JALI Research (JALI), the Toronto-based developer of high-end lip sync and facial animation software, will bring its technology platform to The Science of Animation pop-up exhibit at the Fleet Science Center in San Diego’s Balboa Park, September 27–28. Presented by Immersive Enterprise Laboratories (IEL), a leading independent animation studio, the event features a fully networked mobile animation studio inside the museum.
The Science of Animation experience is designed as a community interactive hub, inviting visitors to “play” and create animated content. A highlight of the event allows guests to generate content that streams directly into a Fortnite Island concert performance letting both on-site attendees and remote participants shape the action in real-time.
JALI and IEL are original members of Anim Revolution, along with Ozone Storytech, Xencelabs, and House of Moves, a collective of leading production service providers and software and hardware innovators, in partnership with other industry leaders, such as HP, NVIDIA, AMD, and Vicon. Together, they are pioneering new approaches to animated content creation that showcase a fully integrated, community-built pop-up animation studio that breaks free from linear production.
JALI Demo Station
At the JALI Science of Animation demo station, guests can meet the team behind the technology used in top-tier animated game projects and interact with the same tools used to produce cinematic-quality facial animations in hugely successful open world games such as 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. Visitors will also meet Ruby, a vivacious 3D animated character and cosmic science explorer from IEL’s flagship transmedia IP, Ruby’s Cosmic Adventures.
Using JALI, guests can get hands-on experience interactively directing Ruby’s facial animation performance, automatically from pre-recorded audio – with accurate lip sync, realistic speech, and full performance control – as if she were a real-life actor on set, seeing their ideas come to life in real-time.
“JALI is committed to education that sparks curiosity and ignites enthusiasm for art and science with people of all ages,” says Sarah Watling, JALI Co-Founder and CEO. “At the Fleet Science Center, we are thrilled to join forces with IEL and our powerful Anim Revolution community to provide the public with a hands-on opportunity to interact with the technologies and innovations that are used to develop the films, video games and experiences they normally enjoy on the screen or their device – demystifying the creation process in a fun and tangible way.”
The Art & Science Behind JALI
JALI began as graduate research at the University of Toronto. The JALI team blends artistry and science, with 94 years of combined experience in graphics research and animation. The software platform is grounded in anatomy, perception, linguistics, theatre, performance theory, animation principles, rigging and craft.
Science of Animation attendees will discover how JALI’s innovative suite of facial animation tools transforms a single audio file into a dynamic, lifelike 3D character animation. With JALI’s procedural animation system, animators can leverage intelligent automation to create high-quality facial animation and multilingual lip-sync at an unprecedented scale.
JALI’s 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 streamlined workflow eliminates repetitive tasks and gives artists the freedom to iterate quickly and explore expanded emotional range for characters across 3D styles.
Meet With JALI at The Science of Animation Pop-up
Sarah Watling, JALI Co-Founder and CEO, will be attending The Science of Animation experience and be available for press briefings as follows:
Location:
Fleet Science Center
1875 El Prado
San Diego, CA
(See JALI demo station location here)
Date: September 27–28, 2025
Time: 10:00 AM – 5:00 PM daily
About JALI Research
JALI Research Inc. is a Toronto-based developer of high-end procedural animation technology co-founded by Chris Landreth (Chief Creative Officer), Academy Award®-winning director and world-renowned facial animation educator, and Pif Edwards, Chief Technical Officer, (Graphics PhD Candidate, University of Toronto) and Theatre Studies BA (Direction) from Dalhousie University, as well as Lead Software Architect. 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.
JALI Research Resources
