AlterEgo

Press Contact: David Tractenberg

310-453-2050 X.111

david@tractionpr.com

Los Angeles, Calif. - August 7, 2008 - The industry is buzzing about performance and especially facial animation right now and at this year's Siggraph in Los Angeles, performance technologies will take a dramatic leap forward with the announcement of Pendulum's new facial performance animation division, AlterEgo.

Pendulum's AlterEgo team will be presenting their technology along with examples from some of their recent projects at the Vicon booth (#1101) on the following schedule: Tues 12:15p, Wed 12:15m & 4:30p, and Thurs 11:10a. But the AlterEgo team isn't stopping there; armed with their most recent innovation and Vicon's new T160 cameras, they'll be giving a not-to-be-missed demonstration of an unprecedented high-res real-time facial mocap visualization technology, during each of their presentations.

"We're very proud to finally make our AlterEgo technology directly available to the industry via this new service-based division," says Pendulum's Dir of Performance Technology, Colin Hodges, "and I'm incredibly excited to demonstrate our new real-time implementation of the software, which will, for the first time ever, empower directors to see their actors' facial mocap performances on the actual 3D characters they're bringing to life, on set and in real-time!"

Creation of lifelike and emotive digital characters is one of the most technically complex and arduously sought after facets of the digital animation pipeline - and of the entertainment industry as a whole. Of course, one of the greatest barriers to achieving compelling 3D characters is the implementation of believable facial performances.

This is an area in which leading 3D animation studio, Pendulum, has focused a great deal of R&D. To this end, they set out to develop a set of proprietary software tools with which they could create the kind of high-end characters that their clients and the studio's owners/directors, Rob Taylor & Mike McCormick, wanted for their productions. The resulting technology, along with high-quality full-performance motion-capture data, like that provided by their long-time production partner, Vicon House of Moves, allows Pendulum to create some amazingly believable facial performances.

They've been evolving this technology for use on a wide range of production pipelines, from high-resolution characters like their "Emotional Old Man" piece, their award-winning "Mark Antony" short, and pre-rendered game cinematics like SEGA/Secret Level's upcoming Golden Axe: Beast Rider and the diverse characters of THQ's Stuntman: Ignition cinematic trailers, as well as real-time game-engine based productions, such as the 70 mins of in-game cinematics they created for Konami's highly anticipated Silent Hill V and THQ/Volition's upcoming sequel, Red Faction: Guerilla.

Named from the patented software at the heart of their leading-edge process, the AlterEgo group will offer their services to clients from throughout the film, games, and broadcast arenas. Coupled with high quality facial mocap data, the technology at the core of AlterEgo's services allows them to deliver high-end facial performances at remarkable speeds, transforming extensive amount of mo-cap data into realistic and accurate facial performances. The team's expertise conforming to their clients' diverse pipelines allows them to work directly with real-time engines like Unreal3 as well as more traditional pre-render pipelines like Maya or XSI. This flexibility increases AlterEgo's cost-effectiveness and throughput, while providing an unparalleled solution for leading game developers, filmmakers, and whoever is seeking high quality facial animation.

For more information about AlterEgo, stills and video clips go to: http://www.studiopendulum.com/alterego

About Pendulum

Pendulum Studios is a San Diego, CA based 3D animation and digital fx studio focused on expressing the ideal fusion of art, cinema and technology by specializing in dynamic character animation and compelling storytelling. Owned and operated by directors, Michael McCormick and Robert Taylor, the studio strives to produce the highest quality animation for commercials, game cinematics, film, and their own animated shorts.

For more information about the studio, please visit www.studiopendulum.com.

Pendulum and the Pendulum logo are registered trademarks of Pendulum. All other company names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. Copyright © 2008 Pendulum, All Rights Reserved.

# # #