Deborah R. Fowler | Motion Capture Articles

Deborah R. Fowler

Mocap Articles

Updated on March 28 2015
Updated on Nov 5 2016 Added image 5/6/2019

Vicon article about changing technology http://www.creativebloq.com/3d/why-motion-capture-radically-change-2015-121413749

Dog/Quadruped Motion Capture:

Karl Abson Siggraph Vancouver 2014 Quadruped Motion Capture Workshop https://vimeo.com/105961404
Cat Soto – Project Dog Capture http://www.catsoto.net/#!dog-mocap/ctgq
Call Of Duty Ghosts dog motion capture video (2014) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rr2TJj8U0E
Motus Digital – Boe’s Big Day (2010) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rbFwNFPVrU
Blade can do quadrupeds, Perception Neuron not recommended https://neuronmocap.com/forum/capturing-animal-movements?page=1 (however their finger capture looks intriguing)

Most patient dog ever!

Motion Builder Naming Conventions:

You might find these useful:

Rigging for motion capture is really covered in the motion builder documentation, but it is also covered elsewhere:

Documentation (they should make clear that the hips are the root of the skeleton and everything is below that) First one is the diagram, second is how it gets characterized:

Autodesk MoBu BONE NAMING CONVENTIONS

Autodesk Characterizing

This one is quite good:

http://mocappys.com/10-step-guide-to-building-a-skeleton-for-motionbuilder/#.V-3j3MnHp_w

You can also use the rig builder provided in the dropbox.

Facial software company at Siggraph 2017 Dynamixyz

Doctor Strange - http://www.cgw.com/Press-Center/Web-Exclusives/2016/Vicon-Gives-i-Doctor-Strange-i-The-Magic-Touch.aspx

Interesting two person capture:

TitanFall Behind the Scenes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpaxFDJbzkY

CGW article by Barbara Robertson - how Jurassic World used motion capture for the dinosaurs. One difference is that they did not make the animators stand bent, arms tucked in etc. they retargeted the data after the capture. it was highly successful for the smaller raptors with the retargetting/key frame combination.

May 2014 - Vicon also produced some tutorial videos available on youtube (Thanks Kyrie for pointing these out). The one I have linked here has a useful figure of the marker labels.

At Siggraph 2014 - enhanced facial

Acting, Animators and Andy Serkis http://www.cartoonbrew.com/ideas-commentary/andy-serkis-is-giving-more-credit-to-animators-now-101174.html

Benedict Cumberbatch as "Smaug" - Facial Capture at its best

Faceware (image based facial capture) has just come out with a new PLE http://facewaretech.com/products/software/ple/

Here are some outtakes from LA Noire - (2013) one of the games companies that has been using facial capture for quite some time - Thanks Brandon

Motion Capture in the Industry - check out this absolutely excellent article in CGWorld written by Barbara Robertson.

Please watch this interview. James Cameron talks about Avatar and the "uncanny valley". This is not a new concept, but interesting (see wiki entry). See also the wiki entry for computer animation, motion capture.

History of Motion Capture: list here.
A Brief History of Motion Capture for Computer Character Animation by David J. Sturman.

Motion Capture Resources

Deborah R. Fowler

Mocap Articles