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(Service)

CGI Characters & Digital Avatars

About

We create CGI characters and avatars for brands that need a consistent, scalable, and reusable digital talent presence. These can range from stylized characters to realistic avatars or fully developed digital humans, depending on the brand’s tone and positioning. This service covers the entire process, from early conceptualization, including personality, silhouette, style, and narrative role, to the full production pipeline: modeling, look development with materials, skin and hair, rigging, digital animation, and final compositing.

When natural performance is required, we can integrate motion capture to achieve believable, human acting. These characters can live across different formats, including advertising content, short-form videos and reels, interactive technology experiences such as kiosks where the avatar guides or responds to users, and real-time virtual environments. The key advantage of a well-built avatar is that it becomes a long-term brand asset. It remains consistent, reusable, and adaptable to new campaigns without rebuilding from scratch, while maintaining a controlled and premium visual language over time.

FAQ

  • What’s the difference between a stylized avatar and a digital double?

    A stylized avatar is a character with an interpreted visual language. It can lean toward a more cartoon-like, graphic, or brand-friendly aesthetic, where identity, charisma, and clarity are prioritized over absolute realism. Stylized avatars are typically more flexible for campaigns, easier to maintain consistently, and less demanding in areas such as skin detail, hair simulation, and micro-expressions.

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    A digital double, on the other hand, aims to replicate a real person with maximum fidelity. This includes accurate proportions, facial features, skin detail, look development, subtle gestures, and behavioral nuances. It requires more intensive scanning or reference capture, advanced shading and grooming, facial rigging, and precise lighting control to feel believable. Digital doubles are used when the narrative demands extreme realism or continuity with live-action footage.

  • Can the character be used across multiple campaigns?

    Yes. We design characters as reusable brand assets. The same character can appear across multiple campaigns, formats, and platforms, including video, social media, interactive technology experiences, and event screens.

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    To make this viable, we build a robust rig, maintain consistent look development, create base libraries of poses and expressions when appropriate, and document the pipeline to enable fast iteration without rebuilding the character each time.

  • How do you define a character’s voice, personality, and visual identity?

    We define the character as a brand system, not just a 3D design. The process typically includes:

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    • Role definition, such as host, guide, narrator, expert, or comic relief
    • Personality framework, including archetype, tone, boundaries, and brand values
    • Visual identity, including silhouette, proportions, materials, color palette, distinctive traits, wardrobe, and props
    • Body language, defining how the character moves and gestures, which is key for credibility
    • A character bible outlining design rules, emotional range, expressions, and clear do’s and don’ts

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    This ensures the character remains consistent across digital animation and any future activation.

  • What level of realism do you recommend for different industries?

    The right level of realism depends more on the objective and distribution channel than on the industry itself, but as a general guide:

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    • Retail, consumer brands, and entertainment often benefit from a premium stylized avatar that is memorable, shareable, and visually consistent.
    • Technology, automotive, and corporate sectors may lean toward a semi-realistic or clean realistic look to communicate precision and innovation.
    • Healthcare, pharma, and education typically require styles that prioritize clarity and trust. In some cases, semi-realism works better than hyperrealism to avoid the uncanny valley effect.
    • Luxury brands often benefit from refined realism or high-quality minimalist stylization, with meticulous materials and lighting.

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    At Cinética, we recommend the appropriate level of realism based on purpose, whether credibility or charisma is the priority, production timelines, and where the character will live, such as social media, event screens, VR, or virtual production.

  • Can the character be integrated in real time?

    Yes. A character can be integrated in real time within interactive technology experiences, virtual worlds, and real-time rendering systems.

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    This allows the avatar to exist within an installation, react to user inputs, change states, trigger animations, or function as a guide within an immersive experience.

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    To achieve this, we optimize the asset in terms of polygon count, textures, and rig efficiency, define animation states and behaviors, and build the interaction logic to ensure stable performance in live event conditions.