It’s an example of that close collaboration between the different teams during development, but also helps highlight the work being performed by Paciello’s Emotional Systematic Facial Animation system. So animated eye saccades sitting on top of the eye-aim, work together to create what looks like focus and thought process.” On top of that, I animated small eye darts (saccades) within the character’s facial idles to try and indicate an overall thought process.

“In that instance,” he explains during our video call after I describe the scene to him, “you as a player are aiming with the controller for Ellie to look at the painting, which is triggering a ‘look at target’ placed by a designer. Taking me on a tour of this is Keith Paciello, the studio animator who masterminded the in-game facial tech after his internal pitch was greenlit and who collaborated on numerous other animation processes. When those end and gameplay begins, that’s when the careful handiwork coordinated between multiple teams in the studio kicks in. These models sit separate from the motion capture tech utilized to render real-world actors in-game for cinematics. All built to depict the most realistic rendering of in-game character models possible. The illusion is carefully crafted from multiple game systems working simultaneously. The answer, in a way, remarkably, is yes. Spoiler alert: This post contains story details about The Last of Us Part II Could Naughty Dog really have created subtle reactions for everything in the game? Yet her facial expression gives every indication that she’s mulling the artwork over. I can’t interact with it, there’s no dialogue attached to its presence. In doing so I spot Ellie’s gaze seemingly drawn to a painting in the room. To work out the best position for lighting. I pan round to compose my shot, looking to capture expressions, body language.

Naughty Dog’s latest is quickly proving to be a treasure trove for the photographic eye. As has happened with frequent regularity since the game’s start, I open up Photo Mode. Ellie and Dina are exploring a side room of a ruined synagogue.

Last of us face models