GDC 08: Image Metrics Shows the Future of Facial Animation
By Jonathan on Wednesday, February 20th, 2008 at 1:43 AM PST In Game Companies, Game Platforms, Game Related Science, Gamer Life, Games Industry, Videos
This year’s GDC is already in full swing, so we’re already starting to see some impressive new announcements and tech. Probably the most interesting technology demonstration I’ve seen so far though is the facial animation technology being used by Image Metrics. I don’t know exactly how it works, but all they need to do is take a video of a person acting out different facial expressions, and then they can translate that directly on a computer-rendered image. It doesn’t require tiny dots stuck on a person’s face or even a special camera. Apparently this technology has already been used in several games, such as Metal Gear Solid 4 and Unreal Tournament III. Basically though, this means just about anyone can be put into a video game much easier. This video from X-Play shows this technology in action.
Via G4TV
UNIVERSAL TOURNAMENT III
BAHAHAHAHAHA, shows how much he knows about his work.
Cool technology, but what a worthless video from G4 – 3 tedious minutes to present about 3 facts. We’d learn more from Image Metrics’ demo reel and 100 words of text.
Did you notice they even managed to hide the character’s mouth in the first demo… that was a truly brainless production gaffe from someone at G4.
Image Metrics Demo Reel can be found here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxOCImdwU2U
Cant believe he said Universal tournament, that said i have experiance with faciel animation and without mo-cap its a bitch. this looks better than mo-cap so it will become the industry standard within the year. my only question is can the data be transfered to non human faces (Crash Bandicoot or Rachet from R&C)