And are we close to the edge of the Uncanny Valley
The uncanny valley is a concept you’ve probably heard a lot about, and every few years, some developer or hype train tries to explain that they’ve “cracked the code.”Remember when people toutedHeavy Rainas the one true herald, the project that would shepherd all of us out of the dark ages of photo-realism in gaming?
That day probably hasn’t come yet for some, even with this incredibly well-acted performance from the talented and underrated Andy Serkis. As shown at GDC, studios 3Lateral and Epic Games have managed to push the Unreal Engine to its limits, showcasing a Serkis rendering that serves as a dramatic reading of lines fromMacbeth.
Serkis, an animated fellow in real life, is the perfect person to show this tech off with, but I’m hung up a bit on the mouth movements; specifically around the dimples area. Still, it’s hard to be down on this in any real way — it’s fantastically rendered and a huge leap forward for the industry.
