PS3 Informer

Image Metrics Facial Animation to Showcase Power of Emergent Game Technologies' Gamebryo at GDC 2008

Image Metrics' Computer Generated Facial Animation Technology Demonstrates Graphics Processing Capabilities of Gamebryo

Image Metrics today announced that its proprietary performance capture solution was used by Emergent Game Technologies to produce a new demo of Emergent's Gamebryo(TM) game engine that will be showcased at the Game Developer's Conference (GDC) in San Francisco on February 18 - 21. The demo will be showcased in the Emergent Technologies booth #5716, North Hall.

"In the process of selecting a performance and facial animation solution that truly shows the capabilities of the Gamebryo Element engine, we found that Image Metrics provided an affordable and ideal balance of power and technological innovation," said Geoff Selzer, CEO of Emergent Game Technologies. "Undoubtedly, Image Metrics' facial animation technology enabled us to exhibit the raw computing power of the Gamebryo foundation. We are honored that Image Metrics chose to work with Emergent on this project. The intricacy and sophistication of the facial animation provided by Image Metrics delivers a fresh and engaging emotional experience that we're proud to be showcasing at GDC."

To reveal the power and sophistication of the Gamebryo Engine, Emergent turned to Image Metrics to deliver the performance capture-based facial animation. In addition to providing the voice-over for a series of characters to be used by Emergent in upcoming demos, the demo presented at GDC contains more than 30 seconds of facial animation produced by Image Metrics, bringing rich expression and emotion to the featured character. The enhanced design and power of Emergent's Gamebryo engine enables the system to support multiple platforms including the Nintendo Wii(R), Sony PlayStation 2(R) and Sony PlayStation 3(R), as well as Microsoft Xbox 360(TM).

"Renowned for its innovation in game development, Emergent Gaming Technologies has set the standard for technical flexibility and power for game engines," said Image Metrics Chief Operating Officer Kelvin Duckett. "The combination of Image Metrics' facial animation solution and the power and flexibility of the Gamebryo Element, works together to deliver some of the most beautiful, graphically rich gaming sequences being created today."

About Emergent
Emergent Game Technologies provides flexible technologies and services that give developers an unmatched range of integrated capabilities for building, testing and managing games. These proven, stand-alone solutions include the award-winning Gamebryo game engine used to create hit next-generation games for the Wii(TM), PLAYSTATION(R)3, Xbox 360(TM), and PC. Emergent technology gives developers the flexibility they need to fuel creativity while reducing risk.

Emergent is headquartered in Calabasas, Calif., and has offices in Chapel Hill, NC; Austin, Texas; London; Tokyo; China; and Korea. To learn more, visit www.emergent.net.

About Image Metrics
Image Metrics is located in Santa Monica, California, with R&D headquarters in Manchester, U.K. Image Metrics provides the entertainment industry's first and only marker and makeup free performance driven facial animation solution. The company's proprietary performance capture process uses pre-existing or newly recorded video of an actor's facial performance shot with any video or high definition camera. All detail seen in the recorded video is then analyzed and mapped onto the computer-generated model, providing an unprecedented amount of detail that results in the actor's personality shining through the synthetic character. Developed over the past seven years by a team of Ph.D. physicists, the technology has been successfully applied in more than 40 video games, movies and commercials worldwide.

SOURCE: Image Metrics