MO-CAP SPECIAL | BETA
of use has improved and because of this it also gets more integrated into production pipelines. Animators see it as a tool that allows them to achieve higher quality animations in less time.” As it currently stands, motion capture has hit a point where cost effectiveness intersects
There is work still to be done to make
motion capture the slave of the developer, rather than technology dictating
a way of working. Phil Elderfield, Vicon
with top quality animation. The technology has become so user friendly that Jim Richardson, president of optical tracking providers NaturalPoint, believes it is no longer just a tool for triple-A developers. “While our technical approach is similar to that of other optical tracking companies, like
DEVELOP-ONLINE.NET
Vicon or Motion Analysis, we’re marketing systems that are priced to meet an independent budget, but powerful enough to drive triple-A development,” he says. “As affordable new technologies entered the market, forcing prices down, large and small studios alike began adjusting to the reality of motion capture as a key pipeline component. Options now exist for essentially every budget and every type of tracking application.” Phil Elderfield of optical and motion tracking specialists Vicon, however, believes that there is still a lot for the technology to do to be more user and budget friendly. “There is work still
to be done to make motion capture
the slave of the developer and the performers, rather than technology dictating a way of working. Mo-cap needs to successfully operate in an environment that reflects game narrative,” he says.
LOCATION, LOCATION Recalling a conversation with Quantic Dream mo-cap supervisor Steve Olson, Elderfield says that being able to shoot performances on location would be much more cost effective
way of animating and offer more realistic movements when the tech is fully realised. “The mo-cap set is ideal for efficiency, but
Heavy Rain is real world-based, and there is just a ton of back and forth between modelling and animation over heights of railings and so on,” Olson reportedly told Elderfield. “It would be great to be able to set up a
system like a film shoot for a handful of shots. It would save us from having to build ridiculous and expensive sets that are only needed for three seconds.” This is one aspect that currently troubles games animators, and acts as a restraint on capturing the full realism of character movements and emotion. Comstock
DECEMBER 2011 / JANUARY 2012 | 29
As mo-cap technology advances its fidelity, the onus is on actors to perfect their performances, whether using marker-based technology (above), or solutions like Xsens’ inertial system (left)
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