JALI Research (JALI), developers of advanced procedural audio and script driven facial animation and pipeline solutions, is excited to participate at the 2026 HPA Tech Retreat, taking place February 15–19, 2026, in Rancho Mirage, Calif. The professional entertainment industry event brings together world-class leaders in engineering, technology, creativity, and business to examine, discuss, and experience “…the most compelling topics in content creation, management, and dissemination…” shaping the future of the industry.
Sarah Watling, JALI Research Co-Founder and CEO, will be among this year’s thought leaders moderating a coveted HPA Tech Retreat Breakfast Roundtable, a space encouraging peer-based conversation. JALI technology solutions will also be featured in a groundbreaking interactive broadcast with industry partner Immersive Enterprise Laboratories (IEL), a leading independent animation studio, taking place at the HPA Retreat ‘Innovation Zone’ in the HP/AMD booth.
For over eight years, JALI has been developing artist-centric, automated facial animation tools that allow artists and studios to thrive creatively while helping them scale their development and production. By automating many complex facial animation tasks and optimizing computational functions, JALI generated animation output is fast and lightweight, iterative and non-destructive, keeping pipelines streamlined and delivering customers solutions that lower and control production costs without compromising their vision.
JALI Breakfast Roundtable at HPA Tech Retreat
- Roundtable Topic: JALI Facial Animation and Intelligent Automation Technology
- Date/Time: Tuesday, Feb. 17, 7:30 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.
As a regular presenter and guest on industry panels and discussions, Watling shares deep business acumen as a trusted industry partner to some of the world’s most high-profile game, animation, and production studios and R&D teams using JALI to direct expressive, believable animated characters, including CD Projekt Red, Activision, LEGO, Blizzard Entertainment, and RIOT Games.
Watling invites attendees to join a lively discussion and will draw upon her experience and insights gained delivering JALI-driven facial animation pipeline solutions to content creators who must perpetually navigate the pressure to do more with less while preserving character authenticity that drives audience engagement without sacrificing brand identity or long-term monetization.
“The HPA Tech Retreat provides an ideal opportunity to connect with creative and technical professionals and discuss the technologies shaping today’s media and entertainment workflows,” said Watling. “I’m eager to introduce JALI’s facial animation solutions and open a broader conversation about how automation and human creativity come together to support production across games, film, and immersive media while improving efficiency and ROI.”
JALI x IEL at the HPA Tech Retreat Innovation Zone
Interactive Broadcast:
F* It, We’re Live! From Pipeline to Performance: Broadcasting Live Animation in Real Time
Date/Time:
- Monday, Feb. 16 – 9:30 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
- Tuesday, Feb. 17 – 8:30 a.m. – 7:15 p.m.
- Wednesday, Feb. 18 – 8:30 a.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Location: HPA Tech Retreat “Innovation Zone “ – HP/AMD booth
For the past several years, JALI and IEL, original members of Anim Revolution, a collective of leading production service providers and software and hardware innovators, have collaborated at industry conferences and events showcasing production innovation.
JALI and IEL are reteaming at the retreat to deliver an interactive real-time animation activation titled, F* It, We’re Live! From Pipeline to Performance: Broadcasting Live Animation in Real Time.
Designed by IEL Co-CEOs and Co-Founders Blake Baxter and Daniel Urbach, the project features a fully networked animation studio taking place at the HP/AMD booth, with fully rigged characters, cameras, lighting, and environments.
The non-linear workflow highlights Unreal Engine-driven pipelines powered by HP and AMD hardware, JALI and Ozone Story Tech software, and technology from other Anim Revolution partners. Together, these capabilities demonstrate real-time rendering, live character systems, and modular storytelling tools — transforming animation into a live, expressive medium.
Working from a detailed 24-page script, JALI is providing audio-driven solutions that power the animated dialogue and emotional nuance of six IEL-created comedic medieval fantasy characters and its charismatic transmedia figure, Ruby, from its original IP, Ruby the Cosmic Explorer, appearing in live performances throughout the conference.
Bring an Animated Character to Life in JALI
Retreat attendees are invited to the booth for a hands-on experience to bring an animated character to life using JALI software to record their voice, timing, and emotion and see facial performance and dialogue transformed into expressive character animation moments later. Simultaneously, performers on a motion-capture stage in Hollywood will drive pre-recorded characters remotely, with live performances streamed into the booth, allowing attendees to blend real-time acting and scene control on the show floor.
“We’re excited to reteam with IEL and our Anim Revolution partners to showcase how JALI’s facial animation and lip sync toolset seamlessly integrates into real-time, non-linear production pipelines,” said Watling. “The interactive booth experience shows how JALI automation delivers expressive, high-quality 3D character performance from audio in minutes, not hours, providing studios a reliable animation workflow that reduces the resource costs of production for creative storytelling.”
“JALI enables us to bring performance directly to screen in real time, which is essential for live broadcast animation. It preserves nuance and emotion while removing technical latency, making live animation viable at broadcast scale,” says Urbach. “With JALI integrated into our workflow, we can broadcast animated performance live without breaking the creative flow. It collapses the distance between performer, director, and audience, which is core to what we are showcasing with F* It, We’re Live!” adds Baxter.
Get to Know JALI
Sarah Watling will be available for press briefings at the HPA Tech Retreat, or afterwards virtually. To schedule an interview, please contact Vicky Gray-Clark, Ambient PR, vicky@ambientpr.com.
About JALI Research
JALI Research Inc. is a Toronto-based developer of robust procedural animation technology. JALI’s artist-centric 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. 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.
JALI Research Resources
- Website: https://jaliresearch.com/
- LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/company/jaliresearch-inc/posts/?feedView=all
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jaliresearchinc
All trademarks contained herein are the property of their respective owners.
