Animaze x Team Fortress 2

Valve’s Team Fortress 2 Characters Are Coming To Animaze

On September 20th, Holotech Studios announced that several of Valve’s Team Fortress 2 characters would be introduced to Animaze. Players can now incarnate these avatars through the app.

What is Animaze?

Animaze is a software by Holotech Studios, the developers of FaceRig, that allows users to embody 2D or 3D virtual avatars. It’s available on both Steam and iOS. However, the new TF2 characters are exclusive to Steam.

Animaze x Team Fortress 2
Image credit – Holotech Studios

The Pandemic Context

The pandemic wreaked havoc across the world and forced a lot of its population into quarantine. That extended time spent in loneliness paved the way for the Vtuber boom in 2020 and continues to this day. Hundreds of millions worldwide spent their newfound idle time watching Live2D, and 3D avatars do all sorts of shenanigans. Much like the esports or youtube boom, this emerging industry incited many more to take the plunge into Vtubing.

Since then, many companies have found an opportunity for a lucrative business, and Holotech Studios is at the forefront of the industry. Animaze replicates the user’s motions and projects them onto their avatar using cutting-edge performance motion-capture technology. This gives users and viewers the impression that both user and avatar are the same. Many content creators used Live2D and 3D animation to achieve immense success, from Usada Pekora to CodeMiko.

pekora
Image credit – Anime News Network

New Characters Coming to Animaze

Advances in rigging technology and applications like Animaze further democratise this form of content creation. As a result, Holotech looks to expand its horizons to attract fans from all corners into its fold. They introduced several popular characters from Team Fortress 2 to Animaze, namely the Soldier, the Heavy, the Medic and The Pyro. All the characters mentioned above are free to use on Animaze, and Holotech revealed that more are on their way.

The revolution in streaming and content creation over the past two years is vital to this day. However, virtual avatars introduced a new form of entertainment into the fold, and it looks like more is still yet to come, thanks to advancements in motion capture technology.