AlterEgo: Leaping the Uncanny Valley

Posted by Shawn on Friday, August 8th, 2008 at 1:15 pm under Game Companies, Game Consoles, Game Platforms, Game Related Science, Gamer Life, Games, Games Industry, Microsoft, Sony

Pendulum’s AlterEgo facial performance division is trying to break through the uncanny valley effect with it’s CGI human and humanoid animation. The uncanny valley is a phenomena where the closer to life like a robotic or CGI representation of a human is the more it bothers us.

The company, which is handling animation for Silent Hill: Homecoming (you can read my iE3 impressions of Silent Hill 5 on Gaming Today), has added some new videos of their work to its site. The motion capture is stunning but some of the models are very plastic in appearance. Check out the new Retargeting videos to judge for yourself. In my opinion, they are still a little creepy, but their closer than anything I’ve seen before.

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