Euphoria renders the future

Euphoria is a system for simulating 3D characters with muscles and skeleton, instead of using predetermined keyframes or motion capture. They have a beautiful demonstration video of the system in action. This is probably the coolest thing I’ve seen in this field since a video in the mid-nineties where interacting AI objects were visualized as flatshaded polygons.

This technique was seen in GTA4 and will be used in the new Star Wars game Force Unleashed. Have a look at the nice demonstration video where stormtroopers are being tossed around.

And then there is also Natal, another technique to look out for even though it’s a bit overhyped at the moment. But news like these sometimes make me wish I had stayed in the field of 3D graphics.

Slipping 3D character in Euphoria. Image by NaturalMotion.