Digital humanoid characters in games industry are becoming more and more realistic, but emotions on their faces come across as artificial and still leave something to be desired. Gamers are expecting to see game figures as something similar to film pictures and it is the challenge in itself. However, Epic Games started to face up this challenge.
Few days ago Epic Games declared that they will implement new system of emotion and movement projection. It is possible thanks to cooperation with company called 3Lateral.
Tim Sweeney, Epic Games CEO announce that :
“Real-time 3D experiences are reshaping the entire entertainment industry, and digital human technology is at the forefront. Fortnite shows that 200,000,000 people can experience a 3D world together. Reaching the next level requires capturing, personalizing, and conveying individual human faces and emotions”
The 3Lateral studio specialises in 3D object scanning and transferring realistic motion into computer program. Besides that the company work on face rigging and character modelling using simulation process. This is exactly what Epic Games needs. The most important thing to the Fortnite creator is to express real feeling to humanoid characters in the game. That’s why Epic Games gathered over 60 differentiated people to reflect behaviour of every race, gender and nation. Participant will be observed by sensors and cameras on every corner. The system will scan people’s acts, emotions on their faces or even throwing grenades action. The 3Lateral studio gives also possibility to scan body in clothes used in the game, thanks to that we can notice even small fold on costume while playing computer game.
Cooperation with Epic Games gives the opportunity to grow to the 3Lateral. Founder of 3Lateral development Vladimir Mastilovic expressed his view about their chance to grow:
“Observing, analysing and reconstructing these mechanisms has always fascinated us at 3Lateral, and we are excited to have joined a like-minded team at Epic Games with such strong desire to solve this near impossible problem.”
The video game market has a lot potential all around the world and number of gamers is still growing. That’s why graphic designers are doing everything they can to improve quality and make characters more realistic
Sources:
https://3lateral.com/news/3lateral-is-a-part-of-epic-games-unreal-engine-team.html
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-01-23-epic-games-acquires-3lateral
https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/23/epic-games-buys-3lateral-maker-of-super-realistic-digital-humans/