Abstract

Facial Animation system for Image Metrics in collaboration with Passion Pictures for the Rock Band 2 (2008) game and commercial. Facial Action Coding System (FACS) is anatomically-based system for exhaustively describing all observable facial movement. Problem...Working with...Erika Rosenberg, Ph.D. at University California Berkeley, I was already familiar with the approach that Image Metrics were using in their targeting method. I had also previously been invited to work with Image Metrics on Microsoft’s Project Natal (2009) so I was also familiar with their pipeline and workflow. I requested scene data and information from Passion Pictures and worked with their animation director to determine the structure and make up of the deliverables to fit within their pipeline, workflow and aesthetic style. I researched and developed and implemented a new facial system that Image Metrics were able to retarget to their proprietary animation data to but also gave the artists at Passion Pictures the ability to push the performance and style. The character was to a complexity level that he could use his tongue to push out the inside of his cheeks and also run them between his gums and upper and lower lips. The cinematic is played anytime someone switches on Rock Band 2 (2008) and the project was also used in a commercial. Rock Band 2 (2008), like its predecessor, met with critical acclaim. The Xbox 360 version of Rock Band 2 (2008) was the third best- selling game in North America in September 2008, selling 363,000 copies and also has an average critic review score of 92% on Metacritic, tying it for the 11th highest-rated game for the Xbox 360 and the 7th highest-rated game on the Playstation 3. Following its October debut Rock Band 2 (2008) sold 1.7 million units across all platforms in North America in 2008. This was also used in... Disseminated to industry through the iterative process... effectively shared within industry - training / handbook/ programming....