LogIn"By far the best facial animation generation from all the systems we tested."
Image Credit: Squanch Games, High on Life
Upon its release, High on Life, a 2022 first-person shooter game with action-adventure and Metroidvania elements, quickly became one of the most standout games of its year, securing the top spot as the best-selling game on Steam during its launch month and marking the most successful single-player launch in the history of Xbox Game Pass. Despite facing technical challenges during its launch, the game was praised by players for its absurdist humor, eccentric characters, and captivating stylized visuals.
Combining all three are the game's Gatlians, animated weapons brought to life with Speech Graphics' SGX, an award-winning, production-tested, automatic speech-to-facial animation system capable of producing accurate, consistent, natural lip sync and remarkable full-face emotional expression from just audio and optional text.
Nathan Griffin, a Gameplay Programmer at Squanch Games, has recently discussed the usage of Speech Graphics' software in High on Life, shedding light on its influence on their animation pipeline throughout development.
1-minute clip demonstrates how an audio file is used to generate animation using SGX Producer at a processing time of 1 :1 or better.
"Since High on Life keeps our characters so close to the screen at all times it was important to us that we provide the highest fidelity facial animation possible," Griffin stated. "Speech Graphics provided by far the best facial animation generation from all the systems we tested."
"Speech Graphics easily integrated into our existing facial animation pipeline with its ability to control emotion and performance. We were able to build a pipeline that allowed us to choose what characters would get the Speech Graphics treatment without struggle or lots of back-and-forth support. I highly recommend Speech Graphics to anyone looking to improve their facial animation performances."
Learn more about Speech Graphics' SGX system here. Also, don't forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform and our Telegram channel, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and LinkedIn, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.