EA, UCL Collaborate On Game Animation Research

Author: by Beth A.

The UK branch of major publisher and developer Electronic Arts (EA) and graphics researchers at University College London (UCL) are working in collaboration to research visualisation techniques. The partnership demonstrates how industry and academia can collaborate to develop computer games. Ian Shaw, CTO at EA, and Anthony Steed, a senior lecturer in computer graphics at UCL, have joined up to develop animation techniques that will dramatically improve the visual quality of computer games. The partnership has also resulted in EA co-funding Simon Pilgrim, a student on UCL's Engineering Doctorate in Virtual Environments, Imaging and Visualisation (VEIV EngD) course, to work as a researcher in the company. Pilgrim is working within EA to research and apply a method known as 'progressive character skinning' to improve the quality of multi character animation in commercial computer games. Pilgrim's research focuses on the quality of animations in games. He aims to increase the number of animated characters that can be seen on screen at any one time, without impacting the speed. As EA and UCL have had a working relationship for the past six years, both intend to continue to cement the relationship between the theoretical knowledge and practical application for developing computer game animation. For more information about UCL's course and Engineering doctorates, visit the UCL EngD site.