Category: Mocap News

We knew virtual camera systems are starting gain traction, particularly in the world of cinema and within James Cameron’s little set of toys, but it’s pretty wild to see one in action. NaturalPoint is showing off its OptiTrack motion capture system at GDC, a budget-friendly multi-camera setup (if $6k is your idea of budget-friendly), but it also has a prototype of sorts of its upcoming virtual camera system. The camera’s orientation and movement is actually tracked in the same way a motion capture suit is, and if you’re in the same tracking space as a motion capture actor you can do “real” camera work with a live 3D rendered preview of the action. The shoulder-mounted camera has controls for virtual tracking and dolly moves, along with zoom, and has zero problem delivering that shaky handheld look that’s all the rage in visual effects these days. There’s no word on much this will retail for, but despite the fact that we have absolutely zero use for it we totally want one. Check out a video of it in action after the break.

To further cut costs at its movie studio, The Walt Disney Co. said Friday that it will shut a San Francisco-area facility used to capture the performance of Jim Carrey for his digitally animated character, Scrooge, in “A Christmas Carol.”

The closure of the facility in Marin County, north of San Francisco, will be completed by January and result in the loss of 450 jobs.

The facility was built by ImageMovers Digital, a company co-founded by “A Christmas Carol” director Robert Zemeckis and partially owned by Disney. Motion-capture technology in that facility was used to make the movie; Carrey wore sensors as he acted out scenes, and the data were used to recreate his character on the screen.

Before it closes, the complex will continue to be used by Zemeckis and his team to complete production of “Mars Needs Moms!,” a 3-D movie set for release in March 2011.

Winning the AL MVP Award was one thing. Gracing the cover of the video game “MLB 10 The Show” is a whole new experience for Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer. Mauer donned a skintight, high-tech suit dotted with dozens of sensors to have his motions recorded during a session Tuesday at Sony Computer Entertainment America’s San Diego Motion Capture Studio.

The sensors were placed on all his flex points so dozens of cameras, shooting at 120 frames per second, could correctly capture his motions.

Mauer says it was weird putting on the tight suit, but otherwise he had a good time.

“It was uncomfortable at first, but as I started doing it more and more, it started feeling more comfortable,” he said.

Being on the cover of the game has become a bit of a status symbol.

Others who’ve done so recently include former MVPs Ryan Howard of the Philadelphia Phillies and Dustin Pedroia of the Boston Red Sox.

“It’s good company that I’m joining. I’m glad to be a part of it,” Mauer said.

The game will be released March 2 for PlayStation3, PlayStation2 and PlayStation Portable.

See the Motion Capture work done in avatar movie. Motion Capture technology is really taking the movies to a new level.

Motion capture is one of the technologies that Hollywood and game publishers can’t live without. It’s an expensive process that captures the motion of human actors and translates it into digital form so that artists can create more realistic animations of humans on the move.

Xsens Technologies says it can make motion capture much easier and more accurate with its Xsens MVN, a body suit with dozens of sensors that trace movements with extreme precision. Today, the Enschede, Netherlands-based company is announcing that it has signed up some prominent customers for its motion capture technology. One new customer is Double Negative Visual Effects, which created the special effects in Angels & Demons and Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

Double Negative will use the new motion capture system in future films. The company didn’t say which films, but Double Negative is working on films including Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Iron Man 2, and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time.

The Xsens MVN body suit contains 90 Analog Devices sensors. That includes 17 accelerometers and gyroscopes. Both sense motion so that the suit can capture 360 degrees of body movement. It’s necessary to capture that much data because animations are becoming more and more realistic. With so many more pieces of data, the motion capture system no longer needs to use special cameras, said Hein Beute, product manager at Xsens.

That cuts down on the costs of doing motion capture. Moreover, now the work doesn’t have to be done in a motion capture studio. Casper Peeters, chief executive of Xsens, said the motion capture system can now be moved anywhere the movie set is located, as the sensor data is transmitted to a laptop.

The systems still costs tens of thousands of dollars and thus can’t be used in dirt-cheap films. But they are a good example of the spread of cheap sensors. The accelerometers cost $1 to $2 each now, far cheaper than other kinds of sensors, while the gyroscopes are $3 to $4. Thanks to the use of accelerometers in the Nintendo Wii game controller, there has been a grand awakening as to the power of motion sensors, says Howard Wisnioski, an Analog Devices spokesman. The accelerometers are a 20-year-old technology and are part of the micro-electro mechanical semiconductor (MEMS) business that represent one of Analog Devices’ fastest growing businesses.

Chris Edwards, chief executive of visualization studio Third Floor Studios, said the Xsens MVN technology is particularly useful in previsualization, or the stage of production when directors are trying to set up a scene.

Aside from movie makers, game companies have also used the technology. Guerilla Games used an early version of the suit to capture lifelike movements for the Killzone 2 game, one of the most realistic titles for the PlayStation 3. Sony Pictures Imageworks and Insomniac Games are using Xsens MVN in upcoming works.

Xsens, which is displaying its wares at the SIGGRAPH conference in New Orleans, also said it has launched a partnership with Time Domain Corp., a wireless technology company. In that alliance, the companies can blend their technologies to get precise locations of actors and other objects on the set.

This stuff seems interesting enough for professional special effects people. But one of these days, all of us will have these body suits so that we can play video games in real time, translating our whole body movements into games. Companies like Microsoft and Sony are already working on that technology. But it will be interesting to see if Xsens technology could become useful in consumer markets down the road.

Creating professional-quality 3D animation can result in immense production time and cost for game developers. Mixamo Inc. offers a groundbreaking alternative to traditional animation methods with its launch of the first online animation service that allows users to create and customize high-quality 3D character animations in seconds rather than days.

“Our vision is to simplify 3D character animation into a process that is easy and affordable enough for any professional game developer, filmmaker, architect, or 3D designer to use efficiently,” says Stefano Corazza, co-founder and CTO of Mixamo. “Mixamo drastically condenses the animation process by combining the realism of motion capture with the customization options offered by keyframing. This creates an entirely new approach that enables professionals to develop production-ready character animations quickly. Over time, our goal is to continue to refine this process and extend this service to an even wider market.”

Mixamo allows highly complex customization of animations through the simple use of slider-based controls. From the intuitive interface, animators can easily browse through Mixamo’s extensive collection of high-quality 3D character motions. Developed from actual motion capture data, the Mixamo motion collection consists of clean, natural 3D character motions such as: combat motions, sports motions and dancing motions. After selecting a desired animation, users may customize and apply directly to their character rig in real-time. Upon completion, the animation is downloaded for seamless integration into any 3D application or game development pipeline.

Mixamo offers game developers a fast, easy-to-use, 24/7 online animation solution that is fully compatible with all professional animation pipelines. The foundation of Mixamo’s technology is the ability to synthesize motions from mathematical models, which are learned by analyzing high-quality motion capture data. These motion models provide high-level controls to the user for creating compelling animations quickly and conveniently — for example, a punch can be modified with a shorter windup or different angles of attack.

By alleviating the need for expensive motion capture services and substantially reducing keyframe animation production time, Mixamo is able to significantly boost workflow pace and speed. After animations are created and customized within Mixamo’s online environment, they may be applied directly to a user’s uploaded skeleton creating a production-ready character motion. Artists who are accustomed to traditional methods are finding Mixamo’s rapid development process to be a fast and liberating experience.

Mixamo is being used by top-talent 3D game developers, including Cameron Petty, former co-founder and CEO of Cryptic Studios, on an exciting new stealth project. “The Mixamo service is a key component of our rapid prototyping capabilities, allowing us to develop character animations with our existing skeletons in a fraction of the time it normally takes,” says Petty, currently CEO and founder of JumpCore. “We’re using Mixamo to save time and money, and the integration of Mixamo motion data into our production pipeline has been smooth. Even better, the folks at Mixamo have been responsive and helpful throughout the process.”

The company says that its motion capture data is based on mathematical models, allowing users to control the angles and durations of various movements.

Most Mixamo animations can be downloaded in perfect loops, ready for in-game content, or combined into longer sequences for general use or in cut scenes. Downloaded motion files are available in FBX, bvh and Collada formats. For Mixamo pricing information and to view, customize and purchase motions, please visit www.mixamo.com.

Independent software developer, BrokeAss Games, has announced the release of their new physics/animation toolset, called Ecstasy Motion. Strategically positioned to release the most affordable Dynamic Motion Synthesis solution on the market, the developers will be presenting their software at SIGGRAPH 2009, the annual Graphics and Interactive Techniques conference next week in New Orleans.

Ecstasy blends animated sequences with ragdoll physics and other motor force implementations. The program, set for official release in December 2009, already includes many of the same features seen in top-shelf physics/animation packages, such as batch retargeting and editing, multiple actor support, scriptable events, and a genetic algorithm system that can organically create motion data. Ecstasy also includes features never before seen in a DMS application, such as live motion streaming support, real-time interactive force effects, and native integration into a 3D game environment.

BrokeAss Games has teamed up with NaturalPoint, the makers of Optitrack, a consumer-priced, motion capture system to ensure that Ecstasy supports live motion streaming into a 3D game environment. This led to a new combination of interactive physics and live motion streaming that will be demonstrated in the NaturalPoint/Optitrack booth this year at SIGGRAPH. “The Ecstasy product, for us, plugs a critical hole in the content development pipeline and we’re excited to see where they take this technology,” says Morgan Jones of NaturalPoint.

Ecstasy was originally designed with video game animators in mind. BrokeAss Games chose Torque3D, by Garage Games, as the development platform for Ecstasy. “Torque3D will basically work with any of the major art tools that are popular in games,” according to Brett Seyler of Garage Games. Ecstasy Motion takes full advantage of this flexibility, supporting multiple file formats for easy integration into Poser and 3DStudioMax pipelines. By release, Ecstasy will support BVH, FBX, and COLLADA.

“A variety of rendering effects are available to create scenes containing virtual actors, 3D landscapes, dynamic lighting and weather, as well as structures and ambient props. Ecstasy’s real-time rendering system is ideal for digital storyboards or projects targeted at web-distribution,” says lead developer, Chris Calef. Ecstasy features chroma key ready outputs which can be easily incorporated into animated film projects without post production.

With independent game developers and animated film makers targeted as the primary user base, Ecstasy promises to deliver high-end functionality at an incredibly low price.

www.ecstasymotion.com

SOURCE BrokeAss Games

One look at Heavy Rain, and you’ll know it was an expensive, expensive game to make. Looks like Quantic Dream is already thinking up new ways of recovering the costs of the enormous project. The developer of the upcoming PS3-exclusive adventure game is selling its motion capture data in library packages. The offering will be what Quantic Dream calls “the industry’s first high-end, off-the-shelf solution for real-time 3D character animation,” according to a report by Develop.

Considering the developer spent nearly a year doing motion capture work on Heavy Rain, it’s no wonder why the developers are touting their work.