Quantic Dream's Next Game

[Laa-Yosh]

Apparently it is not using any facecams, only the standard Vicon system with 3D markers on the actor's face. That's because head mounted cameras are in the way for close interactions.

Another interesting point is, what would be the audience reaction for an uglier male android? Considering that most gamers are male, and this robot is a pretty looking girl and explicitly defined as a sexual toy as well...

 

[ultragpu]

Another interesting point is, what would be the audience reaction for an uglier male android? Considering that most gamers are male, and this robot is a pretty looking girl and explicitly defined as a sexual toy as well...

Well, take Ethan in Heavy Rain for example, you could actually develop a pretty strong emotional bond with the dude and feel sorry for what he has suffered and lost. So if an uglier male android had a similar tragedy, it can potentially have the same impact to the audience. But the whole trailer would have to be edited differently in order to fill in that background I would imagine.

 

[Arwin]

Apparently it is not using any facecams, only the standard Vicon system with 3D markers on the actor's face. That's because head mounted cameras are in the way for close interactions.

Another interesting point is, what would be the audience reaction for an uglier male android? Considering that most gamers are male, and this robot is a pretty looking girl and explicitly defined as a sexual toy as well...

If the actor is good enough, it won't matter ... it might even be a stronger, more direct reaction where you put yourself into the shoes of that robot even more readily. Of course, that would then work better (for most people) if the other character is female.

I was wondering about the foreign language bits seeming a bit strange, but I listened to the Blogcast and I heard that they specifically wanted to test having different actors be recorded and then mashed into one performance, so the french and german is a different actress, as is the Japanese singer.

Kage also mentions this scene has nothing to do with their next game, which I have to say this time I think is a genuine pity.

 

[Prophecy2k]

Well, take Ethan in Heavy Rain for example, you could actually develop a pretty strong emotional bond with the dude and feel sorry for what he has suffered and lost. So if an uglier male android had a similar tragedy, it can potentially have the same impact to the audience. But the whole trailer would have to be edited differently in order to fill in that background I would imagine.

Agreed.

Had it been a male andriod with the voice of Otacon from MGS, then my sympathetic reaction would have been to cry like a baby

So long as the performance was convincing enough.

Plus, i didn't particularly find the female android attractive. I actually wondered whether they chose a model so ordinary-looking so as to intentionally avoid provoking any kind of sexual attraction to the android.

 

[Arwin]

Plus, i didn't particularly find the female android attractive. I actually wondered whether they chose a model so ordinary-looking so as to intentionally avoid provoking any kind of sexual attraction to the android.

They chose the actress (Valorie Curry, from among others Twilight) because she acted the part right in casting and also already looked 'droid-ish'. I think her slightly childish appearance suits the part as well, makes the 'just been born' aspect just slightly more convincing.

 

[Prophecy2k]

They chose the actress (Valorie Curry, from among others Twilight) because she acted the part right in casting and also already looked 'droid-ish'. I think her slightly childish appearance suits the part as well, makes the 'just been born' aspect just slightly more convincing.

She hasn't been in any of the Twighlight movies yet though iirc. She's in the next one ;-)

Yeah the real-actress looks way more attractive admittedly.

 

[patsu]

Apparently it is not using any facecams, only the standard Vicon system with 3D markers on the actor's face. That's because head mounted cameras are in the way for close interactions.

How does 3D markers track eye movement ? The cameras also capture facial expression at the same time ?

 

[patsu]

Another interesting point is, what would be the audience reaction for an uglier male android? Considering that most gamers are male, and this robot is a pretty looking girl and explicitly defined as a sexual toy as well...

Well, take Ethan in Heavy Rain for example, you could actually develop a pretty strong emotional bond with the dude and feel sorry for what he has suffered and lost. So if an uglier male android had a similar tragedy, it can potentially have the same impact to the audience. But the whole trailer would have to be edited differently in order to fill in that background I would imagine.

Yeah... besides Arwin's point about acting, I think the creators can also focus on different thread. e.g., iRobot turned the story into a murder mystery.

She hasn't been in any of the Twighlight movies yet though iirc. She's in the next one ;-)

Yeah the real-actress looks way more attractive admittedly.

I would recommend comparing the model with the actress *without* make-up.
It can make a whole lot of differences. ;-)

Saw a celebrity before and after make-up in person. After that day, I vowed never to date a woman without knowing her real look. It's like marrying a different woman !

 

[ultragpu]

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-03-08-ps3-has-much-more-power-to-use-still-says-cage
Interesting David Cage still thinks PS3 has some juice left in its twilight years, though personally I think studios like ND and GG have pushed it pretty far now. I am quite curious to know how much better QD's current game looks than Kara since the latter is already a sizable improvement over HR.

 

[Laa-Yosh]

How does 3D markers track eye movement ? The cameras also capture facial expression at the same time ?

It does not track eyes, so they're probably doing that manually.

As for facial expressions, it's not how 3D capture works. You surround the active volume of space with cameras to get good coverage of every point in space and then the system will get you the more or less exact 3D position of each marker in the scene. And that's it.

To make it move a face you'll need to do something with that 3D movement data, it is possible to just drive the movement of some bones but that won't create proper deformations in itself. It's probably also possible to analyze the 3D data the way you would with the 2D based approach, but I haven't read up on the papers to talk about this part.
Only thing I'm certain is that a larger volume will inevitably lead to less precision on the tiny markers used for the face. Oh, and that face mocap with 2D image analysis was always quite good (Weta's stuff on Avatar, Apes and Tintin) and the 3D approach was quite terrifying at times (Zemeckis and his Beowulf, Polar Express and the rest).

 

[patsu]

http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-03-08-ps3-has-much-more-power-to-use-still-says-cage
Interesting David Cage still thinks PS3 has some juice left in its twilight years, though personally I think studios like ND and GG have pushed it pretty far now. I am quite curious to know how much better QD's current game looks than Kara since the latter is already a sizable improvement over HR.

It depends on what the devs want to do.

Uncharted 3 uses PS3 for tightly integrated, level-wide physics + advanced graphics + stereoscopic 3D + cinematic interaction. KZ3 doesn't have the physics driven moving levels in U3, but it has giant enemies, jetpack and more "realistic" 3D. GT5 obviously has its own set of challenges.

If QD simply focuses on a few visual elements, then it may be able to go further in these areas than the above games. I am not even sure if they need on-the-fly, "complex" physics or sophisticated enemy AI in their game.

EDIT: Look at the sand in Journey. IMHO, it bests U3 sand and KZ3 snow by about a mile. ^_^

 

[Arwin]

No more need for speculation, Sony posted the behind the scene:

http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2012/03/21/how-kara-came-to-life/

 

[patsu]

Yeah, no face camera at all. ^_^

 

[SedentaryJourney]

Can't wait for the E3 reveal. Just when you think Sony's run out of exclusive games to sell you...