Avatars, talking web characters, and virtual representatives are growing in popularity for one fundamental reason…they “work”!
With broadband becoming the standard Internet access in all four corners of the world, the benefits and possibilities of using rich media and interactivity in marketing are beginning to become a reality, if not the norm. One of the most active areas is in the so-called Animated Avatars known by many names such as: Talking Web Characters, Virtual Representatives, Virtual Characters and Web Comparators. Their popularity is growing every day, not by accident, one critical reason is… “they work”, but when it comes to using them to deliver training, presentations, or integrated into CBT and education, Virtual Teacher is up to the challenge.
The provision of education assisted by the ubiquitous virtual tutor comes of age.
Virtual teachers, educational presenters and tutors can have a new face, available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, with the same happy disposition, automated, virtual lip sync and engaging content combined with contextual delivery. We know that retention is improved, we know that lean back education can be absorbed effortlessly, and we know that there is nothing more powerful when it comes to conveying complex ideas or facts than the spoken word. Virtual Teachers can be available in different forms, ages, genders and even fantasy. The flexibility is infinite. Education creators can focus on the subject and choose the ideal virtual tutor to help in the process. Literature assignment can be delivered in context and even science and math education can become more precise when assisted by a virtual tutor who has the power of “voice”. Unattended education via the web or locally operated makes virtual education highly effective and manageable. CBT has a new face, interactive courses can have guides and virtual assistants. Many formal education and training settings incorporate media into their presentations and educational content, and it’s not by accident, why? because it works! The ability to focus on content and its compelling and memorable delivery is why virtual teachers and tutors are commonplace in high-end establishments in the corporate stratosphere and high schools alike, both have something in common. common, the recognition that compelling animated virtual teachers can deliver results in a planned and precise way, where achievements at all levels of learning can be accelerated. This is no accident, its technology at its best, with a face and a purpose. Take a PowerPoint presentation, charts, facts, figures, and images, nice enough, add a full virtual animated teacher to the mix, and now you have a new generation of educational delivery.
In an educational environment it is a proven fact that retention and concentration of information improves when confronted with engaging content. So what should you look for in your animated talking character?
1: Avatar’s appearance
Is your talking animated character “attractive” or does it look like it fell from the ugly tree, is it well-crafted and generally engaging, or is it bland and poorly animated? Does it fit your image and delivery requirements? Is quality something you feel comfortable associating yourself with?
2: automated lip sync
Is the avatar lip sync accurate? there is nothing worse than seeing a virtual representative that looks like a badly dubbed movie, it’s critical, our brain reacts in microseconds to something that doesn’t look right! It seems strange, but most animated talking character offerings have less than convincing lip sync, to say the least. Individual tests include; Do virtual tutors’ lips stop moving when they are silent? Does it shape the phonemes correctly or is it just a random selection of gibberish?
3: Virtual Teachers Ambient animation, Less is more.
Animations during narration should be kept to a minimum and subtle, almost invisible. When watching a news broadcast, you would feel uncomfortable if the comparison eyes moved from side to side and exhibited strange and seemingly uncontrollable head movements. What is important is the content delivered by the talking avatar, and all animations should be kept to a minimum to avoid distractions. Less is definitely more.
4: Virtual Tutor – The Voice
Text-to-speech may sound convenient, but it tends to sound awful. To remember! this is a virtual representative, your own animated website or media comparison is an extension of your image, unless you sound like a robot stay away from synthesized voices. Use your own voice, or a friend’s, or pay for a professional voiceover, they’re not as expensive as you think! In the future, TTS will probably get better, but at present it should only be used if you have no other choice.
5: Customize your virtual character
Some offerings give you lots of tailoring options, even allowing the visitor to play with the character during their narration. In general, you should try to restrict the tailoring to clothing and backgrounds for best effect. You want your visitors and users to establish a relationship with your virtual teacher, so continually changing your appearance does not provide continuity for the visitor or student. Having a virtual tutor that the visitor can mess with only detracts from your message.
6: Integration and Hosting of your Virtual Teacher
Please note that many education delivery requirements may be remote via the Internet. Give this area a lot of thought as it is fraught with potential additional charges and risks. If you have a pay-for-view contract, a contract that charges you a monthly fee for so many streams, the risk is your increased views, you end up with one of two potential problems; you either have to pay more because you got more visits as your site grows in popularity, or you can’t pay more, so your talking avatar disappears, leaving a block with the provider’s logo in its place. The same goes for provider hosting, you have no control over your hosting facilities, if you trust your web comparison and your service providers’ servers go down, you have lost your “voice”. If your own Internet service goes down, at least the entire site is no longer visible. Always try and use a solution that gives you full control, creates your composition on time, generates industry standard output (Flash, Flash Video, or conventional video), and has full flexibility when it comes to integration.
7: Flexibility gives you your choice.
Is flexibility important? Would it be nice to have access to the native output of your efforts in an industry standard format like Flash, Flash Video, AVI, etc. so you can integrate your work into other environments like Powerpoint, Camtasia, YouTube, etc? Are there other provider services that can help you, such as voice-overs, integration, and custom services? Can your composition work offline? Can you create them offline? Flexibility adds to the return on your investment.
Resume
Doing any job wrong is not a good idea, many people grab a new technology and throw it at their audience without much thought. Implementing a bad Animated Virtual Representative is detrimental and could reflect on your business and/or educational requirements, take your time creating, and not settle for second best.
