Post Magazine

26 Post • May 2009 www.postmagazine.com motion capture developed by Insomniac; Valve's Left for Dead, developed by Tur tle Rock Studios; Capcom's Resident Evil 5; and Konami's Silent Hill 5, developed by The Collective. EA's latest Lord of the Rings title, developed by Pandemic Studios, tapped all of Vicon House of Moves' capabilities: motion cap- ture, straight keyframe animation for some characters, like the demon Balrog, and a combination of the two techniques. The company also works closely with game developer Naughty Dog Studios on multiple in-game and cinematic sequences for products such as Uncharted. In-game mo- tion capture is typically done on Stage 1 and the story-driven portions on Stage 2. For Uncharted, Vicon House of Moves "used our soundstage to record the voices of the actors with a lav mic on their fore- heads while they performed," recalls execu- tive producer Scott Gagain."The benefit was that instead of scheduling a separate ADR session, they were able to get audio and motion capture seamlessly tied together. The stage really caters to live-action direc- tors with video reference cameras of all the performances and giant projection screens on the walls so you can see realtime output of the CG characters and environments." Gagain gives kudos to Naughty Dog's pre- pro effor ts. "They provide us with set piece and prop requirements and our crew builds to spec so we can have everything blocked out for rehearsal. Then when we get into production everyone knows how everything works. The goal is to allow the director and actors to bring the story to life." Vicon House of Moves targeted motions to the rigs for Uncharted and handed over moving character assets to the game's ani- mators for final modification. All these recent advances mean that "motion capture is no longer impeding the creative process," says Rausch. "We're watching the creative process unfold with true actors and directors now. Motion cap- ture has finally arrived." T H E FAC E O F M O C A P Image Metrics (www.image- metrics.com) is a performance-dri- ven animation company specializ- ing in high-quality facial animation for videogames and feature films. Its unique take on capturing tiny, detailed movements of the face re- quires neither markers nor special cameras. Performances are simply captured on film or video and ana- lyzed by the company's proprietary computer vision software, which is used to drive any facial rig. The process was developed in Man- chester, England, where Image Met- rics launched in 2001; a Santa Monica branch opened in 2006. "If we can see it in the face we can track and animate it," declares performance cap- ture supervisor Christopher Jones, who en- joys showing the company's demo video, which never fails to evoke "wows" and "awe" from prospective clients. There are several different ways to cap- ture film or video for Image Metrics' use. A camera can record an actor's performance in an ADR or voiceover booth. Or an actor can wear a custom head- cam system, developed by Jones, in the booth or on a motion capture stage. The head-cam system sup- ports an SD micro video camera, in the NTSC or PAL standard, plus a boom arm and lights. It's especially effective for tracking eyelines for multiple actors "so you get an extra sense of realism," says Jones. The Image Metrics system also works with vintage stock footage or previously captured film or video clips. "If there's clean, clear footage of a face, we can track and retarget it onto a digital character," he points out. Image Metrics has more than three dozen projects to its credit, Jones estimates. Recent jobs include sequences of the aged Brad Pitt for Digital Domain's VFX work on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, shots for The Mummy:Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, over 80 characters for the title sequence of Grand Theft Auto IV, and shots for the trailer and commercial for the videogame Rock Band 2. For Sony Computer Enter tainment America's God of War III videogame, which will be released on PlayStation 3, voice ac- tors were captured one by one during their voice recording sessions at Soundelux DMG, where an HD camera system and soft lights were installed in an ADR booth. "We time- code-synced the HD camera to the Pro Tools system through audio and visual refer- ence so they could easily online our footage when selects were made," Jones explains. "Recording video of the audio session speeds the animation and post processes. And when you have a camera in the booth the actors really seem to turn it on." Sony Computer Enter tainment America made cuts of the scenes from the Pro Tools sessions with reference video inside. Selects from the HD video recording were sent via FTP to Image Metrics for performance analy- sis and transfer onto the CG characters. "Our universal data set is not tied to any 3D package so it can be applied to Softimage XSI, 3DS Max or Maya — whatever package the client is working in," notes Jones. Although Image Metrics occupies a "very specific niche" in the realm of motion capture, it continues to expand its services. "We're introducing different levels of facial animation, like secondar y characters or CG photoreal characters," Jones repor ts. "And we're offering new facial animation rigging services." B E C O M I N G C O M M O N P L AC E Detroit's Critical Moves USA (www.criti- calmovesusa.com) boasts a 6,000-square- foot stage where a Vicon passive optical sys- tem and Autodesk's MotionBuilder software capture and process motion capture data that's expor ted to clients who use Maya, 3DS Max or Softimage packages to apply it to CG characters. In the two years the company has been in business, president Thad Johnson has seen the market for motion capture grow be- yond videogames and major film produc- Stage 2: This House of Moves soundstage is designed for full performance capture. House of Moves works closely with game developer Naughty Dog Studios on in-game and cinematic sequences for products such as Uncharted. T E C H N O L O G Y

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