GDC 2025 Session Viewer
Less Coding, More Booty Shakes: A New 'Peridot' Animation System
Ashley Rosenbaum (Lead Animator, Niantic, Inc.)
Location: Room 2018, West Hall
Date: Wednesday, March 19
Time: 11:30 am - 12:00 pm
Pass Type: All Access Pass, Core Pass - Get your pass now!
Track: Visual Arts
Format: Lecture
Vault Recording: Video
Audience Level: Intermediate
Being an Animator in game development is chaotic already! There is a balance between creativity, technology, game design and more. Now add the situation where players can scan any object in their world and the need to have in-game characters recognize these objects and react based on their specific characteristics. Niantic is leading the charge in technical innovation, but how did the animation system and pipeline adapt with their technical progress and unique game requirements? Niantic's Lead Animator speaks about her experience of developing a new IP and creating a new patented animation system that was required to meet the ever-changing advancements of augmented reality and mixed reality gaming.
Takeaway
Attendees will learn about the technical innovations of Niantic and the animation challenges that arose with semantic segmentation. They will learn about animation pipelines created to give Animators more control within Unity and the new animation system that was created that incorporates GenAI to be used to an Animator's benefit.
Intended Audience
The intended audience for this talk is Intermediate level Animators, Tech Artists, and anyone interested or involved in the animation pipelines who are looking for a new way to think about some of the challenges animators may face in game development by using GenAI as a tool in animation pipelines.
