MANSFIELD, Conn — The artistry of “Alter Ego” – FOX entertainment’s new reality show – has added a new twist for contestants taking the stage.
Instead of being themselves, contestants take the stage virtually, pairing their voices with an avatar representation. The amazing creations are each designed with life-like moves and personalities of their own.
“I think that is awesome man, I love avatars, and I think that would be really cool to experience,” said avatar fan, Joseph Derosa from Vernon.
This state-of-the-art technology building a brand-new kind of competitor. The show is a far cry from the early days of virtual entertainment.
“The first avatars were just, you know, stick figures in an Atari game, you know, running through and conquering dragons,” said Mike Maven, a software engineer at AboutGolf.
Maven is eyeing the idea of bringing avatars to the virtual golf courses he creates at AboutGolf and explains how the technology is turning up the wow factor on reality TV.
“The interesting thing is I think it kind of takes the idea of the blind audition like they wanted to do in ‘The Voice’ but it takes it to another level,” said Maven.
For people who want in on the avatar action, UConn’s Coding Bootcamp could be a good place to start.
“For this program, what we're teaching is front end and back end, web development,” said Kylene Perras with the UCONN School of Engineering.
The six-month intensive experience offers students skills that are key to bringing these contestants to life.
“Somebody like our coding boot camp graduates would come into play would be building the software that is going to read the motions of a person and translate it into motion for the character,” said Coding Bootcamp instructor Graydon Scates.
It's a technology that’s allowing these performers to step up to the microphone without fear.
“The Avatar allows the person to represent a version of themselves that can kind of free them from, you know the judgments of other people,” said Maven.
Catch "Alter Ego" on Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. To learn more about UCONN’s Coding Bootcamp click here.
Keith McGilvery is an anchor and reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at kmcgilvery@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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