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Heavy Rain Creator Says L.A. Noire's Facial Capture System Is "Dead End"
Heavy Rain creator David Cage is a man of many opinions. The outspoken developer is never afraid to speak his mind, and now he's made some comments about the groundbreaking facial capture animation technology used in Rockstar and Team Bondi's upcoming L.A. Noire.
In an interview with CVG, Cage seemed less than impressed with the game's capture system (which was created by Team Bondi subsidiary DepthAnalysis). "What to say about L.A Noire?" mused Cage. "I think it's an interesting solution to a problem for now. But it's also an interesting dead end. That's exactly what I feel. Their technique is incredibly expensive and they will never be able to shoot body and face at the same time."
Cage also said that his company, Quantic Dream, is now using capture technology that can concurrently record both facial and body animation. "We see a huge difference between shooting the face and body separately and shooting everything at the same time. Suddenly you've got a real sense of acting that is consistent."
We'll have to wait to see the fruits of Quantic Dream's technology, but we came away with our hands-on time with L.A. Noire very impressed by the game's facial animations.
For more on L.A. Noire's facial animation technology and capture process, read our cover story on the game.
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