Unity, a cross-platform game engine developed by Unity Technologies, has recently announced that it has acquired Ziva Dynamics, a software company behind revolutionary digital character creation. Unity plans to democratize Ziva's tools for making them easier to be used for all developers.

Ziva and Unity revealed their new pairing-up via a video narrated by Emma, Ziva's wholly digital person.

Ziva's tech to animate Emma's facial expressions is called ZRT Trainer. The technology empowers users to create animals, people, or similar items like cloth and have them distorted in realistic ways. For example, Emma has been skilled with 72,000 shapes and can make exclusive facial poses.

Ziva's software has been highlighted in games like Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice and Spider-Man: Miles Morales. One can also spot its handiwork in Godzilla vs. Kong and Game of Thrones. Recently, it was also used to bring the troll of life in the Senua's Saga: Hellblade II trailer.

James Jacobs, Ziva's CEO, told that when Ziva was founded, they had the vision of developing a realistic creation available to all the creators. The firm thinks that this will be an important part of its future. He said that when the opportunity of collaborating with Unity knocked, it felt like a dream come true, as both the firm shares the same values and vision of the world and the future.

Notable, Unity plans to make the tools of Ziva accessible to all the artists and game developers, regardless of skill level. Furthermore, as per the firm's announcement, it will also hasten the process of bringing Weta tools to real-time 3D via the cloud using the power of ML (machine learning).

Furthermore, Ziva's is not the first digital tool acquired by Unity. Last year, it acquired Weta Digital's tools for $1.6 billion. It has also acquired SyncSketch tools for making collaborations easier.

Source credit - https://venturebeat.com/2022/01/24/unity-acquires-ziva-dynamics-and-its-character-tech/