It also fails to mention virtual youtubers, who are "virtual" youtube personalities with a 3D model as body and whose videos take place entirely inside 3D environments.

Obviously they're being played by real actors with motion control equipment, but there's a lot of work that goes into making them feel believable as virtual characters, with facial expressions and lots of other animations that are probably added after recording.

They've become very popular in Japan over the last year. The most famous one is called Kizuna Ai: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NasyGUeNMTs

> And while they're not intended to look or pass as humans they "give" hours-long packed concerts: https://youtu.be/HI0mv7P_sRk

That's because they learned their lessons from 20 years ago https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONIKb1EwX6U (kyoko date, one of the very first realistic virtual idol, 1997) (god, when did I become old enough to see patterns through generations :|).

edit: I find the new crop of virtual idols a bit creepy (anime charadesign, childish themes). Might be a generation thing.

My thoughts as well, but still an interesting article.