Apple bolsters its gaming credentials with purchase of Star Wars facial capture studio
Apple has strengthened its gaming credentials with the acquisition of motion capture studio, Faceshift, whose technology has been used in the new Star Wars film.
Apple confirmed the purchase of the Zurich-based company which is capable of real-time facial capture and avatar creation.
The acquisition will allow the Silicon Valley giant to improve on any gaming or film production it undertakes in the future which seems likely given the increased focus of games on the new Apple TV, which the company says offers “console quality” games.
In a statement Apple confirmed the news saying “Apple buys smaller technology companies from time to time, and we generally do not discuss our purpose or plans.”
It follows similar moves by Facebook which teamed up with researchers at the University of Southern California to develop a way to capture facial expressions and map them onto an avatar for its Oculus Rift.
Faceshift’s defining quality is its facial motion capture abilities, for both games and films the technology is able to closely mimic persons’ actual expressions and immediately incorporate them into an avatar’s face. It may also have security applications, with the software able to recognise faces of identification purposes.
The dexterity of the Faceshift’s abilities is evident in its use in Star Wars: The Force Awakens which used the tech to make non-human characters more human-like in their expressions.