NEW ORLEANS, July 25 /PRNewswire/ -- Motion Analysis Corporation, the
leading provider of optical motion capture systems for digital entertainment,
announced at this year's Siggraph trade show investment partnerships with
leading U.S. mocap Service Labs along with new products and enhancements to
increase productivity and lower production costs.
"Motion capture use is exploding for the Internet, TV production, and for
the new Video Games consoles," said Tom Whitaker, President, and CEO of
Motion Analysis Corporation. "Motion Analysis (MAC) is providing a host of
new alliances and mocap innovations to fuel this rapid growth," he said.
Alliances:
Motion Analysis announced investments in two of the world's leading motion
capture service bureaus, Performance Capture Studios. Inc. (PCS) of
Los Angeles; and Modern Uprising Studios (MUS) of New York City. "These
alliances will provide Motion Analysis instant feedback on our new hardware
and software products. They will help us design, test and release better
products faster," said Tom Whitaker of Motion Analysis. "Also the labs are
already developing advanced production techniques that will benefit our
120 digital entertainment customers worldwide. Meanwhile, these Service Labs
will benefit by receiving innovations early and having access to our
Applications and R & D staff when they take on unique capture challenges.
RealTime:
Software innovations included advancements in RealTime capture. "RealTime
Optical capture was introduced by Motion Analysis a year ago and today our
users worldwide are reporting 50-70% time reduction producing motion capture
data," said Tom Whitaker. "Because of MAC RealTime mocap labs are rapidly
transforming from engineering operations to a media production center run like
live action video shoots. "Motion Analysis RealTime allows directors to view
and direct actors and define camera angles while watching the animation they
are creating.
Internet Developments:
Motion announced special support for its growing number of Internet
customers. "Our mocap system is proving valuable to Internet producers
responsible for ever-higher volumes of compelling content. With our
ExpertVision system you can produce content almost as fast as your actor
moves," said Tom Whitaker. "Our system has paid off for our users like
Spectrum Studios of Los Angeles, Rearden Steel of San Francisco, and through
service bureau customers including http://www.clickradio.com, http://www.dietsmart.com,
http://www.myspotrsguru.com, http://www.nhl.com, and http://www.elektroplayz.com. Producers like
Henson's Creature Shop (http://www.henson.com) are blazing a path in 3D animation
using tools including 3D Studio MAX and Pulse 3D to bring animation to the
web," said Whitaker. Rearden Steel (http://www.reardensteel.com) an Internet
incubator in San Francisco recently produced a four-hour live webcast with
their Motion Analysis RealTime system.
Mocap Editing:
A new version of "Director/Sequencer" software was announced that allows
customers to modify and manage motion capture data in much the same way that
non-linear editing systems are used to modify and manage video clips.
Director/Sequencer supports standard out, copy, and paste functions as well as
more advanced features like blending, looping and cloning. Using these
features, data from multiple motion capture sessions can easily be combined
and data from one or more sessions can be edited to provide exactly the
results desired.
Intelligent Mocap Scaling and Retargeting:
Motion Analysis also announced the acquisition of MusculoGraphics, Inc. of
Chicago, Illinois. "MusculoGraphics software combined with Motion Analysis
RealTime optical capture is a premier tool for Biomechanics, Sports and
Medical Researchers," said Whitaker. "We are integrating this achievement
into our MoCap Solver animation field where the sophisticated biomechanic
models will contribute immense new versatility and dependability to mocap
animation."
MoCap Solver software uniquely manages motion capture issues including a
scaling feature that allows any performer, regardless of their physical size,
to be matched to any computer-generated character. A single actor can be used
to create characters that are tall, short, thin, fat, human, or even
non-human. Another feature of MoCap Solver locks actor data to the CG world
in which it is used. This solves problems such as foot-sliding, where a
digital actor slips and slides slightly as camera angles are changed. It also
ensures that the character doesn't penetrate a fixed boundary like a floor.
MoCap Solver also creates a fixed bone length skeleton for digital actors,
eliminating joint tearing and bone separation.
Now Modules:
Motion Analysis also introduced three add-on modules for ExpertVision
systems utilizing 12 or more cameras. The "Multi-Character" RealTime module
allows Motion Analysis customers to simultaneously capture the motion of two
or more independent actors on a single stage. Previously, choreographing a
scene between two motion-captured actors required each to be captured
separately. The data was then merged into a single scene, making it difficult
for the characters to touch or react properly to each other's movements. With
this module, those problems are eliminated. The actors can interact and touch
each other and the motion will be captured correctly and in RealTime.
Another add-on module is called Digital Puppeteering. With this package,
the motion of one character can be "attached" to the motion of another.
Whitaker explained that, for example, "If you wanted to animate an elephant,
one actor could be the head and body with another actor's arm representing the
trunk. A similar technique could be used to add a tail to a monkey using two
actors or to add "extra" limbs to a human character."
The third module is the CameraTracker, for computer graphic production
allowing producers in RealTime to define CG viewing perspectives with the
Motion Analysis "Virtual Studio Option" system, and track both the position of
the performer and the position of the studio broadcast camera, solving the
historic problem of aligning the virtual camera with the studio camera.
"CameraTracker" also maps the lens characteristics of the studio camera to the
virtual set so that both are subject to the same type of distortion and have
identical lines of sight.
Motion Analysis Corporation, providing 2D and 3D performance animation
tools for broadcasters, film producers, video game developers, and web content
providers is headquartered in Santa Rosa, California. Visit
Motion Analysis Corporation on the World Wide Web at
http://www.motionanalysis.com, or contact us by phone 707-579-6500,
fax 707-526-0629, or email: info@motionanalysis.com.
SOURCE Motion Analysis Corporation
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Related links:
http://www.motionanalysis.com
CONTACT:
Tom Whitaker, President/CEO, 707-579-6500, or
info@motionanalysis.com, or Rita Maloney, Marketing
Administrator, 707-579-6513, or rita.maloney@motionanalysis.com,
both of Motion Analysis Corporation, fax, 707-526-0629; or Gary
Roberts, 310-428-7570, or exec@motionanalysis.com, of Performance
Capture Studios, Inc.; or Joe Nolan of Modern Uprising Studios,
917-541-8496, or joe.nolan@modernuprising.com
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