Image Metrics makes it easier and cheaper to put real faces in games
We’ve said before that the last great challenge in computer animation and video games will be to render realistic human faces. As it stands now, it takes a lot of computing power, time, expense and expertise to create faces that don’t really look all that great.
Still, the latest animated movies and games show a lot of progress. And Image Metrics, one of the companies behind progress in facial animation, is announcing today it is making it… Continue Reading
ImageMetrics raises funds to make faces look and move realistically in video games
Making realistic human faces is one of the last frontiers of video game artistry. No one has done it in a way that can really fool a trained eye. But Image Metrics, which is announcing a new round of funding today, has made some giant leaps toward creating believable computer-generated characters.
The Manchester, England company has raised $6.5 million from Saffron Hill Ventures to fuel growth. It has more than 40 games in the works that… Continue Reading
Mova reveals its work capturing faces for The Incredible Hulk film
Steve Perlman’s motion-capture start-up Mova helped make possible the realistic animated faces in the new “The Incredible Hulk” film that debuted a week ago.
San Francisco-based Mova is owned by Perlman’s Rearden, a holding company that incubates a variety of Perlman-sponsored technology start-ups. Mova makes a tool that does a better job of capturing real faces and converting them into computer images than typical “motion capture” technologies. Perlman described Mova in a wide-ranging interview we did… Continue Reading
An interview with Rearden’s Steve Perlman on investing in R&D
Steve Perlman, the man behind tech incubator Rearden, is a serial entrepreneur with more than 30 years’ experience in the tech industry. He built his first computer from a kit during high school in 1976. He developed graphics at Atari and worked as a principal scientist at Apple, leading the development of a variety of multimedia technologies, including QuickTime. His string of start-ups includes General Magic, Catapult Entertainment, WebTV (sold to Microsoft for more than… Continue Reading