Capcom pushed the Resident Evil franchise forward yet again with their release of Resident Evil Village in May 2021. The eighth entry in the series is considered one of the most advanced and frightening survival horror games ever, with incredible gameplay, ultra-realistic graphics and spine-tingling performances from the characters in the story. To help bring the characters to life, our team at 3Lateral helped Capcom with the development of the game’s hero and secondary characters.
At the beginning of the collaboration, we worked with Capcom to categorize the characters according to the level of fidelity needed, and captured the necessary input references - from a single facial scan to dozens of signature expression scans differing on the character tiers. We also employed the parametric face design solution delivered via Gene Splicer, which doesn’t require any scans as input. All the leading characters in the game are using the 3Lateral facial rig design that has been set in place as a uniform base both for cinematic content animation and for the gameplay sequences.
To complement the horror story feel, we derived texture sets with makeup for several characters – Mother Miranda, Mia Winters, Lady Dimitrescu, and adult Rose. For believable makeup, our team captured neutral expressions and relevant sets of non-neutral expressions within our scanning facilities, all to produce blood flow and wrinkle maps with makeup along the PBR standards.
We’ve never put as much care and precautions in place while capturing the neutral expression scan for the Baby Rose character. We brought in a young baby, and with her parents by her side, the 3Lateral team was able to source neutral expression, and then adjusted 3Lateral facial rig design to mimic relevant gesticulation range to portray convincing facial expressions signature for a 6 months old.
We also leveraged our facial rigging pipeline to help with the creation of the Salvatore Moreau. 3Lateral sourced the hand-modeled creature’s neutral expression from Capcom, along with the reference illustrations for the 12 key expressions of this creature, and then derived statistically estimated expressions for this humanoid character. After a manual polish passed over the estimated expressions, the creature rig was ready for animation.
We’re honored to have played a part in helping Capcom create such unforgettable characters – characters that sucked players into the unnerving world of Resident Evil Village. Capcom was rewarded for their achievement with considerable acclaim and awards, including Game of the Year honor for the 2021 Golden Joystick Awards. At the 25th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards, Capcom received the Outstanding Achievement in Character award for Lady Dimitrescu, besides that Maggie Robertson's won Performance of the Year at The Game Awards for her portrayal of the Lady Dimitrescu character. On top of the tremendous reception from the community, the recognition from critics is a testament to Capcom’s enduring legacy for pushing the industry forward. Congrats to the team!
