identify the relevant points of the idea or argument, depending on your purpose

➝write a shortened version, in your own words, to show your understanding

➝include an in-text citation and reference to the original author.

Common pitfalls include:
➝describing an author’s idea/argument but not explaining the significance to your own argument or point you are trying to make

➝providing too much detail such as examples, anecdotes, unnecessary background information rather than being selective and applying the information to the question you are trying to answer.

How to synthesise others’ work
Synthesising involves combining different information and ideas to develop your own argument. When synthesising others’ work, make sure that you:

➝Group sources into relevant categories, for example, authors with similar viewpoints or research that reveals the same results

➝Write about these in your own words. Do not discuss each author separately; you must identify the overall points you want to make

➝Include references to all the original authors.

Common pitfalls include:
➝Not distinguishing clearly which viewpoint/s belong to which author/s

➝Listing authors separately or one by one, thus not grouping relevant authors or points together

➝Giving too much detail about different perspectives rather than being selective of the key features relevant to your line of argument

➝Describing the idea/argument but not explaining the significance to your own argument or point you are trying to make.

How to quote from others’ work

Quoting is where you copy an author’s text word for word, place quotation marks around the words and add a citation at the end of the quote. When quoting others’ work, make sure that you:

➝copy the quote exactly from the original, as the author has written it, taking care to include quotation marks

➝show where you have made any changes to the text

➝include an in-text citation and reference to the original author.

Common pitfalls include:

➝Using too many quotes throughout your work

➝Incorporating a quote without explaining the significance to your own argument or point you are trying to make.

How to paraphrase others’ work

Paraphrasing is using your own words to express someone else’s ideas. When paraphrasing, make sure that you:

➝identify a relevant theme or point, depending on your purpose

➝write the point in your own words

➝focus on the meaning of an idea or argument

➝include a reference to the original author.

Common pitfalls include:

➝describing an author’s idea/argument but not explaining the significance to your own argument, or the point that you are trying to make

➝using too many of the original author’s words, this includes using the same structure

➝not distinguishing between the author’s point and your own viewpoint

providing too much detail.

When paraphrasing:

➝DO NOT use paraphrasing software–it does not create accurate paraphrases and can create meaningless communications.

➝Read the text carefully. Be sure you understand the text fully.

➝Put the original text aside and write your paraphrase in your own words. Considering each point of the original text, how could you rephrase it if you were explaining it to one of your classmates who hadn’t read it?

➝Do not simply replace every third or fourth word of the original passage. This is a form of plagiarism.

➝Review your paraphrase. Does it reflect the original text but is in your own words and style? Did you include all the main points and essential information?

➝Include an in-text citation in the expected formatting style

➝Explain why the paraphrased information is important. To do so, ask yourself the following questions:

What am I trying to show or prove with this information?

Why is it important to what I am saying? What is its significance?

How does this information add to what I am trying to prove in this paragraph?

Language

Academic writing is concise, clear, formal and active. It does not need to be complex or use long sentences and obscure vocabulary.

In formal academic writing it is important to be concise. This helps your reader to understand the points you are making.

Here are some tips to help you:

➝Only include one main idea per sentence.

➝Keep your sentences to a reasonable length (generally not more than 25 words). Long sentences can be difficult to follow and this may distract from your point.

➝Avoid repetition.

Use a blend of active and passive verbs
Most verbs can be used in either an active or passive form. It is usually appropriate to use a mixture of passive and active forms within academic writing. Always check with your department to see what form of writing would be most appropriate for your subject area.

Active voice

The active voice places the subject of the sentence in charge of the action.

For example: “The research assistant designed the survey.” Here the research assistant (the subject) designed (the verb) the survey (the object).

It is usually more direct and easier to read than the passive voice.

However, sometimes you may want to emphasise what is happening rather than who is doing it. To do this you can use the passive voice.

Passive Voice

The passive voice places the subject at the end, or may leave it out completely.

For example: “The survey was designed by the research assistant.” Here the survey (the object) was designed (the verb) by the research assistant (the subject).

The passive voice is more formal than the active voice. It is often used in academic writing as it is seen as more impersonal and therefore more objective. However, it is not always easy to read and it may add unnecessary words.

Convey your opinion

Answering the Question

There is rarely one answer to a question or assignment. Research, ideas and arguments should always be open to being challenged, so it is important that the language you use acknowledges this. In your academic work, you should not present something as a fact that might not be.

In academic writing, you can use language to show how confident you are about an argument or claim you are discussing. The common ways to do this are often referred to as hedges or boosters. You can also use different reporting verbs to convey your feelings or attitude towards a topic

Hedges

When writing, be careful of using words such as “definitely” or “proves”. Ask yourself whether your statement is a fact or whether there may be some doubt either now or in the future.

Some useful hedging words and phrases to use in your work are:

“This suggests…”

“It is possible that…”

“A possible explanation…”

“Usually…”

“Sometimes…”

“Somewhat…”

Example

1 “Research proves that drinking a large volume of fizzy drinks containing sugar leads to the development of type II diabetes.”

2 “Research suggests that high consumption of fizzy drinks containing sugar may contribute to the development of type II diabetes.”

In sentence 1, the statement is presented as proven fact: that a high volume of sugary fizzy drinks will definitely lead to type II diabetes. This leaves no room for doubt or criticism or the fact that some people may drink large volumes of fizzy drinks and never develop type II diabetes.

In sentence 2, the writer has used ‘hedging language’ – ‘suggests’ and ‘may contribute’ – to show that while there is evidence to link sugary drinks and type II diabetes, this may not be true for every person and may be proven to be incorrect in the future.

Take the same sentence as used in the previous section:

1 “Research suggests that high consumption of fizzy drinks containing sugar may contribute to the development of type II diabetes.”

2 “Research indicates a clear link between the high consumption of a large volume of fizzy drinks containing sugar and the development of type II diabetes.”

In sentence 1, the writer has used the hedging language ‘suggested’ and ‘may contribute’, to show that while there is evidence to link sugary drinks and type II diabetes this may not be true for every person and may be proven to be incorrect in the future.

In sentence 2, the writer still uses language to allow for doubt and argument but it is clear that this writer is more convinced by the research.

The Manchester Academic Phrasebank provides many more examples that you can use in your written work.

Reporting verbs

Reporting verbs can be grouped into the three main categories of strong, neutral and tentative:

Strong verbs convey a degree of certainty about an issue.

Neutral verbs do not indicate any value judgements on the part of the author. They are rather descriptive in tone.

Tentative verbs show that the writer tends to feel a certain way about an issue but is not wholly sure.

Below are common examples of strong, neutral and tentative reporting verbs.