JALI Research conference: there are no shortcuts in facial animation     

Originally developed for AAA video games, JALI’s technology now powers a suite of tools for cinematic and real-time production, with natively deployed plugins for Autodesk Maya and Unreal Engine.

JALI face animation specialist, Michala Braker, will deliver a talk for the global game development community at the ddc2025 – devcom developer conference 2025, on the intricacies of 3D facial animation and share applicable insights for creating emotionally driven character performances.

The official game developer event of gamescom and Europe’s biggest game developer community-driven industry conference, taking place August 17–19 in Cologne, Germany, and devcom attendees are invited to join Braker for a live presentation entitled, There Are No Shortcuts in Facial Animation. In this session, Braker will explore why 3D facial animation remains one of the most complex challenges in real-time production, and how even subtle missteps in performance can disrupt emotional immersion. Braker will discuss the limitations of automated tools and the shortcomings of current generative methods, while offering insights into where facial animation technology might be headed.

Drawing on their experience working at JALI, as well as their seven years as a facial animator with teams including Rockstar Games and NetherRealm Studios (WB Games), Braker will share practical tips and lessons learned from their work on Grand Theft Auto V, Red Dead Redemption 2, Mortal Kombat 11, and Mortal Kombat 11: Aftermath. They will also highlight how JALI’s intuitive, production-ready rigging and pipeline solutions give animators the ability to deliver expressive, high-quality character performances while retaining creative control. Time will also be available for audience Q&A.

From AAA in game animation to cinematics to feature animation, JALI is redefining facial animation workflows for production through intelligent automation. The platform delivers high-fidelity facial animation and multilingual lip sync at scale while empowering artists to direct the animation of expressive, believable digital characters across feature animation, video games, and immersive media. Over the years, JALI has transformed their lip sync solution from background utility into a creative powerhouse, helping teams deliver feature-quality results, on time, on budget, and on model.

“Facial animation can feel like an enigma. Even a slight error can pull the audience out of an emotional moment. Because this discipline uniquely straddles art and science, ‘getting it right’ can feel incredibly challenging,” says Braker. “Given the inherent complexity of facial animation, available tools and pipeline realities, there are no shortcuts to achieving emotionally rich character performances at scale. I’m excited to explore these real-world production issues with the devcom community to showcase how JALI’s artist-centric, non-destructive toolset allows precise editing of automatically generated animation for enhanced storytelling.”

devcom presentation with Michala Braker: There Are No Shortcuts in Facial Animation

Date: Monday, August 18
Time: Wednesday, 1:15-2:15 p.m. (CEST)

Location: Stage 6 – Confex Level 2, Confex Center of Koelnmesse, Cologne, Germany (Note: The devcom developer conference is a hybrid event. All talks will be streamed live and recorded.)