ACP Press Release
Dec. 16, 2009

FacePro partners with Mixamo and Evolver to create Accelerated Character Pipeline
Complementary technologies and expertise significantly reduce time and cost of the character production process for 3D professionals

(Priest River, Idaho)

FacePro today announced an innovative new character production pipeline, in partnership with Mixamo and Evolver. The “Accelerated Character Pipeline,” or ACP, provides a streamlined, end-to-end character asset production workflow. ACP combines Evolver character modeling, Mixamo character animation, and FacePro facial animation technologies and expertise, to offer 3D professionals a significant reduction in time, complexity, and cost of creating high-quality characters and animations.

“This is something completely new” according to Rod Stafford, game industry veteran and President of FacePro. “Character asset production has always been one of the most difficult and demanding tasks in the game development process. With the introduction of the Accelerated Character Pipeline, suddenly it’s fun and interesting…”

“From end to end, we’re talking about creating your character assets with Evolver, going to Mixamo for custom figure animation, and uploading your dialog to FacePro, all in the same day – not the weeks or months this process usually takes. Character assets are fully compatible all the way through the pipeline, so you know everything will export smoothly to your game engine.”

By following the ACP, users first create a fully rigged character model using the Evolver interface. Next, they can apply AAA-quality character motions to their created character seamlessly, using the Mixamo service. Finally, users upload their character model and audio dialog to FacePro, for facial animation carefully tuned to their character’s style and personality.

“The Accelerated Character Pipeline (ACP) integrates the technology and expertise of Evolver, Mixamo, and FacePro into an incredibly powerful workflow that will change the way 3D professionals approach character production,” says Stefano Corazza, CTO of Mixamo, Inc. “Mixamo is excited to be partnered with Evolver and FacePro because we all share the same vision to significantly reduce the time and complexity required to create amazing, high-quality characters and animations.”

The Accelerated Character Pipeline will be featured at GDC 2010 in a hands-on Tech Session, where representatives of Evolver, Mixamo and FacePro will present a live demo of the process, using audience-designed content. For more details about the new pipeline and to see ACP in action, visit www.evolver.com, www.mixamo.com, or www.facepro.net .

About Evolver
Evolver is the flagship product of Darwin Dimensions Inc., the first solution to bring together complex 3D modeling, consumer ease of use, and fully interoperable avatars. Evolver provides a central portal to design, manage and transport digital avatars that can be deployed in virtual worlds, online games, social networks and professional animation and pre-visualization projects.

For more information visit www.evolver.com or contact (949) 330-6345.

About Mixamo
Mixamo Inc. is a Silicon Valley, VC-funded company founded by 3D pioneers Stefano Corazza, CTO, and Nazim Kareemi, CEO. Based on research from Stanford University’s BioMotion lab, Mixamo offers the first online 3D character animation service that provides animators, game artists and 3D professionals the power to customize and create professional-quality character animations at unprecedented speeds. Mixamo currently employs a team of outstanding computer vision experts, 3D animators, software engineers and serial entrepreneurs from around the world.

For more information, please visit www.mixamo.com, or follow Mixamo on Twitter.

About FacePro®
FacePro LLC is an Idaho Limited Liability Company, specializing in advanced facial animation for the interactive entertainment industry. Founded in February 2007 by game industry veteran Rod Stafford, FacePro has provided full game sets of facial animation for the American Idol® franchise, titles by Electronic Arts, Virtual Heroes, Blade Interactive, and others. Located in historic Priest River, Idaho, FacePro LLC employs animators and technical artists from around the world.

For more information, please visit www.facepro.net




		ACP Press Release Dec. 16, 2009 FacePro partners with Mixamo and Evolver to create Accelerated Character Pipeline Complementary technologies and expertise significantly reduce time and cost of the character production process for 3D professionals (Priest River, Idaho) FacePro today announced an innovative new character production pipeline, in partnership with Mixamo and Evolver. The “Accelerated Character Pipeline,” or ACP, provides a streamlined, end-to-end character asset production workflow. ACP combines Evolver character modeling, Mixamo character animation, and FacePro facial animation technologies and expertise, to offer 3D professionals a significant reduction in time, complexity, and cost of creating high-quality characters and animations. “This is something completely new” according to Rod Stafford, game industry veteran and President of FacePro. “Character asset production has always been one of the most difficult and demanding tasks in the game development process. With the introduction of the Accelerated Character Pipeline, suddenly it’s fun and interesting…” “From end to end, we’re talking about creating your character assets with Evolver, going to Mixamo for custom figure animation, and uploading your dialog to FacePro, all in the same *day* – not the weeks or months this process usually takes. Character assets are fully compatible all the way through the pipeline, so you know everything will export smoothly to your game engine.” By following the ACP, users first create a fully rigged character model using the Evolver interface. Next, they can apply AAA-quality character motions to their created character seamlessly, using the Mixamo service. Finally, users upload their character model and audio dialog to FacePro, for facial animation carefully tuned to their character’s style and personality. “The Accelerated Character Pipeline (ACP) integrates the technology and expertise of Evolver, Mixamo, and FacePro into an incredibly powerful workflow that will change the way 3D professionals approach character production,” says Stefano Corazza, CTO of Mixamo, Inc. “Mixamo is excited to be partnered with Evolver and FacePro because we all share the same vision to significantly reduce the time and complexity required to create amazing, high-quality characters and animations.” The Accelerated Character Pipeline will be featured at GDC 2010 in a hands-on Tech Session, where representatives of Evolver, Mixamo and FacePro will present a live demo of the process, using audience-designed content. For more details about the new pipeline and to see ACP in action, visit www.evolver.com, www.mixamo.com, or www.facepro.net . About Evolver Evolver is the flagship product of Darwin Dimensions Inc., the first solution to bring together complex 3D modeling, consumer ease of use, and fully interoperable avatars. Evolver provides a central portal to design, manage and transport digital avatars that can be deployed in virtual worlds, online games, social networks and professional animation and pre-visualization projects. For more information visit www.evolver.com or contact (949) 330-6345. About Mixamo Mixamo Inc. is a Silicon Valley, VC-funded company founded by 3D pioneers Stefano Corazza, CTO, and Nazim Kareemi, CEO. Based on research from Stanford University’s BioMotion lab, Mixamo offers the first online 3D character animation service that provides animators, game artists and 3D professionals the power to customize and create professional-quality character animations at unprecedented speeds. Mixamo currently employs a team of outstanding computer vision experts, 3D animators, software engineers and serial entrepreneurs from around the world. For more information, please visit www.mixamo.com, or follow Mixamo on Twitter. About FacePro® FacePro LLC is an Idaho Limited Liability Company, specializing in advanced facial animation for the interactive entertainment industry. Founded in February 2007 by game industry veteran Rod Stafford, FacePro has provided full game sets of facial animation for the American Idol® franchise, titles by Electronic Arts, Virtual Heroes, Blade Interactive, and others. Located in historic Priest River, Idaho, FacePro LLC employs animators and technical artists from around the world. For more information, please visit www.facepro.net

ACP Press Release Dec. 16, 2009

ACP Press Release
Dec. 16, 2009