For the effect to be believable, CG Emily's face had to be perfectly superimposed on top of real Emily's face in every video frame. Above is the live- action shoot. 

Alexander explains: "For the effect to be believable, CG Emily's face had to be perfectly superimposed on top of real Emily's face in every video frame. The head tracking was a challenge because there were no tracking markers on her head or face in the plate, so there was 'nothing to track'. We solved the problem by writing special Matlab code. We exported an OBJ file for every frame and used the vertices of the mesh as 'markers' to align CG Emily's face on top of real Emily's face. I'd also like to clarify that we don't need markers for our animation solution. But if we were to do this project again, we would put a few 'tracking markers' on her nose and cheeks."

The capture team had videotaped Emily from two angles while she performed. I understand they also captured her between cuts, while she was relaxing and just being Emily. That latter is of most interest to me. Would I believe? As I type, I'm waiting for clips showing the real Emily and the virtual Emily. I'm hoping desperately to be fooled. I had to see a clip.

Dr. Paul Debevec.

Meanwhile, I asked Paul about the experience of working with Image Metrics. "It was great. We worked well together. The whole shoot of Emily took about two hours and we captured her in light natural make up. She was a great subject. You need to stay still for three seconds, which is longer than you think... she was excellent at it. She's British, in her early '20s… young, near perfect skin... fun to work with. That kind of skin has traditionally been one of the most difficult to get right. One thing we were thinking, that older faces -- because they have more lines and wrinkles -- that they might be more emotive... but we've found the opposite is true. The younger faces have more elasticity and fine expressiveness, which makes the face do much more interesting things. What happens is considerably more subtle. You need a system like this to capture that."

I Got the Clip!
OK, I just got the clip… Wow… impressive. I'm a tough sell, one of the toughest, but this looks good. I don't see any Botox at all in Emily's face. Not sure if they're messing with me here. This could be the actual footage of Emily. There are some imperfections in the face render, so they're not messing with me… this is very impressive, but it's only six seconds or so, I need to see more. They sent it with a note: "Remember, this is a work in progress and it will not be final until SIGGRAPH." Damn. I understand they'll be showing a much longer and more impressive demo there.

Wait! Just before sending this story, I received a longer, more refined clip. It is absolutely awesome -- amazing. I'm one of the toughest critics of face capture, and even I have to admit, these guys have nailed it. This is the first virtual human animated sequence that completely bypasses all my subconscious warnings. I get the feeling of Emily as a person. All the subtlety is there. This is no hype job, it's the real thing.

It's Official
I officially pronounce that Image Metrics has finally built a bridge across the Uncanny Valley and brought us to the other side. I was indeed wrong about it taking another two years and I'm happy about that. You simply must get to the Image Metrics booth at SIGGRAPH to see this thing. Robert Zemeckis, are you listening? This is the one you want for your next attempt.

Working together, these two teams have discovered and captured the essential subtle facial elements of face animation that have previously been ignored. These are the things that give a face life and identity.

Here's the poop on Virtual Emily's official debut: The Image Metrics booth at SIGGRAPH (#1229). Image Metrics and Debevec will showcase how Emily was created using their respective technologies in a SIGGRAPH Tech Talk on Wednesday, Aug.13, from 1:00-2:30 pm in Room 2, Hall G. If you love virtual humans the way I do, you won't want to miss it.

Peter Plantec is a best-selling author, animator and virtual human designer. He wrote The Caligari trueSpace2 Bible, the first 3D animation book specifically written for artists. He lives in the high country near Aspen, Colorado. In addition to his work in vfx and journalism, Peter is also a clinical psychologist with more than a decade of clinical experience. He has spent several years researching the illusion of personality in animated characters. Peter's latest book, Virtual Humans, is a five star selection at Amazon after many reviews.