Epic Games Acquires 3Lateral Studios
Epic Games today announced that world leading developer of hyper-realistic humans 3Lateral has joined with Epic in an acquisition that will bring significantly increased investment in the 3Lateral team’s efforts. The Serbia-based group will continue supporting game industry, film, and television partners while working to advance the state of the art in Unreal Engine’s support for virtual humans and creatures.
Epic and 3Lateral share a track record of groundbreaking Unreal Engine-based collaborations, including the animated short “A Boy and His Kite,” real-time performance capture and moviemaking in “Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice,” and the photorealistic, real-time “Siren” and “Digital Andy Serkis” demonstrations.
Read below the message shared by Vladimir Mastilovic 3Lateral founder and director:
“Creating digital humans requires deep understanding of every aspect of our appearance and motion, both of which portray our inner self and tell stories around us. We read all these visual cues with great precision as instinct to analyze an image of another human being is deeply embedded in our DNA,”
“Observing, analyzing and reconstructing these mechanisms has always fascinated us at 3Lateral, and we are excited to have joined a like-minded team at Epic Games with such strong desire to solve this near impossible problem.”
“Real-time 3D experiences are reshaping the entire entertainment industry, and digital human technology is at the forefront. Fortnite shows that 200,000,000 people can experience a 3D world together. Reaching the next level requires capturing, personalizing, and conveying individual human faces and emotions,” said Tim Sweeney, founder and CEO of Epic Games.
According to 3Lateral’s website they specialize in:
- Character concept
- Character rigging
- Face rigging
- Character modeling
- 3D Scanning
- Simulation
- Pipeline and consulting
Vladimir Mastilovic will lead Epic’s worldwide digital humans efforts; the 3Lateral team will continue to support all of its partners; and Epic’s new presence in Serbia will serve as a base for recruiting technical and creative talent in the region.
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