Why Next-Gen Consoles Need Next-Gen Faces

Humans have evolved an amazingly sophisticated ability to perceive faces and facial expressions and we can recognise, often subconsciously, the most subtle emotional cues. This is why facial animation is so hard to get right! 

Next-gen consoles have the power to render in-game characters with incredible levels of detail, so the pressure is on game developers to create assets that meet ever higher expectations of realism. It is becoming increasingly more effective to use 4D capture to apply the performance of an actor directly to their digital double than it is to re-target their performance to a traditional control rig. At DI4D, we capture an actor’s facial performance in its purest form and without any need for significant animator “polish”. Our aim is to lead a revolution in digital doubles for the next generation of consoles. 

In a recent piece commissioned by gamesindustry.com, our CEO Colin Urquart took a deep dive into exactly why next-gen consoles need next-gen faces and how game developers can drive them. And not just photoreal faces of entirely fictional characters – we’re rapidly entering an era of ubiquitous, in-game, digi-doubles.

Read the full article here