Summary
In recent years, virtual live, live entertainment content held in a virtual space, has been attracting much attention. Virtual live has various possibilities, including the creation of unrealistic entertainment experiences, enhancement of staging through visual expressions, and relaxation of spatio-temporal restrictions on viewing. This research deals with offline VR experiences specifically.
One of the challenges to be solved in virtual live performances is how to portray a sense of enthusiasm.
In social psychology, the excitement of live events develops from a sense of unity and group identity gained by sharing the experience with surrounding spectators. However, in VR live concerts, rendering resources and communication constraints make it difficult to render large numbers of viewers simultaneously. Therefore, how to present a live concert experience with crowd-like excitement in VR live concerts remains unclear.
This research tackles the synthesis of Non-Player Characters (NPCs) to replace real audiences, aiming to realize exciting VR live concerts by enhancing viewers’ sense of unity and immersion.
We propose an NPC modeling approach that exhibits collective characteristics, where the types and cycles of movements gradually synchronize through interaction with the surroundings, while also expressing individual differences within the crowd by optimally handling multiple similar motion data sets.
Furthermore, we conduct exploratory experiments to confirm the psychological impact of the synthesized NPCs and analyze the psychological effects on viewers in virtual live events.
Members
| Name | Affiliation | Web site |
|---|---|---|
 Ishinuki Takehiro | Keio University |
Publications
Presentations
- Takehiro Ishinuki，Issei Fujishiro: “Modeling Audience NPC’s Diversity for Enhanced Illusionary Sociality in Collective VR Concert Experiences,” International Conference on Artificial Reality and Telexistence & Eurographics Symposium on Virtual Environments (ICAT-EGVE 2025), full paper, Karlskrona, Sweden, December 3, 2025, [doi: 10.2312/egve.20251343]
- Takehiro Ishinuki，Issei Fujishiro: “Synthesis of Enthusiastic Collective Audience NPCs in VR Live Concerts,” The 23rd International Conference on Cyberworlds (CW2024), full paper, pp. 33-40, Kofu, Japan, October 30, 2024, [doi: 10.1109/CW64301.2024.00014]
- Ishinuki Takehiro, Issei Fujishiro：”SAchieving Enthusiasm in Virtual Live Concert Through the Synthesis of Sympathetic Audience NPCs,” in Proceedings of Expressive Japan 2024 (The Institute of Image Information and Television Engineers Technical Report, Vol. 48, No. 8, pp.127-130, AIT2024-68), Tokyo Polytechnic University, March 5, 2024
- Ishinuki Takehiro, Issei Fujishiro：”Achieving Enthusiasm in Virtual Live Concert Through the Synthesis of Sympathetic Audience NPCs,” in Proceedings of the 85th National Convention of International Processing Society of Japan, Vol. 4, pp. 529―530 (7ZG-07), The University of Kanagawa, online & onsite hybrid, March 5, 2024
Awards
Domestic awards
- Ishinuki Takehiro：the 2024 Masakazu Nakanishi Encouragement Awards，Graduation Research, Department of Information and Computer Science, Faculty of Science and Technology, Keio University, Achieving Enthusiasm in Virtual Live Concert Through the Synthesis of Sympathetic Audience NPCs，March 25, 2024
- Ishinuki Takehiro，Issei Fujishiro：Excellent Presentation awards，in Proceedings of Expressive Japan 2024, Achieving Enthusiasm in Virtual Live Concert Through the Synthesis of Sympathetic Audience NPCs，March 5, 2024
- Ishinuki Takehiro，Issei Fujishiro：Student encouragement awards，in Proceedings of the 86th National Convention of International Processing Society of Japan，Achieving Enthusiasm in Virtual Live Concert Through the Synthesis of Sympathetic Audience NPCs, March 17, 2024
Grants
Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research ((Exploratory)：23K18468 (2023―)