New Face Station 2 Captures Facial Animation With Camcorder Alone

Eyematic has announced Face Station 2, the latest version of its 3D facial animation software suite. Face Station 2 lets an animator "drive" a fully shaded 3D character in real-time, using their own facial expressions and a camcorder attached to a standard PC -- without motion capture hardware, physical facial markers or offline rendering processes. Face Station 2 also can create ready-to-animate characters, including morph targets, using front and side photographs. Face Station 2 integrates with standard 3D software packages including 3ds max and Maya, and is currently in beta testing. Eyematic says that it will be available next month, at a suggested price $1,995.