JALI Research Face Animation Specialist, Michala Braker, to Present at devcom 2025

TORONTO – August 6, 2025 – JALI Research, the Toronto-based developer of high-end procedural facial animation technology, today announced its participation in the devcom developer conference 2025, 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. JALI Face Animation Specialist, Michala Braker, will deliver a talk for the global game development community on the intricacies of 3D facial animation and share applicable insights for creating emotionally driven character performances.

 

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.”

 

Presentation: There Are No Shortcuts in Facial Animation                                                   

Date: Monday, August 18
Time: 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.)

 

devcom attendees are invited to join Braker, JALI facial animation specialist, 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.

 

The JALI software suite includes natively deployed plugins for Autodesk Maya and Unreal Engine. Its embedded Heart & Mask system is based on performance theory and psychology, enabling animators to blend internal emotion (Heart) with outward expression (Mask) for emotionally rich performances across infinite takes without sculpting each frame. The streamlined workflow eliminates repetitive tasks and gives artists the freedom to iterate quickly and explore expanded emotional range for characters across 3D styles.

 

ABOUT JALI Research
JALI Research Inc. is a Toronto-based developer of high-end procedural animation technology. JALI’s artist-friendly tools enable automated lip sync, expressive multilingual facial animation, and production-ready rigging and pipeline solutions, empowering animators and studios to deliver cinematic-quality animation at scale, efficiently, reliably, and with creative precision.

 

Originally developed for AAA video games, JALI’s technology now powers a suite of tools for cinematic and real-time production, offering non-destructive, procedural workflows that give animators creative freedom and control to deliver feature-quality results, on time, on budget, and on model.

 

Since its debut, JALI has been used on acclaimed titles including Cyberpunk 2077, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, RoboCop: Rogue City, Stellar Blade, Rise of the Ronin, and the recently released Avowed and Lost Records: Bloom & Rage. Over 200 studios have adopted the JALI platform, with more than 50 active projects currently in production.

 

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