Faceware offering complete facial animation suite to studios

Middleware developer Faceware technologies has launched its Faceware Professional Product Line, a facial animation tool suite designed to capture, analyze, and create realistic facial performances. Faceware previously offered its internal technology to game developers as a service, but now it is giving animators access to all of its tools for the first time. The suite includes an update version of the Faceware Head-Mounted Camera System, its helmet, bracing, camera mount, and camera setup that works in tandem with motion capture suits to record footage of actors' faces. It also includes Faceware Analyzer, a new produce allowing developers to analyze facial performance. The software learns an actor's specific appearance and performance, analyzes every frame of the video, and creates an IMPD file for animations. The suite's updated Faceware Retargeter tool can then take that IMPD file, and transfer the data onto a 3D model. Faceware says the tool allows animators to polish the model's performance with realistic facial movements. The suite is meant to serve as a low-cost, start-to-finish solution with tools for video capture, performance analysis, and facial animation creation. The company's products have been used in a number of film and game productions, including The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the Grand Theft Auto series, Red Dead Redemption, and Halo: Reach. Faceware Analyzer and Retargeter are both available for free to evaluate, and can be downloaded directly from Faceware's website. The Faceware Head-Mounted Camera System is available for rent or purchase.