• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.110-125
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• 2023

Virtual idol groups are a product of changes in cultural content and development of digital technology. The purpose of this study is to derive the characteristics of technical expression and fashion of virtual idol groups of Korean entertainment companies, and the significance of this study is to provide basic data for creating a new content business model for virtual idol groups. The research method of this study consisted of literature research and case analysis. Korean virtual idol groups 'K/DA', 'Aespa', and 'Eternity', which show the evolved business model of the entertainment industry through rapid advances in digital technology, were selected as the subject of case analysis for this study, and newspaper articles were searched by keywords and analyzed. As a result of the study, the technical expressions shown in Korean virtual idol groups were 'implementation of realistic content through interaction technology', 'delicate motion expression through motion capture technology', and 'convergence of information between the real world and virtual world through AR technology', 'provision of experience similar to reality by VR technology' and 'formation of cultural contents by Deep Real technology' were deriven. In addition, the characteristics of the Korean virtual guide idol group's fashion are 'marketing strategy through collaboration with fashion items', 'giving recognition as a digital fashion icon of real existence', 'creating a sensuous image as a fashion brand ambassador' and 'fashion style expression of the Z generation's sensibility'.

• The Journal of the Korea Contents Association
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.69-78
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• 2020

K/DA is a K-pop virtual idol based on the game character. This study analyzed the creation process, characteristics and existential meaning of virtual idols from the perspective of Pataphysics. K/DA is a character with both characteristics of game character and K-pop girl group. Also, virtual character and real idol share the body through motion capture and augmented reality(AR). As a result, K/DA crosses virtual and reality, and at the same time becomes a pataphysical subject that does not belong to either virtual or reality. K/DA is suggested a third zone where digital subjects will be located in the future.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.28-38
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• 2022

Virtual idols have aroused wide attention as a novel product of the idol industry in the digital era over the past few years. The population of China determines that virtual idols have a huge fan market. As a digital cultural product closely connected with fans, virtual idols are im-portant to gain insights into the correlation between fan satisfaction and virtual idol functions. In accordance with the KANO demand model, this study first classifies and explains the specific functions of virtual idols into four quadrants, including attractive, must-be, 1D (One-Dimensional), and indifferent. Subsequently, the satisfaction of fans of virtual idols with specific functions in each quadrant are analyzed using a questionnaire. This study suggests that virtual idols have one at-tractive quality, three 1D quality, two must-be quality, and five indifferent quality functional elements. This study qualitatively analyzes the functional elements of virtual idols through fan satisfaction based on the KANO model, which provides valuable help for future research in the field of virtual idols and producers in this field.

• International Journal of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.64-79
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• 2022

The concept of Virtual Character has been developed for a long time with people's demand for cultural and entertainment products such as games, animations, and movies. In recent years, with the rapid development of concepts and industries such as social media, self-media, web3.0, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, and Metaverse, Virtual Character has also expanded new derivative concepts such as Virtual Idol, Virtual YouTuber, and Virtual Digital Human. With the development of technology, people's life is gradually moving towards digitalization and virtualization. At the same time, under the global environment of the new crown epidemic, human social activities are rapidly developing in the direction of network society and online society. From the perspective of digital media content, this paper studies the production technology of Virtual Character related products in the Chinese market, and analyzes the future development direction and possibility of the Virtual Character industry in combination with new media development directions and technical production methods. Consider and provide reference for the development of combined applications of digital media content industry, Virtual Character and Metaverse industry.

• Archives of design research
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.87-94
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• 2001

3D character animation grow rapidly with the development of computer graphic technology and software. Nowadays 3D character animation holds a important position in the various industry fields including movie, advertisement, animation, and game. With the rapid growth of computer graphic, real time animation of complex characters as well as high quality rendering, which was impossible before, are now prevailing. What is remarkable in this growth is the appearance of virtual idol. The virtual idol plays a leading role in 3D character animation and has a synergy effect in the field of fancy and theme park industry. The aim of this inquiry is to examine the status of computer graphic skill and media related to the 3D character animation to search out the problems in the fields and to propose the solution of the problems

• Fashion & Textile Research Journal
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 2022

K-pop stars are an important influence in the era of digital culture based on emotions. The purpose of this study is to visually express the identity and worldview of their music in the virtual and real world, and to promote Korea's current and past culture. The study also intends to appeal to the emotions of the global fans by designing original textile in their music video 'IDOL' on Tiny TAN - a symbol of world pop star BTS. For design development, traditional Korean images shown in the 'IDOL' video were collected, patterns for each member were selected, and a motif was designed on Adobe Illustrator. We selected the dragon as the motif for V, cloud for Suga, chrysanthemums for Jin, mask for Jung Kook, hanok pavilion for RM, fan for Jimin, and Sam Taegeuk for J-Hope. The selected motifs were designed as per the four textile design arrangement methods: square pattern, 1/2 half drop pattern, turn-around pattern, and panel pattern. The design was presented by mapping Kwaeja to Tiny TAN character. The developed textile design can be used not only for character costumes in virtual space, but also for various products such as clothes, accessories, bedding, cosmetics, stationery, and food. By using it to produce goods inspired by K-pop stars, it can be used as basic data for the development of high value-added competitive products in the global market and create synergy effects of K-Design, which would lead a new trend in the design world.

• The Journal of the Convergence on Culture Technology
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.823-831
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• 2021

In the Internet age, the digital cultural industry is booming, start-up companies want to win a place in the fiercely competitive red sea market of the Internet, innovative business models have become an important challenge and opportunity for countless companies. Taking the virtual idol "Hatsune Miku" as the example, the analysis is carried out at the levels of technological innovation, value proposition, resource combination, operation process and marketing model. By comparing the differences between the first-generation software Meiko of Crypton and the second-generation software "Hatsune Miku", we will study the components of the business model to explore the characteristics and advantages of this business model, and in-depth operation models and innovations. The analysis is expected to provide a substantial reference for other electronic product and software development companies in their business models.

• Journal of Korea Multimedia Society
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.74-84
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• 2020

In November 2018, virtual pop band K/DA, with the use of holograms and actual K-pop girl group members, performed its debut album titled "POP/STARS" at the opening ceremony of the League of Legends S8 final, hosted by Riot Games. The fan culture that exists for real singers adapts itself to virtual bands, and K/DA, consisting of virtual characters, encouraging the production of user created content (UCC). However, this form of UCC is different from the most common one, meaning that this type of band generates another way of consuming content. Therefore, this study examines how K/DA's digital characters are transformed and reproduced by UCC and how the original producers' content differs from them. Firstly, the development of this study considers the open characteristics of UCC, such as user type, created motivation, created process, content type and sharing method. In the second part, the virtual idol Hatsune Miku and virtual band Pentakill will be analysed to understand UCC. Thirdly, K/DA will be analyzed as a case study based on three factors: created motivation, content type and sharing method. In this manner, this study aims to explain how UCC for virtual bands reproduce and consume original content and expand their commercial value.

• International journal of advanced smart convergence
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• v.11 no.3
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• pp.102-118
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• 2022

With the development of digital content software production technology and the technological progress of related hardware, the social status quo in the post-epidemic era, the popularization and application of 5G networks, the market and consumers' increasing demand for digital content products, artificial intelligence, virtual digital human, virtual Idols, virtual live, self-media content and metaverse-related content industries are all developing rapidly. Virtual idols, virtual digital human, etc. are not only accelerating innovation in production technology. The economic cost, technical difficulty and time requirements of production are also greatly reduced. With the arrival and development of the Metaverse, the author believes that the content industry with virtual digital humans as the core will continue to develop in the direction of refinement, specialization, facilitation and customization. In this article, we will analyze and study the production of virtual digital human based on Photoscan technology and Unreal Engine 5 Metahuman software, and discuss the application status and future development of related content.

• International Journal of Advanced Culture Technology
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• v.11 no.1
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• pp.45-54
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• 2023

The digital age start in earnest with the widespread use of the Internet. As a digital product, virtual idols bring new value to the design and dissemination of commercial brand images. "Luo Tianyi" is the world's first avatar and VOCALOID voice bank of Chinese. It has a large number of fans in China and is widely used in brand promotion. Therefore, "Luo Tianyi" is taken as the research object. Initially, we investigated the virtual idols through books, literature on the internet and other materials. Then we discussed semiotics and theories related to culture code brand design methodology (CCBD). After that, putting the above theories into practice, combined with brand design cases, we analyzed the strategy of virtual idols in brand promotion and dissemination, at last, we have the conclusion as followed. The results show that the virtual idols, visual symbol of "Luo Tianyi" can express the Index and Symbol corresponding to the brand information according to the characteristics of the brand. As an image of cultural code, "Luo Tianyi" can present three visual images at the same time, which are contemporary, traditional and future. In addition, these three visual images are presented in a strong and weak combination, which has a positive impact on the visual communication of the brand.