Dimensional Imaging (DI4D), the Glasgow-based ‘facial capture’ company, has revealed that it provided facial animation for a scene in the recently released Blade Runner 2049 film.
Its proprietary system was used to capture actresses Sean Young and Loren Peta on location in Budapest.
Young played the ‘replicant’ Rachael in the original 1982 Blade Runner and Loren Peta took over the character in the new film. Without the use of markers or makeup, DI4D captured and tracked Loren’s facial performance, delivering highly realistic facial animation for the scene.
“We were delighted to be given the opportunity to work on Blade Runner 2049,” said DI4D’s chief operating officer Douglas Green.
“When we were asked to capture the facial performances for this key scene, we knew that our system could deliver the highest possible fidelity of data required. Being able to capture every nuance of Loren’s facial performance was crucial for this particular scene.”
DI4D said in a statement that it is the visual effects industry’s leading provider of facial performance capture in films, video games and virtual reality, and for advanced clinical and scientific research applications.
Scotland is building an international reputation in the field; last year The Coalition, a Microsoft games studio, was awarded a license to use software created by an Edinburgh University spin-out which generates facial animation from audio.
Speech Graphics has built a reputation for advances in the field, providing facial animation for the video games industry and working with companies like Warner Brothers and artists such as Kanye West.