BUILD | CHARACTER ANIMATION
The next-gen step in character animation
With the PS4 and Xbox One almost upon us, Craig Chapple looks at what the new hardware can unlock for animators The company has also just launched Face
The Foundry’s modo tech (main image) is one of a number of tools bringing character animation to the masses and preparing developers for next-gen console development
DESPITE THE LONGEST console generation yet, with Microsoft’s Xbox 360 launched as far back as 2005 – eight years ago – progress in the character animation space has still been steady, bordering on slow, in recent times. Some advancements have come as devs
got to grips with the ageing hardware, which can be seen over time in franchises such as the Gears of War and Mass Effect series, with each entry steadily upping the ante graphically. Such improvements in character animation
have arguably now peaked on the cusp of the next generation of consoles, with the likes of Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us, Quantic Dream’s Beyond: Two Souls and the artistically-styled The Walking Dead by Telltale Games showing just how far the sector has come the past eight years, and how important this space is to game narrative and player immersion. The smoothness of these animations is
critical. For players to feel immersed, they must believe in the world around them, and not be put off by strange facial animations or odd reactions to the physical world. It’s no wonder then, as we approach the launch of the PS4 and Xbox One this month,
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that a host of the world’s biggest developers and publishers have invested in new state-of- the-art game engines, such as EA’s Ignite and Frostbite 3 development platforms, Kojima’s Fox Engine and Square Enix’s Luminous engine, with player expectations in visuals and character animation set to jump alongside the huge leap in hardware specs. A plethora of enhancements in character and facial animation have also been made in the third-party middleware space. Epic’s Unreal Engine 4 features a new integrated toolset called Unreal Persona, built on top of the Blueprint visual scripting system, which offers blend spaces and state machines and also allows animators to create a playable character without the aid of a programmer. Unity 4 meanwhile also includes character animation tool Mecanim, and version 4.3 will add BlendShapes, helping developers create realistic and emotional facial animations. Mixamo’s new free character creator Fuse
allows developers to create new 3D models from scratch or select from an array of rigged 3D character models. The tech effectively acts as a ‘free-to-play’ character animation tool.
Plus, a facial animation technology integrated into the Unity engine that allows developers to capture and apply facial animations onto a 3D character by using a webcam in real-time.
A BELIEVABLE PERFORMANCE Mixamo CEO and co-founder Stefano Corazza says progress in character and facial animation has become a key part of game development, particularly in narrative-driven titles, as developers look to drive the aforementioned immersive experience. “With storytelling becoming an
increasingly important part of games, it is crucial for developers to deliver high quality character animations, including facial animation. Games like The Last of Us, Tomb Raider, GTA V, Assassin's Creed III and Heavy Rain are setting player expectations and gamers now pay even more attention to story, voice acting and animations. They look more and more for immersion in their experience,” says Corazza. Colin Urquhart, CEO of facial performance capture firm Dimensional Imaging, agrees
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