(Los Angeles, California--March 3, 2009) Image Metrics, the leading provider of facial animation solutions to the entertainment industry, announced that London-based visual effects studio Double Negative (DNeg) is the first beta customer for its new "self-service" performance transfer offering revealed at SIGGRAPH 2008.
This new offering will enable Double Negative to bring portions of Image Metrics' proprietary facial animation process in-house, giving the studio more creative control while generating a greater return on investment from more efficient facial animation production.
"To maintain a competitive edge in the rapidly evolving VFX industry, DNeg is constantly on the lookout for solutions that will help our talented staff deliver what directors demand, on time and on budget," said Alex Hope, managing director and a founder of Double Negative. "Initial tests with Image Metrics' technology have already shown substantial improvements in the facial areas that matter most: the eyes and mouth. As the technology has outstanding potential to innovate facial animation workflows and has been used successfully at Image Metrics for years, we're pleased to be partnering with them to advance our internal processes and those of the industry as a whole."
Image Metrics' performance-driven facial animation process captures highly detailed facial performances using standard or HD video cameras. Those performances are then analyzed and transferred to a computer-generated (CG) model using Image Metrics' proprietary computer vision technology. The new "self-service" performance transfer solution will continue to use Image Metrics' proprietary technology to conduct the performance analysis portion of the facial animation process, but will give Double Negative more control over the creative process of transferring that animation data to the CG model and polishing the final performance. In turn, Double Negative will provide critical feedback to Image Metrics that will assist in the technology's ongoing development.
"As one of the world's premiere visual effects studios, Image Metrics is honored to announce Double Negative as our first performance transfer beta client," said Kelvin Duckett, general manager of film and television at Image Metrics. "Having recently worked on a number of blockbuster films including The Dark Knight, Hellboy II and 10,000 B.C., DNeg's innovative approach and demanding, deadline-driven production environment will provide the perfect setting to test the performance transfer technology. Their feedback and technical input regarding the final shape of the product will be enormously helpful to our scientists and product management team, and we look forward to a very productive relationship."
About Image Metrics
Image Metrics provides superior facial animation services to the interactive entertainment and film industries. Developed by a team of computer vision Ph.D.s, Image Metrics rapidly re-creates facial performances without markers or makeup, achieving levels of realism and fidelity that are unparalleled in computer graphics. Image Metrics' solutions enjoy widespread adoption by some of the best-known production studios in the entertainment world, including Digital Domain, Rockstar Games and Sony Computer Entertainment. Image Metrics has offices in Santa Monica, California and Manchester, U.K.
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