Back in March at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2016, Ninja Theory in collaboration with several other companies held a technical showcase of live performance capture for Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. Today the UK-based developer has announced Senua Studio, a new division offering specialised services to bring real-time virtual characters to life for stage, film, broadcast, videogames and virtual reality (VR).
With Senua Studio offering solutions for live capturing and rendering of realistic digital characters in virtual worlds, companies working with the studio will be able to rely on an entire technical pipeline. From the creation of realistic digital characters to making virtual sets, the Senua team allow cutting edge animation technologies to be accessible without the need for internal expertise.
Speaking of the announcement, Tameem Antoniades, co-founder of Ninja Theory said “We have demonstrated working solutions today, and want to push forward the future of real-time entertainment, be it live performances of digital characters for stage or broadcast, shooting fully-rendered CG scenes in real-time for previs, or interacting with believable characters in VR.”
While Nina Kristensen, co-founder of Ninja Theory and CEO added “With Senua Studio we are offering our considerable technological, artistic and production expertise to visionary partners excited about the impact real-time technology could have for their business”.
There are four key areas that Senua Studio can now cater for: Live Performance; Realtime Cinematography; Pre-Visualization and VR Experiences. With the studio’s real-time tech the team can capture actors, music artists and performers straight on to digital characters for stage or broadcast. Its real-time cinematography expertise allows shooting, editing and rendering final or near-final quality cinematics quickly, rather than the weeks or months it takes with traditional methods. While VR will be a key area for Senua Studio as the real-time virtual human technology will help deliver richer more immersive experiences.
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