JALI Research (JALI), an industry leader in multilingual automated lip-sync and facial animation technology, today announced it is reteaming with Immersive Enterprise Laboratories (IEL), a leading independent animation studio, at Unreal Fest Seoul to help showcase their groundbreaking real-time, non-linear animation workflows that accelerate the creative production process.
Hosted by Epic Games and tailored to the Korean market, Unreal Fest Seoul brings together developers, artists, and creators to explore the latest innovations in Unreal Engine. The event takes place at the COEX Convention Center in Seoul, South Korea, August 25–26, 2025.
Following successful showcases earlier this year at Unreal Fest Orlando and Unreal Fest Bali, IEL co-founders Blake Baxter and Dan Urbach tapped JALI to power the facial animation performance of Ruby, an original animated character from its flagship transmedia IP, Ruby’s Cosmic Adventures. Ruby will appear “live,” speaking in Korean, during demos at the HP® Z Workstations and Solutions booth, and in an Unreal Fest Seoul main stage presentation.
The JALI and IEL collaboration began in 2024 when the two companies became original members of Anim Revolution, a collective of leading production service providers and software and hardware innovators aimed at showcasing cinematic tools and a fully integrated workflow — from concept to facial animation — that breaks free from linear production.
The JALI software suite includes natively deployed plugins for Autodesk Maya and Unreal Engine. Over the past 8 years, studios globally have integrated JALI software into their development pipelines to deliver high-fidelity character performances. Originally developed for AAA video games, JALI’s technology now powers a suite of tools for cinematic and real-time production, offering non-destructive, procedural workflows that eliminate repetitive tasks and gives artists the freedom to iterate quickly and explore expanded emotional range for characters across 3D styles.
“We are thrilled to continue our collaboration with IEL at Unreal Fest Seoul to showcase how JALI gives animators creative freedom, control, and multilingual capabilities that bring high-fidelity character performances to life,” said Sarah Watling, Co-founder and CEO of JALI. “The JALI platform delivers realism that goes beyond accurate speech, to reflect subtle cultural nuances and supporting localization. Ruby’s Korean dialogue demonstrates how creative storytelling, and authentic performances inspire audience engagement.”
“It’s been exciting to see the positive reception from audiences around the world for our real-time, non-linear animation pipeline,” said Dan Urbach, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of IEL. “Leveraging the JALI platform provides hyper-efficient facial animation technology that empowers us, as a small, agile team, to produce scalable, localized content across properties, platforms, languages, and regions for entertainment, education, marketing, scientific visualization, and more, connecting with audiences where they naturally engage.”
JALI x IEL Special Presentation at Unreal Fest Seoul
- Presentation: Unlocking Creative Storytelling Through Cutting-Edge Technology
- Date: August 26, 2025 – Media & Entertainment Track
- Time: 10:00 — 10:50 a.m., Korea Standard Time (UTC+9)
- Location: COEX Convention Center, Seoul, South Korea
Unreal Fest Seoul attendees are invited to join IEL for a dynamic main-stage presentation, Unlocking Creative Storytelling Through Cutting-Edge Technology. In this behind-the-scenes session, IEL will explore how Unreal Engine and a real-time, non-linear workflow are transforming animated storytelling. Powered by leading technologies from HP and NVIDIA, IEL will guide the audience through their AI-enhanced pipeline, demonstrating how it enables rapid iteration, high visual fidelity, and creative freedom, allowing stories to evolve beyond the traditional screen and into new, immersive formats.
During the presentation segment featuring Ruby, known for her lively science-fueled adventures across worlds, the JALI team animated all the character’s dialogue in Korean. Working from a detailed script, Ruby interacts with Urbach and Baxter with expressive facial animation, emotional nuance, and precise multilingual speech localization, resulting in a 31-minute video performance. The animated content runs within Unreal Engine on HP Z Workstations for fast, real-time workflows and leverages NVIDIA hardware for cutting-edge visual realism, immersing audiences in an electrifying and localized 50-minute interactive experience.
Explore JALI x IEL Real-time, Non-linear Workflows at HP ZWorkstations and Solutions Booth
At Unreal Fest Seoul, attendees can visit the HP Z Workstations and Solutions booth to see how JALI’s latest facial animation and lip-sync technology, together with IEL’s original cinematic content, can empower immersive workflows.
Booth Hours: Monday, August 25 and Tuesday, August 26: 9:30 a.m. – 6:30 p.m.
Get to Know JALI
While JALI Research team members will not be present in Seoul, briefings with JALI Co-Founder and CEO Sarah Watling are available before or after the conference. To schedule a briefing, please contact Vicky Gray-Clark, Ambient PR, at (408) 318-1980 (mobile & WhatsApp) or via the email below.
About JALI Research
JALI Research Inc. is a Toronto-based developer of high-end procedural animation technology. JALI’s artist-friendly tools enable automated lip sync, expressive multilingual facial animation, and production-ready rigging and pipeline solutions, empowering animators and studios to deliver cinematic-quality animation at scale, efficiently, reliably, and with creative precision.
The JALI software suite includes natively deployed plugins for Autodesk Maya and Unreal Engine. Its embedded Heart & Mask system is based on performance theory and psychology, enabling animators to blend internal emotion (Heart) with outward expression (Mask) for emotionally rich performances across infinite takes without sculpting each frame.
The JALI platform has been adopted by more than 200 studios and has been used on acclaimed titles including Cyberpunk 2077, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, RoboCop: Rogue City, Stellar Blade, Rise of the Ronin, and the recently released Avowed and Lost Records: Bloom & Rage.
JALI Research Resources
