Comments on: TOM THE DANCING BUG: Billy Dare Into the Uncanny Valley

By: J.J. Hunsecker

J.J. Hunsecker — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 23:26:00 +0000

“Heavy-handed political allegory”? How is ridiculing creepy Motion Capture CGI puppetry in any way political? The comic is satirizing a special effect technique, not a political movement, party or politician.

By: gpeare

gpeare — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 20:16:00 +0000

They came back as Mimi and Eunice? http://mimiandeunice.com/

By: pluggy

pluggy — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 15:25:00 +0000

I wish I could see what Quentin looked like in the valley

By: LuisDanielCarbia

LuisDanielCarbia — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 13:48:00 +0000

That box man is the vengeful ghost of Georges Remi, isn’t he?

By: cooperman

cooperman — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 09:21:00 +0000

It’s the blinking! The lack of blinking! One of the cheapest 2D animation tricks to keep a character alive is to keep them blinking. 6 eye drawings on cycle and you’re done. Think old hanna Barbera etc.
Also, it’s important during head turns and anticipations, even to speech…It’s an exaggeration of real life. But it works. Mo-Cap don’t usually catch the eyelids. As a result, it’s one big staring contest. Realistic but lifeless. Blink!

By: benher

benher — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 03:55:00 +0000

It’s why I didn’t like FF 13. That and linear dungeons.

Also, CGI teeth are what always does it for me.

By: bartese

bartese — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 00:44:00 +0000

Another bit of joy from my favorite comic stripper. I wonder… Is it possible those images are creepy because they seem like photos, but we know simultaneously (due to the slight distortions) that these can’t be real people captured by photos? It might be about expectations of the perceived medium, and not some “dead zone” on a realism continuum. We know, for instance, that even a charcoal drawing can achieve the same level of mimetic representation as a photo (although the charcoal medium will always assure us it’s not a photo). But there isn’t some dead zone on the charcoal continuum that would make us think the image is uncanny, right…?

By: Dree

Dree — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 23:44:00 +0000

What? Do corpses have a wax-like texture and shiny skin? I’ve only seen a handful of corpses, but they did not fit that description. Waxy, shiny skin *is* creepy, but I don’t think that’s why. It probably sounds like I’m quibbling, but I think that disgust due to waxy, shiny skin is a very worthy topic for scrutiny. My undergrad prof might say that it reminds us of plastic, and of being replaced by animated inanimate objects as our animal nature comes back to grapple with survival in modernity (AKA getting right back into the uncanny zip code).

By: GawainLavers

GawainLavers — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 22:43:00 +0000

Augh! (“Waaugh!”?) Not out here yet.

By: miguel martins

miguel martins — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 22:32:00 +0000

And yet Tintin managed to escape the uncanny valley by having extremely cartoony faces. ( tintin was the worse case of the whole thing, Haddock was perfect)

By: Amy L Sacks

Amy L Sacks — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 21:03:00 +0000

Beats the hell out of TV Tropes, if you ask me. :D

By: Neil Austin

Neil Austin — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:40:00 +0000

You spelled Nick’s name wrong.

By: joeposts

joeposts — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:11:00 +0000

I guess that’s why CGI porn only has a niche audience.

By: Rob Beschizza

Rob Beschizza — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:54:00 +0000

The deal is that it’s a sort of casual blanket-term that was originally about robotics, but now covers anything that might be icky about realistic representations of people. It’s not that it doesn’t exist, just that it’s an elegant but imprecise hypothesis that takes the place of less interesting but more specific ones.

For example, you don’t need the uncanny valley to explain why waxy, shiny skin is creepy. It’s because it looks like a corpse.

By: dagfooyo

dagfooyo — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:50:00 +0000

OMG there’s a SUPER FUN PAK COMIC EVERY SINGLE DAY :-D There goes my productivity for the rest of the week as I read through the archives…

By: Jorpho

Jorpho — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 18:28:00 +0000

Too bad the Uncanny Valley doesn’t quite hold up to scientific scrutiny. (At least, that’s the case da wiki suggests. I haven’t done the research myself, though I’d kind of like to.)

By: Adam Goetz

Adam Goetz — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 17:40:00 +0000

i call for more!

By: Jellodyne

Jellodyne — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 17:32:00 +0000

Enough with the heavy-handed political allegory, already!

By: bjacques

bjacques — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 17:25:00 +0000

I wanna see an Uncanny Valley Girl!