Character animations are currently expensive to create with unrealistic movements

Animating characters in video games, film and XR is a tedious and extremely expensive process, and the results are often less than ideal.

Despite the time and money spent, the results are not up to par for the current era technology and platforms. The resulting animated characters lack fluid movements, do not interact smoothly with their environments and lack realism. They do not seem human.

Even worse, Non-Player Characters (NPCs) in video games often make decisions that are illogical or unrealistic. These characters are often called AI, without using artificial intelligence at all! We as humans have learned how to outsmart them as they make the same mistakes again and again.

Creating a more realistic gaming experience

We use AI and machine learning to train neural networks that animate character movements frame by frame in real time—increasing the volume and quality of 3D animation at a rate that has never been seen before. This AI trained animation also results in fluid, natural animation that is modeled after how humans move and react to situations in the real world.

To further improve character actions and movement, we replace the outdated and unrealistic decision trees—that have historically driven character decisions since the days of Pac Man—with modern neural networks that are trained by observing real players. 

Building NextGen AIs for video game Non- Player Characters (NPCs)

We are building a portfolio of innovative products, developed using deep learning neural networks, that allow the digital storytellers of our time to focus on the narrative instead of the process.

Our first suite of products focus on the digital 3D asset pipeline for video games. These technologies can also be used for the metaverse, film, XR, 3D simulations and training. Perhaps most impressive is our "North Star", a state-of-the-art technology called behavioral cloning, which we believe will change the way we interact with video games forever.

TrackerX: Nextgen Motion Capture tool

Tracking is the process of manually cleaning raw point cloud data from motion capture hardware. Motion capture is the process of using performance actors to create life-like animations used in most 3D video games and live action animation films. Currently, there are a number of labor-intensive steps that take place in order to get from the motion capture stage to a video game, film, XR product or the Metaverse; and tracking the raw data is the first and most labor-intensive step. 

Our technology disrupts this manual process by allowing for any type of optical or sensor-based motion capture system files to be put straight onto the TrackerX character skeleton. The manual process normally takes about 8 hours to process 3 minutes of motion capture data. In this new paradigm, we take what was previously 8 hours of labor down to just under 20 seconds, a radical improvement and a game-changer for the industry.

AIMX (AI MOTION): Smooth, realistic AI generated character animations

Note: AIMX's Neural Networks were trained with 21 animations, a full character should be trained with 200+ animations, as each additional animation will provide more life-like movements and reactions.

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For decades, animators have had to predetermine what characters will do in each and every situation—and then choose the appropriate animation using an antiquated "state machine". This process uses a massive amount of memory, which limits the number of animations for each character, usually at the cost of realistic character movement.

Instead, AIMX actually "predicts" which animations to select based upon physics-based properties and our neural networks, saving a tremendous of amount of memory and allowing for near-limitless animations. The result is not only fluid character movements, but characters that react appropriately to situations, just as a human would.

FacialX: AI-based facial tracking system

Much like TrackerX, FacialX tracks 3D point cloud data for facial recognition systems. FacialX can be used in both 3D camera-based hardware systems as well as mobile devices, thereby opening up the market to both businesses and consumers.

BehaviorX: Our North Star

Imagine being able to play in a game against your friends when they're not on-line, or against your favorite celebrity Esports player? With BehaviorX, you will!

With your investment, the NPCx development team will finish development of our BehaviorX, an AI system that is built using behavioral cloning technology.

Our technology records real-time data from players in games, tracking every key movement and decision relative to their in-game situation. It is then persistently stored in a matrix to train our models. We use these models to override decision trees with decisions from the neural network, all in real time—resulting in NPCs that both model specific skill levels of players and can even model the patterns of the players themselves!

NPCx is a fast-growing technology-based startup with Year 1 revenues of $248K and a AAA video game studio early adopter client. We self-funded through investment and work-for-hire revenue, which we used to build out our technology platform as well as two working prototypes, AIMX and TrackerX.

Here is a recap of 2021, the year of R&D. We started operations in July of 2020, so December 2021 was our 1.5-year mark!

In late 2021, we entered into an agreement with one of the largest motion capture stages in North America—a studio that has relationships with some of the world's largest video game and film companies, including 2K Games, EA, Adobe, Warner Brothers, Sony Pictures and Netflix—providing NPCx a readymade B2B pipeline. 

A scalable business model for the next generation of digital storytellers

The NPCx product business model is scalable with recurring revenue. We have two streams of income: licensing and service revenue. For the first 12 months post investment, service revenue is expected be greater than licensing. Thereafter, licensing revenue will overtake and eventually far exceed the Service revenue.

NPCx offers two tech licensing programs: 1) Throughput, whereby 3D assets and animation seconds will be gated and billed; and 2) Seat licensing, for productivity tools. Because our technology  will dramatically increase the volume and quality of 3D assets and animations, large companies will save thousands of hours and millions of dollars per title or project.

Virtually limitless potential in the digital animation market

According to Grand View Research's report, the total value of the global 3D animation and visual effect market was $16.64B in 2020, with most segments in the animation industry growing at a rate of nearly 11% YoY. With a growing demand for more realistic animation, NPCx is poised to claim a sizable stake in this expanding market.

Early-mover advantage

NPCx benefits from an early-mover advantage as we are one of the first to market with these technologies. Since our launch, we've witnessed strong interest and rapid adoption from big industry players, demonstrating the strong demand in the market for technology like ours. There is a huge opportunity for these highly versatile technologies, as they can be applied to video games, film, XR, streaming entertainment, and the Metaverse.

Our technology creates in-game characters with near-unlimited animations and lifelike decisions. The impact is so profound that once several game titles have launched with our technology, the result in the industry will be that they must follow suit.

Continuing to develop our IP and products

NPCx is building a revolutionary technology company using cutting-edge AI and machine learning that will change the way we interact with entertainment. Our company is fundamentally changing the way animated characters look, move and think. Over half of the funds from this campaign will be used for product development as we continue to commercialize our neural network motion capture and animation systems and build out our Behavioral Cloning apparatus.

With your funding we will double down on our development with additional data scientists and programmers, building products that we can sell in 2022 and beyond.

NPCx's pre-seed round was funded by the Puscar Buritica Family Office, a family office with an early stage venture capital division led by Michael Puscar. Puscar is also the Chief Technical Advisor and active board member, and his expertise has helped propel the company to several early victories. 

Founded by subject matter experts with a proven track record of success

Watch our Q&A video with the founders to find out more about NPCx.

Cameron Madani is the company's founder and CEO. Cameron began working as a business development director and publisher for Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo titles and launched his first award-winning video game, Torchlight for the Xbox 360 (Runic Games) in 2011. 

Michael Puscar is the co-founder of NPCx and the company's first investor, a serial entrepreneur with a deep background in artificial intelligence technology. He has a proven track record of success as an entrepreneur.

Alberto Menache has joined NPCx as a technical advisor for motion capture and VFX. He is known as the father of motion capture, and spent the last seven years with with James Cameron on the Avatar film franchise.