GTA 5 To Feature Revolutionary 'Speech Graphics'?

Posted by Psy via RockstarSpy February 10, 2012 : 26 Comments : 18,656 Views

One of the standout features of Rockstar Games' best-selling detective thriller L.A. Noire was the extremely detailed and realistic facial graphics and animation thanks to Depth Analysis' MotionScan technology. Ever since, speculation has been growing as to whether this same technology will appear in Grand Theft Auto V.

The problem with MotionScan's technology, however, is the sheer amount of storage space it requires. The XBox 360 version of L.A. Noire took up 3 disks and although the game was a success, fans would prefer not to swap disks as they play through a game.

Luckily, there is a solution Rockstar could use to get around this problem while maintaining realistic graphics, but keeping storage space for more important things as our friends at RockstarSpy.com point out...

GTA 5 Speech Graphics

A company called Speech Graphics, who are based in Edinburgh (the same place as Rockstar North) have spent over two decades researching speech technology for facial animation. Their award winning, multi-lingual solution uses acoustic analysis and muscle dynamics to drive a character's face to accurately match the words and emotion in the audio.

This is a much quicker and less data-intensive process than MotionScan which requires the actor to sit in a chair and perform their script while recorded by 32 high definition cameras.

Here's the most interesting part... Speech Graphics' lip sync system has not yet been used in any released games, but a motion capture studio and a triple-A developer have already integrated it into their production pipeline. Could that be Rockstar Games?

Keep an eye out for the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco on March 7-9 this year where they are set to make an appearance, saying they "Look forward to presenting our new service offerings and our exciting enterprise to transform the way the game industry thinks about speech."


We'll keep looking into this, so check back for news in the future to see if Speech Graphics' technology will be included in GTA V. While you're waiting, why not check out their amazing technology at speech-graphics.com!

Comments (26)

  • 666777 (Guest) April 28, 2012
    beast!
  • lets play (Guest) April 12, 2012
    I hope they use this... changing disk sucks! GO GTA V!!!
  • SKRIMIX (Guest) March 10, 2012
    speech motion looks amazing i hope rockstar uses this tech. they always surprise us somehow
  • Akuma (Guest) February 29, 2012
    The new speeches would be awesome, just lovin it :D
  • the unknown (Guest) February 20, 2012
    I haven't played any GTA games on the 360 because I hated GTA IV, but I hope I don't get the same problem you guys are talking about.
  • poolshark666_6 (Guest) February 12, 2012
    to all u xbox fans if u end up having to use 3 disks for gta5 dont blame the makers of the game blame the makers of the system because rockstar ain't going to make 2 different versions of gta5
  • poolshark666_6 (Guest) February 12, 2012
    i didnt have that problem with changing disks for la noire because i have a ps3 with gta5 coming out soon u xbox people most likely will have to change disks for gta5 too unless microsoft upgrades their system because with just about everything is moving to blu-ray and microsoft doesnt want to upgrade to it
  • TreeFitty (Guest) February 12, 2012
    @jobo: That's because the tech is for the mouths. Animating the rest of the head and eyes is on the people making the game (Rockstar).
  • Qdeathstar (Guest) February 12, 2012
    I didn't think that la-moored graphics were that good, not getting off my ass twice to change the disk....
  • jobo (Guest) February 12, 2012
    the faces on that video seem to dead the only thing moving is there mouth.
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