Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/65907
SPECIAL MOCAP SECTION traditional optical markers. "But right now, data coming out of inexpensive systems needs a lot of cleanup; it doesn't hold together when you need an accurate, real-time feed," he says. Reallusion's iClone 5 software, working with Microsoft's Kinect cameras, provides a low-cost method for quickly capturing motion using Xboxes or Windows-based computers. in the broadcast markets. "We take what would be locked-off cameras on greenscreen stages, and instead have multiple cameras that see the set from multiple points of view and activate graphics using camera tracking during live productions," Wright says. news shows. "It keeps the on-air talent facing the camera rather than turning sideways and pointing to a screen," Wright explains. "We put markers on the back of his hand, on the camera, and on props. Then, we can track and overlay graphics." With this system, when a newscaster points to a transparent box, the first bar in a bar graph might appear, and then another, and another. Sometimes the bars grow out of a table. The charts and graphs float—or grow—between the newscaster and the viewer. "That's been a big thing for us during the CNBC, for example, uses the system for 30 April/May 2012 past few years," Wright says, "streamlining this and putting it into one easy pipeline. But we've also developed cameras that can go out- doors in full sunlight, which Weta used with their LED markers for Apes. And, our cam- eras have been used to capture spring training for a baseball team. We had captured them for years for biomechanics, but that was indoors and they don't want to play indoors. It doesn't feel real. So this year and last year, we were able to move outdoors. Putting the cameras into natural environments is a big change." Motion Analysis has also worked with the Jim Henson Company on several children's television series. "We've been able to go from shoot to air in six weeks with virtual environ- ments and virtual characters," Wright says. "That's a huge push for us." Wright believes the next big leap will be markerless solutions that can stay on par with point. "We had a call from Ubisoft in Mont- pelier, France, which wanted to have an in- house system rather than using the big system in Montreal and getting data sometime later," he says. "One of the executives was upset about buying a second system. But, after our demo, he became one of our ardent supporters." Much of the company's entertainment business is overseas, with 18 systems recently installed in China and in this country within research labs. "Most of our customers are peo- ple no one in Hollywood has ever heard of," McSheery says. "But, the irony is that they're less tolerant about data cleanup." PhaseSpace's least-expensive, full-body sys- tem can capture one person with eight cameras running at 120 hz. It includes a Hewlett-Pack- ard Z210 workstation and sells for approxi- mately $20,000. Also offering lower-cost systems is OptiTrack Mid-ground PhaseSpace, which brought motion capture using active LED markers to the market, con- tinues to upgrade its systems, offering invisible LEDs, controllers the size of a thumb, and ac- celerometers in its low-cost systems. "We've spent millions of dollars to make our system easy to use," says Tracy McSheery, president. "It doesn't take extra manpower. You don't need motion-capture specialists. An artist suits up and walks away with the data that's already 90 percent cleaned up." McSheery offers an anecdote to prove his (previously NaturalPoint), the first company to offer a USB motion-capture camera with a kit for $5,000—at SIGGRAPH in San Diego. "It was such an aggressive price, people didn't be- lieve it worked," says Jim Richardson, president and CTO. "Plus, we were selling directly from the Web and posted our prices online. We now have around 1,000 OptiTrack installations. Game developers, hobbyists…we're all over the map. Small developers are using it to do previs—it wasn't affordable before. And people are buying multiple systems." Recently, the company introduced a 1.3-megapixel, 120-fps camera for $1,000. Richardson estimates that users could set up a 15 x15-foot capture volume using 16 Flex 13 cameras for approximately $20,000. For its part, Xsens' MVN inertial motion- selling capture systems are entirely accelerometer- based. With the gizmos easily donned, ani-