Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

How Omniverse Wove a Real CEO - and His Toy Counterpart - Together With Stunning Demos at GTC

21/12/2021

It could only happen in NVIDIA Omniverse - the company's virtual world simulation and collaboration platform for 3D workflows.

And it happened during an interview with a virtual toy model of NVIDIA's CEO, Jensen Huang.

What are the greatest one of Toy Jensen's creators asked, stumbling, then stopping before completing his scripted question.

Unfazed, the tiny Toy Jensen paused for a moment, considering the answer carefully.

The greatest are those, Toy Jensen replied, who are kind to others.

Leading-edge computer graphics, physics simulation, a live CEO, and a supporting cast of AI-powered avatars came together to make NVIDIA's GTC keynote - delivered using Omniverse - possible.

Along the way, a little soul got into the mix, too.

The AI-driven comments, added to the keynote as a stinger, provided an unexpected peek at the depth of Omniverse's technology.

Omniverse is the hub in which all the various research domains converge and align and work in unison, says Kevin Margo, a member of NVIDIA's creative team who put the presentation together. Omniverse facilitates the convergence of all of them.

Toy Jensen's ad-lib capped a presentation that seamlessly mixed a real CEO with virtual and real environments as Huang took viewers on a tour of how NVIDIA technologies are weaving AI, graphics and robotics together with humans in real and virtual worlds.

Real CEO, Digital Kitchen While the CEO viewers saw was all real, the environment around him morphed as he spoke to support the story he was telling.

Viewers saw Huang deliver a keynote that seemed to begin, like so many during the global COVID pandemic, in Huang's kitchen.

Then, with a flourish, Huang's kitchen - modeled down to the screws holding its cabinets together - slid away from sight as Huang strolled toward a virtual recreation of Endeavor's gleaming lobby.

One of our goals is to find a way to elevate our keynote events, Margo says. We're always looking for those special moments when we can do something novel and fantastical, and that showcase NVIDIA's latest technological innovations.

It was the start of a visual journey that would take Huang from that lobby to Shannon's, a gathering spot inside Endeavor, through a holodeck, and a data center with stops inside a real robotics lab and the exterior of Endeavor.

Virtual environments such as Huang's kitchen were created by a team using familiar tools supported by Omniverse such as Autodesk Maya and 3ds Max, and Adobe Substance Painter.

Omniverse served to connect them all in real-time - so each team member could see changes made by colleagues using different tools simultaneously, accelerating their work.

That was critical, Margo says.

The virtual and the real came together quickly once live filming began.

A small on-site video team recorded Huang's speech in just four days, starting October 30, in a spare pair of conference rooms at NVIDIA's Silicon Valley headquarters.

Omniverse allowed NVIDIA's team to project the dynamic virtual environments their colleagues had created on a screen behind Huang.

As a result, the light spill onto Huang changed as the scene around him changed, better integrating him into the virtual environment.

And as Huang moved through the scene, or as the camera shifted, the environment changed around Huang.

As the camera moves, the perspective and parallax of the world on the video wall responds accordingly, Mago says.

And because Huang could see the environment projected on the screens around him, he was better able to navigate each scene.

At the Speed of Omniverse All of this accelerated the work of NVIDIA's production team, which had most of what they needed in-camera after each shot rather than adding elaborate digital sets in post-production.

As a result, the video team quickly created a presentation seamlessly blending a real CEO with virtual and real-world settings.

However, Omniverse was more than just a way to speed collaboration between creatives working with real and digital elements hustling to hit a deadline. It also served as the platform that knit the string of demos featured in the keynote together.

To help developers create intelligent, interactive agents with Omniverse that can see, speak, converse on a wide range of subjects and understand naturally spoken intent, Huang announced Omniverse Avatar.

Omniverse brings together a deep stack of technologies - from ray-tracing to recommender systems - that were mixed and matched throughout the keynote to drive a series of stunning demos.

In a demo that swiftly made headlines, Huang showed how Project Tokkio for Omniverse Avatar connects Metropolis computer vision, Riva speech AI, avatar animation and graphics into a real-time conversational AI robot - the Toy Jensen Omniverse Avatar.

The conversation between three of NVIDIA's engineers and a tiny toy model of Huang was more than just a technological tour de force, demonstrating expert, natural Q&A.

It showed how photorealistic modeling of Toy Jensen and his environment - right down to the glint on Toy Jensen's glasses as he moved his head - and NVIDIA's Riva speech synthesis technology powered by the Megatron 530B large language model could support natural, fluid conversations.

To create the demo, NVIDIA's creative team created the digital model in Maya Substance, and Omniverse did the rest.

None of it was manual, you just load up the animation assets and talk to it, he said.

Huang also showed a second demo of Project Tokkio, a customer-service avatar in a restaurant kiosk that was able to see, converse with and understand two customers.

Rather than relying on Megatron, however, this model relied on a model that integrated the restaurant's menu, allowing the avatar to smoothly guide customers through their op
LINK: https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2021/12/21/how-omniverse-keynote/...
See more stories from nvidia

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

07/05/2026

CNN Founder Ted Turner Dies at 87

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/05/2026

FCC Urges Appeals Court to Toss Challenges to Nexstar-Tegna Deal

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/05/2026

Carr Announces FCC Staff Promotions

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

07/05/2026

Recreating the 1974 Doctor Who Time Tunnel in After Effects

Recreating the 1974 Doctor Who Time Tunnel in After Effects Graham Quince May 6, 2026 0 Comments The Time Tunnel from Doctor Who titles is one of th...

06/05/2026

Wisycom RF Solutions Support Gravity Medias Live Cycling and Marathon Broadcasts

Gravity Media Chief RF Communications Engineer Glenn Willems uses Wisycom RF over Fiber and wireless solutions across major cycling events and international mar...

06/05/2026

Sennheiser Spectera Module Now Available in Bitfocus Companion and Buttons

A Sennheiser Spectera module is now available in Bitfocus Companion and Buttons, enabling direct integration of Spectera with the two software platforms. The mo...

06/05/2026

Ted Turner, Cable Television Pioneer, Sports Broadcasting Hall of Famer, Dead at 87

Ted Turner, the visionary media entrepreneur whose appetite for disruption helpe...

06/05/2026

FIFA World Cup 2026: Peacock Launches Visin de Campo (aka Pitchside Live), Will Stream All 104 Matches in Spanish

Peacock is going all-in on the beautiful game - streaming all 104 FIFA World Cup...

06/05/2026

NoiseWorks Audio launch VoiceAssist Basic, Standard & Advanced

New pricing tiers for vocal/dialogue restoration tool NoiseWorks Audio's AI-powered vocal and dialogue processing plug-in is now available in three diff...

06/05/2026

RME TotalMix FX 2 now available

Popular mixing & routing software overhauled Following a recent public beta test, RME have launched the final release version of the powerful mixing and rou...

06/05/2026

Focusrite: Designing The ISA C8X Audio Interface

New SOS Video Feature Focusrites ISA C8X is a milestone product that brings together the companys analogue heritage and their expertise in digital audio. Yo...

06/05/2026

L3Harris to Boost Polish Navy Combat Power with Advanced Ship System

Polands Miecznik-class frigates are part of the largest contract in Polish shipbuilding history. (Image Credit: PGZ Stocznia Wojenna)...

06/05/2026

FCC's Anna Gomez Urges Rigorous Review of Paramount-WBD Merger

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

06/05/2026

Riedel Ups Marc Engroff to CFO, Shifts Frank Eischet to Group COO

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

06/05/2026

Amagi Launches In-Content Ads' to Attract More CTV Advertisers

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

06/05/2026

Riedel Expands Leadership Structure Appoints Marc Engroff...

Riedel Communications today announced the expansion of its leadership structure as part of a strategic initiative to strengthen both its operational management ...

06/05/2026

Production Sound Mixer Dirk Sciarrotta Delivers Camera Re...

For nearly three decades, Veteran Production Sound Mixer and Five-time Emmy Award Winner Dirk Sciarrotta has helped define the sonic identity of the long-runnin...

06/05/2026

ZEISS CinCraft LensCore: Cinema Lens Looks for Compositing

ZEISS CinCraft LensCore: Cinema Lens Looks for Compositing Brie Clayton May 6, 2026 0 Comments ZEISS announces the launch of CinCraft LensCore, a nove...

06/05/2026

Wisycom Solves Extreme RF Challenges Across Miles of Live Action for Gravity Media

Wisycom Solves Extreme RF Challenges Across Miles of Live Action for Gravity Med...

06/05/2026

NAB Launches Weekly Podcast on Local Broadcast Policy

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

06/05/2026

Mavis Launches Mavis Studio iPad For Media Production

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

06/05/2026

Narrative Entertainment partners with Encompass to provid...

Narrative Entertainment has partnered with Encompass to deliver high-quality subtitling of its Great! network content using the Altitude Intelligence AI assiste...

06/05/2026

SipRadius extends its seamless creation and connectivity...

SipRadius, widely recognized for making content processing and connectivity secure and seamless, is proud to launch a dramatic new approach to AI content creati...

06/05/2026

Big Blue Marble at ANGA COM - TV as a Service in the spot...

When the broadband and media industry gathers at ANGA COM in Cologne from May 19 to 21, Big Blue Marble will be at the forefront. The international broadcast an...

06/05/2026

Cinegy makes its MPTS debut with software-defined televis...

Cinegy GmbH, a leading developer of software-defined television technology, is proud to exhibit at MPTS for the first time. Visitors to the stand will discover ...

06/05/2026

Val Jeanty Receives 2026 Doris Duke Artist Award

Val Jeanty Receives 2026 Doris Duke Artist Award Jeanty, a composer, percussionist, and turntablist, is the fourth Berklee recipient of the prestigious award ...

06/05/2026

Zeiss Launches CinCraft LensCore

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

06/05/2026

Gomez Urges Rigorous FCC Review of Paramount-WBD Merger

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

06/05/2026

Wisycom Solves Extreme RF Challenges Across Miles of Live...

When live cycling races and international marathons stretch for miles across cities and countryside, there is no margin for RF failure in live broadcast. As Chi...

06/05/2026

ZEISS CinCraft LensCore - Cinema Lens Looks for Compositi...

Oberkochen/Germany, May 5, 2026 ZEISS announces the launch of CinCraft LensCore, a novel solution for creating physically based cinematic lens looks for visual...

06/05/2026

VEON's Kyivstar Authorized to Resell Starlink for Businesses & Enterprises in Ukraine

06 May 2026 VEON's Kyivstar Authorized to Resell Starlink for Businesses & ...

06/05/2026

UKTV Brings the Early Years of Neighbours to U in 420Episode Back Catalogue Deal

UKTV has secured the exclusive rights to the early back catalogue of iconic Australian drama series Neighbours, following a landmark content deal with Fremantle...

06/05/2026

Sky commissions feature documentary to mark 10th anniversary of Manchester Arena bomb

Wednesday 6 May 2026 Sky commissions feature documentary to mark 10th anniversa...

06/05/2026

Sky and Formula 1 agree long-term partnership across UK, Ireland and Italy

Wednesday 6 May 2026 Sky and Formula 1 agree long-term partnership across UK, Ireland and Italy Sky in the UK & Ireland to remain the home of Formula 1 until ...

06/05/2026

GUPPYFRIEND champions microplastic reduction in sport with The Real Bag For Life Sky TV campaign

Sky Zero Footprint Fund-backed TV campaign launches nationwide, supported by new...

06/05/2026

Riedel Expands Leadership Structure, Appoints Marc Engroff as CFO and Frank Eischet as Group COO

Wuppertal May 6, 2026 Riedel Expands Leadership Structure, Appoints Marc Engro...

06/05/2026

Harmonic Defines a New Era of Broadband Connectivity at ANGA COM 2026

SAN JOSE, Calif. - May 6, 2026 - Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced its latest broadband innovations for ANGA COM 2026, highlighting its vision for a new e...

06/05/2026

Statement from Rupert Murdoch, Chairman Emeritus, Fox Corporation on Ted Turner's Passing

Statement from Rupert Murdoch, Chairman Emeritus, Fox Corporation on Ted Turner&...

06/05/2026

Calling all animal lovers, The Shelter: Animal SOS returns for a sixth season

Friday 8 May on RT One and RT Player Meet the NSPCA team caring for and protecting animals in need in this six-part series Fly on the wall, six-part series...

06/05/2026

NVIDIA Spectrum-X - the Open, AI-Native Ethernet Fabric - Sets the Standard for Gigascale AI, Now With MRC

The race to build the world's most powerful AI factories demands networking ...

06/05/2026

May 05, 2026

How changes to proteins can alter drug interactions for new precision therapies Scripps Research team maps how chemical modifications to proteins affect drug bi...

05/05/2026

Lessons from fragile contexts on responding to disinformation

Experts from the world of academia, tech, business, politics and media convened for a Thomson Talks at the Cambridge Disinformation Summit in April. It's th...

05/05/2026

Samsung Galaxy S26 Ultra Phone Cameras Bring New Excitement to Street League Skateboarding

Three phones were hardwired for power and transmission to the truck; camera feat...

05/05/2026

Case Study: How Zaki Rose Rebuilt Its Production Infrastructure, and What It Means for Sports Content Creators

The creative studio behind campaigns for the NBA, Fanatics Sportsbook & Casino, ...

05/05/2026

Nielsen Co-Viewing Pilot Shows Average 4% Viewership Increase for February Live Events

Nielsen has announced results from a co-viewing pilot program covering February&...