CRI LipSync Alive Cuts Project Sekai Connect Live Mouth-Animation Work Roughly In Half
The Connect Live format moved from real-time to pre-recorded singing and choreography, and that shift is what let a pre-analysis lip-sync tool replace hand-built mouth animation for the first time in the game.
Reporting from 1 source: GameBusiness.jp.
CRI Middleware announced on October 26, 2026 that its audio-analysis lip-sync middleware CRI LipSync Alive was adopted for the first time in Project Sekai: Colorful Stage! feat. Hatsune Miku, handling mouth-movement animation for the paid Connect Live "GO Hoppin' Parade" held in-game on October 24 and 25, 2026. Colorful Palette ENCORE said the tool cut basic mouth-movement production time to roughly half, freeing time for facial-expression adjustments. CRI LipSync Alive is set for continued use in future Connect Live events.
The paid Connect Live "GO Hoppin' Parade" ran in-game on October 24 and 25, 2026, and its singing mouth movements were generated by CRI LipSync Alive rather than built by hand. Connect Live had previously been held in real-time; starting with this performance, singing audio and choreography are pre-recorded.
That change suits the tool, which is built for pre-analysis. It outputs audio analysis as up to 14 animation curves (5 vowels, 9 consonants) using a proprietary machine learning model based on Transformer, and it corrects mouth opening by vocal intonation. CRI Middleware says real-time analysis support is planned later. The company also plans to take the product into enterprise uses such as AI assistants and avatars, targeting 300 game-market licenses worldwide by the end of 2028.
Written with AI by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited. See our editorial policy.
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