Real-time expressive facial animation for AI avatars
Speech Graphics is a runtime and production-grade lip‑sync and facial animation engine that converts audio into high-fidelity viseme and gesture animation for character pipelines. It's aimed at game developers, VFX studios, and virtual character teams who need scalable, studio-quality facial animation without per‑line manual animation. Pricing is primarily custom/enterprise with usage-based licensing and a limited demo path, making it best for commercial studios rather than casual users.
Speech Graphics is a specialized AI-driven facial animation engine that turns speech audio into realistic viseme, expression and facial performance data for 3D characters. Its primary capability is automated, retargetable lip-sync and facial motion generation that integrates into game engines and VFX pipelines. The key differentiator is phoneme‑accurate timing plus viseme blending and GPU/runtime playback tools designed for production. Speech Graphics serves game developers, animation studios, and XR/virtual character teams. Pricing is not a simple freemium model - the company offers demos and custom licensing tiers, so budget clarity requires contacting sales.
Speech Graphics is a London-based company focused on automated facial animation and viseme generation for speech-driven characters. Founded as a spinout from research in facial performance, the company positions itself for production contexts where consistent lip-sync, emotion cues and retargetable facial drives are required at scale. Instead of selling a generic avatar creator, Speech Graphics supplies an engine and toolset that converts audio tracks into animation curves (visemes, phoneme timing, and secondary facial behavior) which can be exported or run in real time.
It aims to reduce hand-keyed animation labour in game, film and interactive experiences while preserving pipeline control for technical animators. The product suite centers on speech-to-animation conversion, offering features such as phoneme-aligned viseme timelines, facial FACS-compatible outputs, and runtime playback modules. The Speech Graphics pipeline extracts phoneme timing from audio and produces per-frame blendshape weights or joint transforms that map to an artist's rig.
It supports retargeting so one generated performance can drive multiple character rigs, and it includes emotion/intonation layers to add eyebrow, eye and jaw micro-movements. For runtime applications, there are runtime SDKs and plugins that integrate with engines like Unity and Unreal, allowing synchronized lip-sync during gameplay. The company also provides export formats used by VFX and animation tools for offline production.
Speech Graphics does not publish a fixed consumer subscription on its website; pricing is typically enterprise or studio licensing, with per-seat or per-title arrangements and optional runtime royalties in some deals. There is a demo/evaluation route - studios can request a free trial/demo and test with sample assets - but everyday usage requires a commercial license. Customers report bespoke quotes that depend on target platform (real-time versus offline), number of seats, and level of integration support.
For precise budgeting, Speech Graphics asks prospects to contact sales; this model favors medium-to-large studios that plan volume usage rather than single freelance buyers. The tool is used across games, film, and XR. A lead technical animator uses Speech Graphics to convert 10+ hours of dialog into animator-editable viseme curves, reducing manual keying by weeks.
A runtime programmer integrates the Speech Graphics runtime into an Unreal project to deliver in-game lip-sync and emotional micro-gestures tied to NPC dialogue. Other users include VFX studios for background character speech and virtual character companies for live avatar responses. Compared to alternatives like FaceFX or Dynamixyz, Speech Graphics emphasizes phoneme accuracy with production-grade retargeting and studio licensing options.
Three capabilities that set Speech Graphics apart from its nearest competitors.
Which tier and workflow actually fits depends on how you work. Here's the specific recommendation by role.
Speech Graphics is useful when one person needs faster output without adding a complex workflow.
Speech Graphics should be tested for collaboration, quality control, permissions and repeatable results.
Speech Graphics is worth buying only if the pilot shows measurable time savings or quality gains.
Current tiers and what you get at each price point. Verified against the vendor's pricing page.
| Plan | Price | What you get | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Evaluation / Demo | Free (trial/demo) | Short-term demo with sample assets and evaluation license | Studios testing integration and output quality |
| Studio License | Custom | Per-seat or per-title licensing, includes SDK and exports | Mid-size developers needing production use |
| Enterprise License | Custom | Unlimited projects, enterprise support, custom integration | Large studios and publishers with scale needs |
Scenario: A small team uses Speech Graphics on one repeated workflow for a month.
Speech Graphics: Free | Freemium | Paid | Enterprise ·
Manual equivalent: Manual review and execution time varies by team ·
You save: Potential savings depend on adoption and review time
Caveat: ROI depends on adoption, usage limits, plan cost, output quality and whether the workflow repeats often.
The numbers that matter — context limits, quotas, and what the tool actually supports.
What you actually get — a representative prompt and response.
Choose Speech Graphics over FaceFX if you require phoneme-accurate exports plus studio-grade retargeting and runtime SDK support for game engines.
Real pain points users report — and how to work around each.