Unity Buys Ziva To Create Realistic Digital Humans

Unit, the technology company responsible for one of the most popular animation and development engines in the game industry, has announced the acquisition of Ziva Dynamics, a digital effects company. The company specializes in creating more advanced simulations, including realistic digital avatars, as well as creating and animate elements in real time based on machine learning.

The purchase announcement itself came about thanks to a technology from the studio, the digital character Emma, ​​who has 72,000 different body and facial expressions, in addition to an algorithm training based on 30 TB of data. The novelty could help the company battle Epic Games, which announced the MetaHuman technology last year.

Unity’s The idea is to make Ziva’s tools and technologies available to interested developers and artists, who can access a powerful and intuitive animation platform for games, movies, series and other productions. The entire team of the company, made up of several winners of the industry awards for technology contributions, is now part of the new ownership.

Expansion in progress

Though little known to the public, Ziva is a rising name in the gaming and movie markets. Brand work has been featured in such productions as Game of Thrones and Godzilla vs. Kong, as well as in games like Spider-Man: Miles Morales and the upcoming Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II.

It is also worth remembering that this is Unity’s second major purchase in two months: In November 2021, it announced the absorption of Weta Digital, a special effects company co-founded by director Peter Jackson (of the Lord of the Rings trilogy) in 1993.

In August last year, the company also acquired streaming platform Parsec in a deal worth $1.6 billion.

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