Realistic facial animation

At this year’s SIGGRAPH, SofImage; a subsidiary of Avid, demonstrated their software “Face Robot“, which allows animators to create facial expressions. More on that in The Register.

With technology like this, content creators will be empowered to create more and more realistic animations. Although, many in the movie industry believe that such technology may eventually lead to the demise of the actual actors.

I do not think so. Take the case of “The Polar Express”, staring Tom Hanks. Without the amazing acting of Tom Hanks, the animators at Warner Brothers Studios would not have been able to create such believable characters.

So contrary to what most actors think, I believe technology will open up the vast possibilities for actors to express themselves in ways they never before thought possible.

One must remember that technology is a tool. Like any other tool, without creative utilization, any technology will be no different than a single pencil sitting on a table; functional but useless without the writer. Although, how the technology was designed and perceived make a big difference on how useful the technology can be (ie. the Macintosh and Windows platforms. I will leave that to another blog entry).

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