Every day we have countless experiences. To distinguish experiences we want to remember from those we don't, we are guided by emotions. We are even willing to pay for certain experiences and the way they make us feel. This makes emotions an important measure for the value of leisure, tourism, hospitality and entertainment.
Understanding and measuring emotions is important to create the best possible experience. But how do you do this? During the thirteenth online lunch meeting on December 5, Prof. Dr. Marcel Bastiaansen (Professor Leisure & Tourism Experience at BUas and Tilburg University, director and co-founder BUas Experience Lab) shared how this topic is being studied in the BUas Experience Lab, and what we can learn from it.

On March 2, the fifth DIGIREAL lunch meeting took place. The subject of this edition will be volumetric capturing. This fast-growing video technique captures a three-dimensional element, such as a person, location or performance for an optimal and immersive viewing experience. 
Guest speaker: Natasja Paulssen, 4DR Studios
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We invited Natasja Paulssen from 4DR Studios to inspire and inform us about this emerging technology. 4DR Studios is the first and only volumetric video studio in the Netherlands and one of the few high-quality volumetric video studios in the world. From simulating live performances to bringing historical figures to life; Natasja tells us all about the areas of application, the current state of the art and the future of the technology. 

During the fourth DIGIREAL lunch meeting on February 2, experts Mark de Graaf shared his knowledge on smart interactions: interactions in which technology is used to help users achieve their goals in a way that feels as natural as possible. With spoken or written text, image recognition or even gestures. Using a voice command to make a phone call in your care while driving, for example. As algorithms get smarter, what is needed to make them really good? What does that imply for the design of virtual humans, or smart environments?

The December edition of the DIGIREAL online lunch meetings was all about digital humans. We know them from deep fakes and videogames, as virtual fashion models and as virtual humans that assist in training and educational settings. 

To illustrate the wide variety of options within the world of digital humans, we invited the following experts to share their knowledge:
- Carlos Santos is the leader of the VIBE project at Breda University of Applied Sciences. This project develops virtual humans that are realistic digital replicas for conversational AI and medical training. They use real-time rendering, fully integrated text-to-speech, live facial animation and deep learning systems.
- Desiderio Cano Porras is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Tilburg University with a focus on human interaction with virtual humans. How do you built the avatars? How do we perceive them when we interact with them and what barriers do we still need to remove? 
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On Thursday 24 November, from 15:00-20:00 CET at the Belgian National Comic Arts Museum, Zandstraat 20, Brussels  DIGIREAL will be presented at the Neth-ER annual conference and networking event as an example of how ecosystems can contribute to the green & digital transitions impact. The digital reality transition of digital humans, digital environments and digital twins, is going so fast; if you work and invest alone, you will start to lag behind.