Image Metric Presentation

Image Metric

It came as a pleasant surprise to find that I had been invited to a presentation by Image Metric earlier this week. Personally, I did not really know the type of work that Image Metric does in the games or entertainment industry so I took the time to visit their website to find out more beforehand:  http://www.image-metrics.com/ .

The company works with facial animation using software which allows the facial movements to be realistically captured without any need for markers on the face. The company begin when several students at Oxford University solved a complex mathematical problem which could realistically calculate facial movement. Their software calculates these movements by analysing the colours of the face, and when the changes occur. This has then been applied to the entertainment industry where they have done work on several popular games and films.

Image Metric seemed like a really interesting company and their work in the animations seemed very relevant to the animation topic of this project so I attended. The presentation was centred around all aspects of the company; describing the method which the work is captured, how image metric works with their clients, the unique ‘head cam’ which can capture facial animation during motion capture sequences (a critical issue with  conventional motion capture) and even some of their previous work was showcased. The professional jobs they have worked on included Grand Theft Auto 4, Napoleon Total War and The Curious case of Benjamin Button. All of these examples were strong indicators of how impressive the work is that Image Metric does, but what was extraordinary was the way that the company is moving forward. A tech demo was shown where they had captured the expressions of the actor Marilyn Monroe in a movie. They showed the original clip, the slow build-up of animations and finally the original clip – but with their animation replacing the face. It was almost identical. This was astonishing and just highlights the vast potential of high quality animation within media.

The question and answer segment at the end of the session was also as intriguing as the other parts of the presentation. It brought up some interesting applications of their software including in medical (recognising strokes, etc.) and educational sectors, as well as other valid questions. I can definitely see Image Metric growing as a company, and hope that I will at least get to work with ‘Face Ware’ (their animation software which has been released to the public) in the future. However that said, personally I do not see my area of interest being in the facial animation area of game development.