San Francisco, Nov. 30, 1999 -- FAMOUS Technologies, a leading developer of award-winning facial animation software, announced today it is shipping FAMOUSfaces 1.5, a powerful standalone facial animation system that streamlines creative workflow in the film, broadcast, games, and location-based entertainment industries.

FAMOUSfaces 1.5 includes many new features such as support for real-time game animation, open motion capture channels, multiple input support, and plug-in support for major animation software, including LightWave [6].

Keyframer-Highlight

Highlighted Cluster Handles are used for Keyframing. Famous 1.5 automatically highlights in cyan any Cluster handles that are eligible to be keyframed. Any handle that is repositioned by the user will be turn cyan because the "Set Keyframe" button keyframes any handles that have been moved. However, you can also highlight handles without moving them by clicking with Control+Right Mouse Button. Clicking with Control +Right Mouse Button will also remove the highlight from any highlighted handle, making it ineligible for keyframing. The cyan highlight also indicates which handles will be affected by Cut or Copy. For convenience, when a Keyframe is selected on the Timebar, all the handles affected by that keyframe are highlighted. Hitting Control+TAB or otherwise updating the current frame will reset the highlights for all handles.

"Creating realistic facial movement can be a challenge for any character animator," says Dan Ablan, president of AGA Digital Studios in Chicago. As the lead animator working with Dallas-based CAT on the recent FOX Television prime-time animation "The Headless Horseman," Ablan is committed to the use of motion capture technology in animation workflow, especially as it pertains to facial animation.

"FAMOUSfaces 1.5's ability to extract 3D facial motion from AVI files and NTSC video gives character animators a powerful set of tools to enhance the creative process," Ablan says. "FAMOUSfaces really gives the animation community a time-saving solution that is without equal in its price range."

FAMOUS' facial animation and motion capture technology can be found at many of the leading animation and production studios around the world, including Blur Studios and AudioMotion UK. Both studios have successfully incorporated FAMOUSfaces motion capture technology into their production pipelines to animate realistic 3D characters with facial expressions that rival the real thing.

"FAMOUSfaces is the best facial animation tool I have ever used," says Aaron Powell, CG Supervisor of Blur Studios in Venice, Calif. "We use it with motion capture and morph targets, and it is hands down the easiest way to create realistic expressions on our 3D models. Painting the weights of each cluster is awesome! You can paint muscle groups that allow for more realistic expressions than with traditional animation techniques," says Powell. "Blur has a definite need for a really good facial animation tool that works with 3D Studio MAX, and I believe FAMOUSfaces is the perfect solution."

London-based AudioMotion has been utilizing FAMOUS Technologies' FAMOUSfaces software for projects that demand lifelike facial animation and realistic movement. "FAMOUS' straight-forward approach to facial animation coupled with a solid supply of facial data from our own motion capture systems allows us to work very efficiently to create lifelike characters that are uniquely our own," says Andrew Hutchinson, facial animator at AudioMotion UK. "With FAMOUSfaces, we have been able to effectively animate non-human characters for a variety of projects and spotlight our most compelling facial animation to date."

FAMOUS Technologies' groundbreaking facial animation software is based on the company's award-winning facial animation technology, which allows users to efficiently animate dialog and facial expressions based on an actor's performance. The resulting animation offers lifelike movement and lip-synced audio.

"Impressive facial animation is no longer the privilege of mega studios and big budget production houses. With FAMOUSfaces 1.5 software and motion capture hardware, studios can now achieve fantastic facial animation for as little as $10,000," explains Zac Jacobs, VP of Marketing at FAMOUS Technologies. "Our customers can use mocap to drive the base animation, and then keyframe and target over the top to tweak the animation exactly as desired, achieving around 30 seconds per animator per day."

The FAMOUS Features
FAMOUS has an extensive list of facial animation features, all designed to simplify the character animation process. New features in FAMOUSfaces 1.5 include:

Pricing and Availability FAMOUSfaces 1.5 for Microsoft Windows NT is currently shipping and priced at $4,990 (US).

Review copies are available to members of the press upon request. High resolution and web resolution images can be downloaded from the FAMOUS Technologies web site at http://www.famoustech.com/media.html.

About FAMOUS Technologies FAMOUS Technologies was formed in 1996 as an animation research and development division of Beam International. Its first product, FAMOUSfaces, was released in July 1998. FAMOUS Technologies has offices in San Francisco, London and Melbourne, Australia. Currently, FAMOUS' key markets are animation studios creating compelling content for features, broadcast, games and the Internet. Some of FAMOUS' other high-profile customers include Digital Anvil, Ex Machina, Infogrames and Netter Digital Entertainment.

Source: Famous Technologies
Web Site: http://www.famoustech.com