

AlterEgo Shows Off Incredibly Realistic 3D Animated Faces - caveman82
http://www.techeblog.com/index.php/tech-gadget/feature-incredible-3d-tech-demo-shows-realistic-facial-animations

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jrockway
The pictures are nice, but the text of the "article" made me laugh out loud. A
choice snippet:

 _Called Alter Ego, this software basically takes advantage of blend shapes to
copy facial idiosyncrasies and produce emotive life-like 3D character
animations._

Wow, that's so insightful! Could you copy-n-paste more of the press release,
please?

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tdoggette
Those faces are deep, DEEP in the uncanny valley, but they're not falling in,
they're climbing out.

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bd
Facial animation in _The Normals_ looks even better:

<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pyhf3JmODHE>

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iamdave
I like the flexibility in the animations, but the mannerisms of each
expression doesn't seem to fit well with the person. I wonder if this software
will take advantage of characteristic expressions and not use the same
animation points to produce expressions and actions.

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noonespecial
They eyes still need _lots_ of work. That's going to be the final frontier of
the "uncanny valley". The eyes move, change focus and refract light
differently hundreds of times per minute. It will make rendering realistic
water look like an Amiga rendering a bouncing ball in 1989.

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smanek
wow, I'm curious how long those took to render.

what do you think, another two decades till actors are obsolete? ;-)

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hhm
"Its flexibility allows for the software to be used in real-time game
cinematics, pre-rendered projects, and even game trailers."

They might be able to run in real time, though the videos are probably pre-
rendered.

