Problem
Creating 3D animations are currently expensive to create with unrealistic movements
Creating 3D character animations for video games, films, XR, and the Metaverse is an arduous and expensive endeavor that fails to benefit from economies of scale. This significantly inflates the time and cost required to bring products like video games, films, and apps to market.
Furthermore, animated characters in interactive entertainment often exhibit stiff, unnatural movements and struggle to interact convincingly with their environments and other characters. This severely hampers immersion and detracts from the overall playing experience.
In addition, Non-Player Characters (NPCs) in video games frequently demonstrate unrealistic or illogical behavior, undermining gameplay realism. Once players master these predictable patterns, games quickly become monotonous and lose their appeal.
Solution
Creating a more realistic gaming experience
At NPCx, we harness the power of generative AI and machine learning to bring animated characters to life. Our technology significantly increases the volume and quality of 3D animation, delivering fluid, natural motion that mirrors how humans move and react in real-world situations.
Our technology can also analyze and recreate 3D characters in real time, which is useful for sports statistics, such as sports betting, and generating lifelike characters for real-time representation in broadcasting and entertainment. We also have the capability to recreate motion sets from the greatest athletes in television history, bringing legends back to life in 3D.
Finally, to improve character actions and movements, we replace outdated decision trees with modern neural networks trained by observing real players. This results in intelligent, realistic character behaviors that evolve and adapt over time.
Product
Building Gen AI for digital entertainment
We are building a portfolio of innovative products, developed using deep learning neural networks and biomechanical models 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-Standard: Nextgen Motion Capture tool
Tracking involves manually cleaning raw point cloud data from motion capture hardware, a key step in creating lifelike animations for 3D video games and live-action films. This process is currently labor-intensive, requiring about 8 hours to process 3 minutes of animation.
Our technology disrupts this by enabling any marker-based motion capture files to be directly applied to the TrackerX character skeleton, reducing processing time from 8 hours to just under 10 minutes. This represents a radical improvement and a game-changer for the entertainment industry.
TrackerX-Markerless: Can capture, measure and recreate characters in real-time
TrackerX-Markerless is a groundbreaking large-scale markerless tracking system powered by advanced NPCx's generative AI and biomechanical algorithms. It transforms any video footage into multiple player skeletons, making it indispensable for high-volume productions in video games and films that demand extensive coverage with unmatched fidelity. Applications span crowd coverage, sports franchises, and critical governmental and scientific projects.
This revolutionary technology also excels in stats collection, such as in sports betting and healthcare, by measuring and reporting physical data like velocity, trajectory, and ground position in under 70 nanoseconds. Imagine assembling and playing against the greatest NBA players in television history—TrackerX-Markerless makes this possible!
RetargetX: Generative AI based animation transfer
RetargetX harnesses cutting-edge AI to automate animation retargeting, transforming the most complex and expensive step in adapting motion capture animation for a diverse range of character geometries and styles. By deploying generative AI, RetargetX effortlessly maps both motion capture and keyframed animations, including vast catalogs of previous content (IP). This revolutionary technology not only maximizes the value of previously created animations but also reshapes the entire animation industry, setting a new standard for efficiency and creativity.
FacialX-Mimic: Digital double/facial image and texture swapping
FacialX-Mimic is a game-changing face-swapping and de-aging technology that employs cutting-edge synthetic texture creation from photographs. It enables real-time, seamless face swapping and the generation of younger versions of characters, eliminating the need for actors to undergo cumbersome and expensive motion capture processes. This revolutionary technology provides a powerful, cost-effective solution for producing top-tier visual content with unmatched versatility and efficiency.
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!
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 generative AI 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!
Traction
Building a suite of technology that scales
Founded in the summer of 2020 by industry veterans in AI, 3D animation, and video game development, NPCx spent several years developing its Generative AI and biomechanical models to revolutionize character behavior and animation.
NPCx launched its first product, TrackerX-Standard in mid-2023 while achieving lifetime revenue of over $365,000. TrackerX-Standard is currently being used by 2K, Gearbox Games and Deck Nine as well ad the Netflix. In the summer of 2024, NPCx released TrackerX-Standard’s API with User Interface (UI), allowing it to operate as a SaaS, providing more predictable and scalable income. TrackerX-Standard’s API/UI is already being tested by several other large video game companies. By the end of 2024, NPCx estimates that an additional four to five companies will be using TrackerX-Standard, with annualized revenues expected to reach $2.7 million beginning in 2025.
In 2025, NPCx will launch several new products, including TrackerX-Markerless and RetargetX, both highly anticipated by the industry. TrackerX-Markerless has applications in sports broadcasting, sports betting, video games, and simulation.
RetargetX will completely disrupt how 3D animations are currently created, potentially bringing in 20 to 25 times more revenue than TrackerX-Standard.
Business model
A scalable business model for the next generation of digital storytellers
NPCx's business model is designed for scalability and recurring revenue, utilizing a SaaS suite model similar to industry leaders like Autodesk and Adobe. Our suite of innovative products supports specializations within a comprehensive animation ecosystem, ensuring deeper customer engagement and long-term loyalty.
NPCx offers two tech licensing programs:
- Throughput: Monetizing 3D animation seconds with a gated and billed approach, maximizing return on investment.
- Seat Licensing: Boost productivity with our suite of tools, available through flexible seat licensing options for large organizations.
By leveraging NPCx technology, companies will dramatically enhance the volume and quality of their 3D animations. This means substantial time savings, allowing companies to allocate resources more effectively and achieve unparalleled results.
Vision and strategy
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 $21.94B in 2023, 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.
Vision & Strategy
Continuing to develop our IP and products
NPCx is pioneering a revolution in technology with its cutting-edge Generative AI and machine learning, set to transform how entertainment is created and experienced. We are fundamentally reshaping how animated characters look, move, and think. With vast majority of the funds from this campaign allocated to product development, we are fast-tracking the commercialization of our groundbreaking Generative AI-based motion capture and animation systems, alongside our innovative Behavioral Cloning technology.
Your investment will empower us to accelerate development, expand our team with top-tier data scientists and programmers, and launch a suite of next-generation products. These advancements are poised to redefine the industry now - and set new standards for the future.
Leadership
Founded by subject matter experts with a proven track record of success
Cameron Madani is the co-founder and CEO of NPCx. 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 and CTO 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 is the co-founder and CPO of NPCx. He is known as one of the father of motion capture, and spent the last seven years with with James Cameron on the Avatar film franchise.
Competition
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 3D 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.
Funding
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, who is also the CTO and active board member, and his expertise has helped propel the company to several early victories.
In 2022, we secured over $544,000 from more than 860 investors through our first Republic SAFE, which was valued at $7M pre-money.
In June 2023, we further raised $1,500,000 via a Y Combinator SAFE at a $20.5M post-money valuation, with investment from Kakao Investment Corp.