This is Emily. Emily is a 27-year-old PR rep working in Los Angeles. She likes beef jerky and has a soft spot for videogame nerds. Actually, I completely made that up. In fact, everything about Emily is a complete fabrication. This image and the following video featuring “Emily” are completely computer-generated.

The uncanny valley may soon be traversed.

As I’m sure you’ve figured out by now, the technology is called… actually, it appears the technology itself doesn’t really have a name. Image Metrics, however, is the company behind “the technology”. A facial motion-capture with results that rival that of Alter Ego, the big difference between the two techs being that Image Metrics doesn’t use any markers.  This is great news for mo-cap actors that don’t like sticky balls all over their faces.

Image Metrics instead captures video of the actors performing, and then “the technology” is used to convert the movement into animation while tracking things that regular mo-cap can’t, such as eyes, teeth, tongue, etc. How does it do that? Well… I have no idea.

Image Metrics’s technology has been used in Grand Theft Auto IV, Unreal Tournament III, Top Spin 3, Devil May Cry 4, and Uncharted: Drakes Fortune (among others).  You can also see it in action in the Gnarls Barkley video for “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul”.

Is it just me, or do you now have a completely different view of the California Raisins?

In addition to the lack of balls on your face, Image Metrics can supposedly use their technology to give premium results about five times faster than normal motion-capture software. They even run the animation through whichever program a developer is using for their game or video to provide seamless integration with the rest of the project.

You can check out more info or get the “company line” at the Image Metrics website, which also hosts more video examples of their tech in action.

Tags: Alter Ego, balls, California Raisins, Emily, Gnarls Barkley, Image Metrics, mo-cap, motion capture, Ripley's

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4 Comments » Chad Lakkis on August 19, 2008 11:39 am I will never eat another raisin ever again. Thanks Dan. greeneggsnsam on August 19, 2008 12:17 pm Eh? I didn’t see any raisins. Chad Lakkis on August 19, 2008 2:38 pm Dan is comparing the heart in the vid to a California Raisin… Dan Landis on August 19, 2008 5:26 pm Eat raisins? I was talking about the old claymation California Raisins that sang and danced. They even had toys at McDonald’s, Hardee’s, Burger King, and I think you could even get them in cereal boxes. RSS feed for comments on this post. Comment Now Note: Commenting on Ripten does not currently require registration, however to be eligible for contests on the site, you must be a registered user. Name (required) Mail (will not be published) (required) Website Commenting Rules: No hate speech allowed. If you must argue, please debate intelligently. Comments containing selected keywords or outbound links will be put into moderation to help prevent spam. Ripten reserves the right to delete comments and ban anyone who doesn't follow the rules. Thanks. Notify me of followup comments Tired of the Goomba? Upload your own custom comment avatar.