Fans have long pointed out that video game voice actor Nolan North bears more than a passing resemblance to one of his most famous roles, Nathan Drake. But in the newest issue of Edge Magazine, North described how blurry the line between his real and digital selves has really become:
"They mapped my face for Uncharted 4," North said. "Every wrinkle is mine, just over his bone structure. That’s my face, for god’s sakes." And I know what you're thinking: that's just facial motion capture, the industry has been doing it for years. But not like this they haven't.
Previously, Naughty Dog would capture an actor's movements by recording an actor's face, and then use the footage as reference for hand-animating the characters. The tech North is referring to quite literally transplants his face onto Drake's skull in real-time, wrinkles and all.
While there's sadly no footage of said North's face-swapping, we can see the technology in action thanks to this demo showing off animation tools used for The Last of Us 2:
So if you fear that you'll never get to meet Nolan North in person, just look longingly into Drake's eyes instead. It really is the next best thing.
Read more about the future of the game industry in the latest issue of Edge magazine, on sale now. Buy future issues here.
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