Cyberpunk 2077 Uses JALI to Automate Facial Animation

The development of Cyberpunk 2077 involved a number of tech innovations, and one of them was JALI, a machine-learning-based software for automated facial animation.

Sebastian Kalemba, head of animation and associate game director on Cyberpunk 2077, noted that doing facial motion capture for all NPCs in the game was impossible. "You have to remember that we're talking about recording massive amounts of lines with numerous actors across different localizations, cooperating with studios all over the world for sessions, and doing VO pickups all the way until the very last moments sometimes. Using JALI we're able to successfully overcome many difficulties, for example, logistical ones, that this undertaking would otherwise pose with regular facial motion capture," said the developer.

He added that the art challenges the technology, and the technology inspires the art, quoting John Lasseter. The JALI tech now supports Japanese, Russian, French, Mandarin, German, Polish, Brazilian Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, and English languages. It should be noted the technology allows animators to retain full control over the automated result, so they can edit the result.

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