NaturalMotion Ltd. announced euphoria, a new run-time animation technology for game play and development on next-generation platforms, including Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. Based on NaturalMotion’s DMS technology, euphoria uses the CPUs of next-generation platforms to synthesize interactive animations on the fly.

euphoria is the run-time version of NaturalMotion’s DMS technology, first introduced in endorphin, the company’s off-line character animation tool. DMS is based on artificial intelligence controllers that imitate the human nervous system. Unlike conventional animation techniques such as keyframing or motion capture, euphoria uses the CPU to simulate the brain and body of 3D characters, which allows animators working on nextgeneration development platforms to synthesize human movements in real time. This approach produces fully directable and fully interactive 3D characters with real-life movements that are unique every time thus dramatically reducing animation asset production time.

“euphoria enables a whole new level of interactivity and realism during game play,” said Torsten Reil, CEO of NaturalMotion. “Every time euphoria synthesizes what happens on the screen you know that no player has seen it before. It makes every game your unique experience.”

euphoria is currently being integrated into multiple AAA next-generation titles and is available through NaturalMotion’s co-development program. NaturalMotion will show euphoria behind closed doors at the 2006 Game Developers Conference (GDC).