Last April, Jensen Huang , CEO of NVIDIA , held a conference in the framework of the GTC 2021 to present some new hardware and software. Up to this point, everything normal. However, would you believe us if we told you that the manager we saw in the keynote was not real? Well then, take a seat and take a deep breath. NVIDIA has revealed that Jensen Huang was totally digital, and nobody noticed .
Through a unmissable documentary , NVIDIA explains how its most recent technologies, accompanied by 3D modeling tools such as Autodesk Maya or Substance Painter, allowed to create a faithful virtual representation of its executive director. It should be clarified that the scenario that appears behind is also digital, however, this was evident during the keynote itself. What we didn't know, until today, is that Jensen Huang wasn't real either.
To achieve such amazing animation, NVIDIA turned to Omniverse , its collaborative platform for creating real-time simulations. Obviously, Omniverse is supported by a robust cloud infrastructure. The system is capable of creating photorealistic and “physically accurate” images in real time thanks to Nvidia RTX graphics technology. At a time when remote working and virtual conferencing became commonplace, the company took advantage of the landscape to show the potential of its tool. What better than creating a digital “clone” of Jensen Huang.
The NVIDIA AI also participated
However, to make the model even more realistic, NVIDIA relied on artificial intelligence . “The demo combined the work of NVIDIA's deep learning and graphics research teams with various engineering teams, and with the company's incredible in-house creative team,” they add. The first step, as mentioned, was to capture Huang's face and full body , which is a common process in the creation of some movies and video games, for example.
Subsequently, they trained an artificial intelligence to imitate their gestures and facial expressions , which allowed creating a realistic model. Once they got all the necessary material together, Omniverse made it easy for engineers and creative experts from different disciplines to work together remotely. “First and foremost, we built the Omniverse for ourselves. Omniverse started with the idea of connecting existing tools that generate 3D models for what we now call a metaverse,” said Lev Lebaredian, vice president of Omniverse engineering and simulation at NVIDIA.
