Category: Metaverse

Become a MetaHuman

 

 

Epic’s MetaHuman Avatar tool now has the abilty to import scans of real people, this is open for developers currently, but watch this space as I will predict it will not be long before you are able to create your own metahuman that looks like your twin.

 

 

To caveat this was found via Roadtovr.com and they quoted this

“There’s still some limitations, however. For one, hair, skin textures, and other details are not automatically generated; at this point the Mesh to MetaHuman feature is primarily focused on matching the overall topology of the head and segmenting it for realistic animations. Developers will still need to supply skin textures and do some additional work to match hair, facial hair, and eyes to the person they want to emulate.

The MetaHuman tool is still in early access and intended for developers of Unreal Engine.”

Adidas ozWorld

From creating more realistic avatars to now more abstract ones, this time kitted out in futuristic Adidas outfits.

I tried it a couple of times and wasn’t loving my avatar, but it might be I am highly strung.

When you enter the builder you will have to answer question for the system to create your avatar, I am not going to say its unique as I have a feeling its just created on variables entered from your selections, which others could also choose.

The values are based on how you see your personality, and questions like How Patient are you? are to you at smooth or bold?… must admit wasn’t sure what that really meant.

But go have a play here,  my avatar is the image above

Making avatars for the real world.

Enter Clinique, who have partnered with Daz 3D a 3D modelling software to make the Metaverse more inclusive, by creating a massive collection of 8,888 female and non-binary profile picture avatars to use in your social platforms.

Working with three influencers from different backgrounds to give advice on looks and tones to use with your skin types.

Tess Daly @tess.daly – who is a role model for people with disabilities, who don’t often see themselves reflected in the beauty industry.

Sheika Daley @officialsheiks – This sought-after celebrity makeup artist has always had her hands on a paint brush, thanks to her artist mum.

Emira D’Spain @XOXOEMIRA – She’s a TikTok star, beauty content creator

See more here; https://www.clinique.co.uk/metaverselikeus

It’s a massive step in the right direction for visualising our online personas.

 

NFT’s for Good

When you say NFT most people would think it’s all about making a profit and commerce, this isn’t always true as this next example shows.

Here NFT’s are being used to help, in this case saving the rainforest, I wanted to highlight this not just because it’s a really interesting case, but also because I’m very proud of two of my ex-creatives whom created this amazing idea. (Tiago Beltrame & Nian He).

Goto the website : https://nemus.earth/

Navigate the Nemus map, making a ‘promise to conserve’ by minting your own NFT tied to the land, each NFT drop features original artwork from an amazing artist to honor the unique flora and fauna found in the rainforest.

The ‘litepaper’ on the project. ; https://docs.nemus.earth/nemus-docs/nemus-litepaper/welcome-to-nemus

 

The release:

 

The World’s First Non-Fungible Territory has been officially renamed by indigenous people in Brazil in coalition with Nemus, a Web3 company that sells Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) to protect the Amazon Rainforest.

Around the world, indigenous peoples are stewards of the Earth, responsible for protecting 80% of the planet’s biodiversity.

With NFTs recently skyrocketing in popularity because of outsized gains and celebrity endorsements, land stewards of Brazil decided to showcase a purpose-driven utility for NFTs—to save the Amazon.

This event is captured in the short film, Non-Fungible Territory.

“I believe this [land] is an NFT, I live in an NFT.”

– Lilico, Local Community Resident

Sales of Nemus NFTs are being used to protect the Non-Fungible Territory from the clearcutting that has devastated much of the Amazon, address the $300 billion climate action funding gap to combat deforestation, create sustainable jobs and increase economic activities for the local people.

With a goal to invest a billion dollars in the region, Nemus is already having a positive impact.

They recently released over $100,000 from their treasury to fund the purchase of equipment to develop sustainable harvest methods of Brazil nuts and increase land security.

“If we are to save the Amazon, we must work with the people living there. Creating businesses in the middle of the jungle, with difficult access, no energy source, a population with limited education and qualifications is a huge challenge. But it can be done, and we have the experience. It is a lot of hard work and boots on the ground, but we can create incredible life changing results for the local communities.”

Flavio De Meira Penna, CEO of Nemus

As local communities learn more about the utility of NFTs such as Nemus’, they are embracing the technology as a means to extend their stewardship of the land.

Using Web3 to bring awareness to the Amazon’s needs as well as financial alternatives for its indigenous caretakers, they unite the world around an important cause. “Buy an NFT to save the NFT.”

 

 

 

 

 

The Rejection of NFT’s

 

On Wednesday the 20th July the of the best-selling video game of all time Minecraft[1] has decided to not allow or non-fungible tokens (NFT’s) [2] on their very popular gaming platform.

NFT’s are the ownership of a unique digital items, normally images, videos and music, this is like a receipt in the physical world, NFT’s are recorded on a register like blockchain[3].

Minecraft for those whom don’t know is a virtual world where players can create and customise their environments, since launching the game has a massive following of users that already design skins, maps and mods for the game.

Knowing what NFT’s are and do and what is happened already in Minecraft you can understand why Minecraft was such a huge opportunity with NFT’s, selling Skins, Maps and Mods.

The maker of Minecraft (Mojang Studios) have released a statement, a snapshot below and a link to the full statement.

“NFTs, however, can create models of scarcity and exclusion that conflict with our Guidelines and the spirit of Minecraft.

To ensure that Minecraft players have a safe and inclusive experience, blockchain technologies are not permitted to be integrated inside our client and server applications, nor may Minecraft in-game content such as worlds, skins, persona items, or other mods, be utilized by blockchain technology to create a scarce digital asset.

….uses of NFTs and other blockchain technologies creates digital ownership based on scarcity and exclusion, which does not align with Minecraft values of creative inclusion and playing together. ”

 

The full press release from Minecraft is here:

https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/article/minecraft-and-nfts

Will others follow suit?

 

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_video_games

[2] https://decrypt.co/resources/non-fungible-tokens-nfts-explained-guide-learn-blockchain

[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blockchain