In this GDC 2020 virtual talk Ubisoft's Simon Clavet shows off a new animation system that combines physical and data-driven animation methods to create a more convincing effect.

Clavet demonstrated with the use of a virtual robot trained using deep reinforcement learning to closely follow the output of motion matching. Powered by its own motors, without 'god forces' attaching its limbs to points in global space, the ragdolling robot learns to balance itself as it follows the interactive motion capture controlled by the user and recovers from unplanned perturbations.

It was a great talk, especially if you're at all curious about how to improve your game's animation, and now you can watch it completely free over on the official GDC YouTube channel!

About the GDC Vault

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its accompanying YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.

Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC or VRDC already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page.