[E3 Ambassador Blog] Animation in Rise of the Tomb Raider
Author: Ash – Tomb of Ash – UK/Russia
The video game industry is constantly evolving. Gone are the days when 2D Pacman was labelled as a game with state-of-the-art graphics. Rise of the Tomb Raider, just like every other major release this year, features stunning graphics and animation; it utilizes all the advances of MOVA motion capture technology to impart the minutiae of an actor’s performance onto the model.
Brandon Fernandez (Animation Director) has worked at Crystal Dynamics for 15 years and. When he started “…there was less specialization in games, so an animator might model, rig, animate, create character VFX and even do a bit of design tuning.” Technology has moved on and professional animators are now able to solely focus on animation. But how important is realism for a Tomb Raider fan? A lot of us still play the classic Tomb Raider and Lara does not even move her mouth in those. I was sent to E3 by Microsoft and Crystal Dynamics to investigate this matter and report back.
Here’s my article on the animation in the Rise of the Tomb Raider!