RigX × Xsens: Real-Time Muscle-Level Character Deformation at SIGGRAPH LA 2026
At SIGGRAPH LA 2026, RigX and Xsens demonstrated a new approach to connecting motion capture with high-fidelity real-time character deformation, bringing scan-driven muscle-level detail directly into live character movement.
The demonstration combined Xsens real-time motion capture with a RigX deformation rig built from high-fidelity 3D scan data, allowing the captured movement to directly drive realistic body deformation across a range of poses and motions.
Most importantly, this was achieved in real time and without retargeting.
From Motion Capture Directly to Deformation
Traditional character pipelines often separate motion capture from the final deformation system. Captured motion is typically retargeted onto a character rig, after which additional deformation, corrective shapes, muscle systems, or simulation are applied to produce the final result.
RigX takes a different approach.
In the SIGGRAPH LA demonstration, Xsens provided the suit while RigX handled the character’s deformation response directly. The result was a high-fidelity digital character whose body responded to captured movement with detailed deformation derived from 3D scan data.
There was no intermediate retargeting stage required to translate the captured movement into a separate deformation setup.
Motion went in. High-fidelity deformation came out. In real time.
Scan Data to Real-Time Muscle-Level Deformatione
The RigX setup was built using detailed 3D scan data representing the character’s body and muscle forms across multiple poses. Rather than relying solely on traditional joint-based deformation, RigX uses its solver-driven deformation system to reproduce complex changes in the character’s surface as the body moves.
This enables deformation behavior that can capture the visual characteristics associated with muscle movement, compression, stretching, and changes in volume across different poses. The significance is not simply the visual quality of the final character.
It is that this level of deformation can be evaluated and driven live, as the character moves.
That creates a fundamentally different production possibility: muscle-simulation-level visual fidelity without requiring an offline simulation pipeline for every frame.
Real-Time Changes the Pipeline
High-fidelity muscle and soft-tissue deformation has traditionally involved significant computational and production costs. Depending on the approach, this can mean complex simulation setups, extensive corrective animation, baked caches, or offline processing. RigX is designed to move this class of deformation into the real-time pipeline. Combined with Xsens motion capture, the SIGGRAPH LA demonstration showed how a performer’s movement could be translated directly into a high-fidelity digital character, with the deformation system responding immediately to the captured motion. This opens the door to using advanced body deformation not only for offline cinematics, but also in environments where the character must respond continuously and interactively.
Games. Virtual production. Real-time cinematics. Digital humans. Crowds. Interactive experiences.
The same underlying deformation can operate as part of the live character pipeline.
No Retargeting. No Offline Bake.
One of the most important aspects of the demonstration was the absence of a traditional retargeting stage. Xsens captured the movement, while RigX interpreted the motion through the character’s deformation system. This matters because retargeting can introduce another layer between the captured performance and the final character. Different proportions, rigs, joint structures, and deformation systems can require additional processing and adjustment. By removing that dependency from the demonstrated workflow, RigX enables motion capture to become a much more direct input into the character’s deformation layer.
The result is a pipeline designed around live motion → live deformation.
Built for Characters That Need to Move
The technology becomes particularly interesting when high-fidelity characters need to operate outside of a purely cinematic environment. A digital double may need to move interactively in a game. A virtual production character may need to respond immediately to a performer. A crowd system may require hundreds of characters to deform convincingly without relying on expensive offline simulation. An interactive digital human may need to respond continuously to motion input.
These scenarios all share the same requirement:
the character cannot wait for the deformation to be calculated later. RigX is built around making high-quality deformation part of the real-time character pipeline.
From SIGGRAPH LA Demonstration to Production
The collaboration with Xsens demonstrates how motion capture and deformation technology can work together at a deeper level than simply transferring animation between rigs. Xsens provides high-quality live motion input.
RigX provides the deformation intelligence that turns that movement into detailed, responsive character motion.
Together, they demonstrate a workflow where captured human movement can drive a high-fidelity digital character in real time, without retargeting and without relying on an offline deformation bake. This is the direction RigX is pursuing: bringing deformation quality traditionally associated with high-end character production into the real-time environments where digital characters increasingly need to live.
Real-time characters should not have to choose between performance and fidelity. At SIGGRAPH 2026, RigX and Xsens demonstrated what that can look like.