The Glasgow-founded facial performance capture company, DI4D, has launched PURE4D, a brand new facial capture solution, aimed at next-generation videogames creators, which promises to be the most efficient and scalable on the market.
DI4D claims that PURE4D will bring videogames the same level of fidelity and realism previously only available for movie visual effects and pre-rendered cinematics. The new pipeline will allow developers to utilise high fidelity 4D facial performance capture to drive high volumes of in-game animation for realistic ‘digital double’ characters.
If you’ve seen Bladrunner 2049, Deadpool2, Love, Death & Robots, or played Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, or The Last Of Us 2, then you’ve already seen DI4D’s work. The launch of PURE4D gives the company a new, dedicated technology, aimed squarely at the high-end videogames market.
From Movie Blockbusters to Videogames
Powered by DI4D’s unique mesh tracking solution, PURE4D combines accurate facial performance data from DI4D head-mounted camera (HMC) systems, with even higher fidelity expression data from DI4D PRO and it uses advanced machine learning technology to do this more efficiently and at volume.
PURE4D does not require a traditional facial animation rig as part of the capture process – significantly reducing both complexity and cost from the delivery of any project. Until now, providing this stunning level of detail and realism was only possible for big budget blockbuster movie projects. PURE4D faithfully captures an actor’s facial performance in its purest form, without the need for artist corrections or enhancements, delivering the most realistic facial animation ready for in-engine use.
Developers can bring believable characters and ‘digital doubles’ to life for the next generation of video games, film, TV, and visual effects, by conveying every emotion and nuance of an actors’ performance at the highest possible fidelity.
DI4D’s 4D technology is used by the world’s leading studios in video games and movies including Activision, Digital Domain, MPC, Remedy Entertainment, Electronic Arts and many more.
We believe that PURE4D is a real game changer for facial animation in videogames. The next generation of game consoles and game engines can support much more realistic in-game facial animation. The level of realism seen in recent pre-rendered cinematics is now becoming the benchmark for in-game animation. With PURE4D, game developers can reproduce the exact facial performance of any actor to create lifelike digital double performances – without the need to create a complex FACS rig or for significant animator polish.
Colin Urquhart, co-founder and CEO of DI4D
The PURE4D Pipeline:
- The DI4D PRO system is used to acquire high fidelity 4D facial expression data of each actor.
- Head-mounted DI4D HMC systems are then used to capture accurate 4D facial performance data, often from multiple actors, simultaneously with body motion capture.
- Leading-edge, machine learning algorithms efficiently combine both sets of data to significantly increase the scalability of the solution.
- Every nuance and subtle expression from the actors’ facial performance are captured and transferred faithfully to the in-game animation of their digital double characters.
You can find out more about DI4D on the company website: www.di4d.com for more information about working with PURE4D contact: info@DI4D.com
