Motion capture users dispel the myths - profile of several motion capture firms

Post, July, 2002 by Christine Bunish

Motion capture has come a long way from its origins as a technology designed to help orthopedic surgeons pinpoint irregularities in the human gait. Today motion capture aids producers and animators of videogames, corporate tapes, educational and informational materials, films, TV and online programming in crafting animations prized for their subtleties and realism.

But "a lot of artists and animators are still resistant to motion capture technology because of what they heard five or six years ago," says Jarrod Phillips, executive producer at LA's House Of Moves. He recommends they revisit this important technique, which is growing in popularity.

A&S ANIMATION

Orlando, FL's A&S Animation, Inc. (www.funny-toons.tv) added another arrow to its creative quiver when motion capture joined cel animation, CG and stop-motion animation on its roster of services. The Orlando-based creator of "character animation of any sort" finds itself doing "more and more motion capture all the time," says founder/producer Mark Simon.

The technique was recently employed for three to four minutes of animation for a video from the Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety (ACTS) from Washington Independent Productions in the nation's capital. The tape features Delta V, an animated character who teaches viewers about the forces that trigger an air bag.

"They were looking for great character animation, which moved like a human so it could interact with the live action," Simon explains." Delta V, with jet propelled legs and a body made of car parts, couldn't be performed by a person in costume, But he had two arms and a weird sort of head and shoulder rotation. That kind of character lends itself to motion capture."

A&S Animation used the Ascension motion capture system owned by Jeff Scheetz who operates the Digital Animation & Visual Effects School (DAVE School) at Universal Studios Florida. Simon performed Delta V on the motion capture stage at Universal. Kaydara's Filmbox software handled the data processing.

"Because Delta V's body is different from a human's, we had to clean it up in LightWave" where the character was designed and built, says Simon. "We added certain keyframe elements to make the character grab a steering wheel or lean his chin on his hands. We make choices [of technique] based on what's best for the character and the story." Some scenes with broad humor; like one where Delta V -- riding in a toy-size car -- hits a concrete barrier and is thrown into an oversize air bag, were fully key animated. Other scenes with subtle acting were done with motion capture. "What's great is having all these options," Simon declares.

The finished video will be distributed with some new vehicles and used in driver education and safety courses. It will also be available from ACTS and the Dept. of Transportation.

BRINGING THE BIBLE TO LIFE

Orlando animation production company Visual Book Productions, Inc. (www.visual-book.com) spent the past year animating about 40 minutes of Ilumina, the life application Bible from Tyndale House Publishers, which production manager Steve Lasky likens to "a Biblical Encarta" on CD-ROM and DVD-ROM. "Each screen is magazine format with text and a sidebar of additional information," he explains. "Each screen offers a variety of interactive opportunities to click and play."

Visual Book used motion capture to help create extremely realistic characters modeled in Maya At voiceover recording sessions, performers' facial expressions were captured by eight Falcon cameras in a Motion Analysis system. "Predefined targets on the face aligned with similar points on the model," Lasky notes. Body capture was done on Visual Book's stage where a small ensemble of actors performed a number of roles to the final audio track with Nelson Saba directing. EVA software captured the data, which was imported into Kaydara's Filmbox (which the company will be re-launching at this month's SIGGRAPH show as Motion-Builder) processing software and applied to the models.

"We had probably 45 major characters -- no animated feature has that many -- and a smaller budget than a feature film," reports Lasky." Motion capture allowed us to do that much animation on time, on budget, at a very believable level."

He says motion capture and keyframing both have "pluses and minuses" and should be tapped for their strengths. Characters' hands, for example, are often keyframed for more gestural flexibility.

Technical director Joe Spadaro developed crowd population tools customized in Maya. A library of motion holds enabled the same motion to be applied in Filmbox from character to character. "It made it possible for us to animate an army of thousands of foot soldiers in the David and Goliath battle scene," Lasky notes.

"I hope people don't see motion capture as a quick fix solution to getting animation on your characters," he adds. "It's not a Xerox for motion. But if you're committed to doing quality animation, motion capture is a great tool."

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