Sega Testing New Animation Tool
Motion capture can take the fluid movements of a dancer, acrobat or martial artist and allow their skill to be transferred almost seamlessly onto character models for video games and CGI films. One of the most complicated tasks though can be animating the many facial variables needed to create realistic expressions that make you feel the emotions in the lines of voice actors. It can be a time-consuming process, especially for any game heavy on story, character interaction and dialog. Sega is testing out a new tool designed to cut down on the time and effort needed to create realistic expressions for computer generated characters. Their new creation– Magical V Engine– works with computer graphics programs to match the expressions of characters to the lines being spoken by analyzing the tone and delivery of the speech in order to extrapolate the correct emotions and then map them onto the character. Sega says that the software is performing very well thus far and can complete up to 80% of the labor necessary in this area.