We’ve heard about the power of the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in creating large, open worlds and modelling realistic effects. Though the PS4 has had a leg-up over the Xbox One in terms of games that can run at 1080p/60 FPS, the power of both next gen consoles dwarfs that of current gen easily.

However, how do both consoles fare when it comes to realistically modelling facial animations and expressions, especially compared to PCs? Considering that increased realism is a hallmark of the next-generation, GamingBolt got in touch with OC3 Entertainment’s Doug Perkowski, whose team is behind FaceFX. The company’s middleware solution has been used in a number of blockbuster titles including Thief, Killzone: Shadow Fall, Battlefield 4, Grand Theft Auto V and many more.

When compared the power of next gen consoles to a high end PC, who’s hardware is constantly evolving, what kind of challenges does the team face in developing the right tools for the PS4 and Xbox One? Perkowski stated that, “A high-end PC with the latest GPU/CPU gives you the most graphics horsepower, but ultimately I think iPads and tablets are a greater competitive threat/opportunity for consoles. High end PC games will always be a niche market that appeals to the graphics enthusiast, but the average consumer will choosing between a console game and new gaming app on their tablet, or perhaps some hybrid.

But what about the overall clock speed? With CPUs logging higher clock speeds over next gen consoles, does that hold the latter back in any way with regards to FaceFX? After all, there’s no denying that so much more could have been accomplished with higher clock speeds on consoles.

Perkowski responded, “Are you talking about the speed of the CPU or the GPU? It doesn’t matter because facial animation technology is not constrained by either really. But with a faster graphics card, you could potentially have higher polygon characters, but even in that case, you would probably use the same skeleton rig. And FaceFX calculates transforms for the skeleton rig, and the engine will then use the graphics card to drive the polygons with the bones, so FaceFX’s calculations would be the same.

“At the end of the day, you just don’t get better facial animation with faster CPUs. You can get better physics, particles, explosions, and simulations, but facial animation can only get better with more animator hours or better technology. That’s what makes it such a hard problem.

“And just an additional clarification, there are many facial animation methods that are definitely limited by the CPU and GPU like skin solvers and light simulations for the skin. FaceFX could even drive those systems, but most games (regardless if they are targeting high-end PC’s or consoles) will use more traditional animation techniques that are not bound by the CPU or GPU.”

So regardless of their differences with a high-end PC, much less their differences with each other, the PS4 and Xbox One are both fairly well off in terms of facial animation. It will be interesting to see what happens when games start relying on the above mentioned skin solvers and light simulations in the distant future, which will require more CPU/GPU power but for now, all is hunky dory.

What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below.

1.75 > 1.6. http://t.co/jYA4pY0Arj

— Albert Penello (@albertpenello) September 3, 2013

Of course, some one remarked on GAF that Albert was “taking shots”. This prompted Penello to respond that, “C’mon seriously? That was not a shot – only you guys would think that. I was in a meeting on my phone, shot out a quick tweet. Seriously.

“Sony haven’t announced the CPU speed, as people have noted. Plus – when I take a pot-shot at the competition I’m gonna be way more obvious than that. I’m not a fan of the passive-aggressive. As I’m sure you’ve figured out – you don’t announce something like this at the same time you’re working on it. Obviously this has been in the works, but now that we’re in full production we felt OK about announcing it.

“Devs should start seeing this soon – so any performance gains were happening on the 1.6 boxes. (everything at PAX was on the 1.6). This is a boost to developers on top of the optimizations going on.

“Lastly – can I PLEASE finally get you over this ‘we’re having production issues’ thing that’s going around? We increased the GPU 6%. We increased the CPU almost 10%. We have been showing retail boxes. We are now in full production. If at this point these facts don’t outweigh random rumors…”

Meanwhile, the Xbox One has a confirmed release date of November 22nd.

Mehdi noted that the console’s CPU had been increased, this time from 1.6 GHz to 1.75 GHz. This marks the second boost in console CPU speed since the Xbox One was first introduced. Conversely, Sony hasn’t yet revealed what clock speeds the PlayStation 4 is running at.

Oddly enough, despite being in production, the Xbox One still doesn’t have a final release date. Rumours have indicated that it will be out in late November but other rumours have pointed towards a release on November 8th – one week before the PlayStation 4’s official release in the United States. More details as they arrive.

(Source)

The documents also reveal the number of ports adorning the next generation console as well as the plentiful vents that will it to operate between 5-35 degrees Celsius. The PS4 is also revealed to be weighing in at 6 kg – compare that to the PlayStation 3 Super Slim’s 2 to 2.1 kg weight. Of course, once manufacturing prices drop, we could see a significant reduction in the weight of the PS4 in years to come as well.

(Source)