JALI Research (JALI), a Toronto-based developer of procedural audio- and script-driven facial animation and pipeline solutions, is headed to the 2026 HPA Tech Retreat, taking place February 15–19 in Rancho Mirage, Calif. The annual professional entertainment technology event convenes engineering, creative, and business leaders to explore developments in content creation, management, and distribution.
Sarah Watling, JALI Research co-founder and CEO, will moderate a Breakfast Roundtable during the retreat; the company will also participate in an interactive real-time animation activation at the event’s Innovation Zone, located in the HP/AMD booth, alongside industry partner Immersive Enterprise Laboratories (IEL).
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.
Watling, who regularly participates in industry panels and discussions, will lead a peer-based conversation focused on JALI’s facial animation and intelligent automation technologies. The session will draw on her experience delivering JALI-driven pipeline solutions to game, animation, and production studios and R&D teams, including CD Projekt Red, Activision, LEGO, Blizzard Entertainment, and RIOT Games.
“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
JALI and IEL, original members of Anim Revolution, will present a live, interactive animation activation titled F* It, We’re Live! From Pipeline to Performance: Broadcasting Live Animation in Real Time. The installation features a fully networked animation studio built within the HP/AMD booth, including rigged characters, cameras, lighting, and environments.
Working from a detailed 24-page script, JALI is providing audio-driven solutions that power animated dialogue and emotional nuance for six IEL-created comedic medieval fantasy characters and Ruby, a transmedia figure from the original IP Ruby the Cosmic Explorer, who will appear in live performances throughout the conference.
“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,” said Urbach. “It preserves nuance and emotion while removing technical latency, making live animation viable at broadcast scale.”
“With JALI integrated into our workflow, we can broadcast animated performance live without breaking the creative flow,” added Baxter. “It collapses the distance between performer, director, and audience, which is core to what we are showcasing with F* It, We’re Live!!”
JALI Research Inc. is a developer of procedural animation technology. Its software suite includes natively deployed plugins for Autodesk Maya and Unreal Engine. Originally developed for AAA video games, the technology supports cinematic and real-time production workflows, offering automated lip sync, multilingual facial animation, and rigging and pipeline tools designed to help studios deliver production-ready character animation at scale.
Source: JALI Research
Dan Sarto is Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network.
