Being that we are a 3d website, I have to cover this videogame called LA Noire. If you haven’t heard it’s game that is sort of following the style of movies like LA Confidential. While games in the past have used famous actors for voice over work. This game is going a different route. The developers are putting a new spin on the videogame crime thriller. Now, I’ve read that it will be much like the classic adventure games of old, but I am willing to bet they have a few tricks up their sleeve to bring something new to the table in the gameplay department. One thing that they are definitely doing different is using real actors facial performances. Now most of you might think you know what that means, but it is using a newer method. From trailer footage on development of the game, it appears they are not using facial markers for motion capture. I suspect its more of a volume 3d facial capture that generates a mesh based on a series of video frames. They film from every angle they need to get this to work with multiple cameras. It looks simliar to the way they did Benjamin Button and probably how they did Jeff Bridges In Tron Legacy.
In the image below, you will see actor Aaron Staton playing the role of Cole Phelps for the game. He is in a brightly lit room with cameras that are capturing his performance from a bunch of angles and then generated into an impressive 3d animated head. What’s so impressive about it. Well, you may not be able to tell from the screenshot, but in motion, the 3d head’s animation is very true to life. It has proper skin over muscle movement along with fat deformation in the cheeks and nose corner areas. What stops this from being truly real? Videogame shaders cannot currently handle the detail to fully realize a realistic head. It needs subsurface scattering and specular and reflective properties in certain elements. They can fake this, but it will never look truly accurate. This is the closest any videogame has been to realism for facial movement though in my opinion. Up until now, this type of thing was done for special effects in high budget hollywood movies. It’s very cool for Rockstar games to bring this to L.A. Noire and shows that they truly care about the quality and effort they put into their games.
Another screenshot you are going to see shows off an impressive animation and capture that completely bypasses the uncanny valley in my opinon. Its so good, I recognized the actor. The only thing throwing it off from being real is the lighting and sss skin properties I mentioned above. The eyes and everything else look great. The actor’s name is Brian Krause. I think because he is so expressive, and it picks up all his facial movement, it is very convincing. Even more so than Tron Legacy’s CLU. That’s saying alot for a videogame. Hopefully LA Noire and it’s new 3d facial animation capture system is a hit with gamers.
3d Facial Animation Of Brian Krause In LA Noire
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