Analysis of charisma, comfort and realism in CG characters from a gender perspective

Abstract

Realistic characters from movies, games and simulations can make viewers feel strange (discomfort), an effect known as the Uncanny Valley (UV) theory. However, can the genders of CG characters and the genders of viewers change perceived comfort? In addition, can the genders (both characters and viewers) also influence the perceived charisma? Can the realism of a character also influence these aspects? This work aims to evaluate the perception of women and men about female and male characters, created using Computer Graphics (CG), presented in various media (movies, games, computer simulations, among others). Our goal is to answer the following questions: (i) How does the comfort perceived by people of both tested genders (female and male) relate to the genders of the characters? and (ii) Is the charisma influenced by the realism of the characters, considering the subjects and genders of the characters? We conducted perceptual studies on characters created using CG in images and videos through questionnaires. Our results indicated that the gender of the subjects and characters affected comfort, charisma and perceived realism. In addition, we also revisited the aspect of the UV theory (perception of comfort and human likeness) and found coherent curves compared to many works in the literature. KeywordsUncanny valley • Perceived comfort • Perceived realism • Perceived charisma • Cg characters • Gender

Perception of Charisma, Comfort, Micro and Macro Expressions in Computer Graphics Characters

“…Regarding H0 3 , firstly, as predicted in the work by Araujo et al [17], [18], our character, female and unrealistic, had values above 3 on the 5-Likert Scales (above average), that is, the character was considered charismatic and did not generate discomfort for the evaluated subjects. Regarding perceived comfort and charisma, we found some aspects that can be discussed: i) in most significant results about videos that started with positive macro expressions, people felt more comfortable and perceived more charisma in the character; ii) in most cases, people felt more comfortable and perceived more charisma in the characters in videos that had positive macro expressions followed by negative micro expressions than videos that had negative macro expressions followed by positive micro expressions; iii) looking at the averages in Table VIII, people felt more comfortable and perceived more charisma in the character in videos that started with macro positive expressions, especially in videos that had macro and micro positive expressions.…”

“…The 3d character chosen in this work is available at https://www.turbosquid.com/FullPreview/Index.cfm/ID/917863. As shown in the work by Araujo et al [17], [18], cartoon and female (the character used in the work of Queiroz et al [2] was also female) characters tend to be more comfortable and charismatic to people. Therefore, we chose a female cartoon character to evaluate this hypothesis in relation to our character, independently if the micro or macro expressions are correctly identified.…”

“…In Riggio's work [16], the author also reported that charismatic individuals are lively, charged with emotion, and full of life. Furthermore, there are a recent interest in the studies of comfort and charisma in CG characters, as presented by V. Araujo et al [17] and [18]. In the first work, authors study the influence of gender on the perception of charisma and comfort in CG characters, while in the other study, authors analyse the impact of time in perceived comfort in relation to the CG characters between 2012 and 2020.…”

GranDGamesBR: Perceptual Analysis of Computer Graphics Characters in Digital Entertainment

“…Specifically concerning CG characters, Araujo et al [23] recently presented a discussion about following questions: i) How does the comfort perceived by people of both tested genders (female and male) relate to the genders of the characters? and ii) Is the charisma influenced by the realism of the characters, considering the subjects and genders of the characters?…”

Perception of Computer Graphics Characters in Groups with Skin Color Diversity

“…Charismatic characters can make people adore them. In the works by Araujo et al [4], [6], the authors found relationships between perceived charisma and perceived comfort about CG characters.…”