Finally a step in the right direction.

This software is what I have been hoping for. HOPEFULLY we will see a big step up when it comes to animation in games.

I can’t tell you how tired I am of seeing jerky bad animation in games today.

Hopefully things will improve from now on.
Check this out: http://naturalmotion.com/pages/demos.htm

Its already being used by SCEA (for PS3 software? ), IIRC also Namco and Konami are customers.

Sony seems to understand the importance of good AI and Animation in next gen titles.

It’s only an example, but on all occasions we have to actualize natural animation proportionally to improvement in graphics. In games it backfires if graphics improves while AI/simulation stays the same.
-Masayuki Chatani, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.’s Chief Technology Officer

And so does Hideo Kojima.

PSM2: How will Snake look on PS3?

HK: We’re not trying to make Snake look like a real person. We want to concentrate on the movement and animations, making him feel more natural, like an actual life-form.

Now lets hope we see this IN GAMES.


Something else that sort of has something to do with animation (if not its still very impressive).

This technology is called \'Motion Portrait\' and developed by Sony-Kihara Research Center that designed Graphics Synthesizer for PS2. It generates realtime (30fps) 3D facial animation from a single 2D picture, and is possible on an ordinary PC (you don\'t have to have a massive render farm).

Video here (RealPlayer): http://www.tv-tokyo.co.jp/wbs/2005/08/26/movie/tt.ram

Word on the street is that Take-Two is using this software for an as yet unannounced 2006 football game.

[BizioEE]

sure animations are very very important, nice to hear Sony are moving in this direction ! ...I\'ve seen the animations of the link above...great !

Fasty, where can I find the latest info about PS3 hardware, Cell, RSX, any interesting developer interviw about it, and comparison with XBox 360(from what I heard, PS3 should be more powerful!) etc...thanks

Originally posted by BizioEE
sure animations are very very important, nice to hear Sony are moving in this direction ! ...I\'ve seen the animations of the link above...great !

Fasty, where can I find the latest info about PS3 hardware, Cell, RSX, any interesting developer interviw about it, and comparison with XBox 360(from what I heard, PS3 should be more powerful!) etc...thanks

Ah missed your reply Bizio, sorry about that!
Hmm, hard to name just one place. The best place for official news is to hang around GameSpot/IGN etc.
If you want hardware speculation (as we dont really know everything about RSX yet) I recommend Beyond3D forums. I\'m not that active over there, just lurk around and read what the real tech-geeks have to say about things. Most news regarding Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 is posted over there, a good place to read up on news that other people have collected.

[BizioEE]

Thanks Fasty !