MOTION CAPTURING TECHNOLOGY

INTRODUCTION HISTORY ROTOSCOPING MOTION CAPTURING TECHNIQUE APPLICATIONS CONCLUSION

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

•Motion capture is the process of recording human movement through specialised cameras and mapping them onto a character model

•Motion capture technology involves sensing ,digitalizing, and recording that object in motion.

•It is also known as Mo-Cap, Virtual theatre, Real time animation or performance animation

HISTORY•Motion capture was first developed in the late 1970’s but it wasn’t recognised as a revolutionary animation technique until the mid 1980′s when it was eventually used for entertainment purposes.•The technique of “ROTOSCOPING”  was invented by Max Fleischer, dressed in a clown outfit as the live-film reference for the character Koko the Clown.•Walt Disney and his animators employed it in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937. From Snow White onwards, the rotoscope was used mainly for studying human and animal motion, rather than actual tracing.•Later loony toons,movies like  Wizards (1977), The Lord of the Rings (1978), American pop etc were created.

Continued…..

Above is a typical ‘Rotoscope’ invented by brothers  Max and Dave Fleischer animators from the early 1900′s who used rotoscoping in some of the most notable cartoons today such as Betty Boop and Gullivers Travels.

ROTOSCOPING

A rotoscoping is a device that enables animators to trace live action movement, frame by frame, for use in animation.

Capturing video

Rotoscoping works by first capturing a video of a real actor around props that resemble elements of a scene.

Tracing

Animators then trace over each frame of the recorded video,this would result in a figure that moved in a very realistic fashion.

WORKING

Post Processing

Finally , the animated figure would be colored and then integrated with various background layers to create the final shot.

Motion capturing techniquesThere are three Mocap techniques

1. Optical2. Electro Magnetic3. Mechanical

MECHANICAL MOTION CAPTURE

Mechanical Motion Capture is a process in which the actors/actresses wear skeleton structured body suits known as ‘exo-skeleton motion capture systems’ to track human joints and angles.

Mechanical Motion Capture is still a popular type of Motion Capture because of it’s cost, It’s one of the cheapest options available in it’s field.

ELECTRO MAGNETIC MOTION CAPTUREElectromagnetic Motion Capture is one of the more technical types of Motion Capture relying on transmitters and receivers to track movement. An actor/actress would wear several magnetic receivers in which transmitters would tract and calculate movement.

OPTICAL MOTION CAPTURE Optical Motion Capture is a common form of Motion Capture, It

requires the actor/actress to wear reflective sensors over a tight ‘Mocap Suit’ or there own clothes if they wish. They would then continue to act out the part whilst several cameras track the reflective pads. 

When the cameras have the desired footage it is then shared amongst eachother and translated into digital form.

APPLICATIONSENTERTAINMENT

• LIVE ACTION FILMSComputer generated characters into live action films.

• 3D COMPUTER ANIMATIONS

Characters in computer animated files(eg avatar , polar express, tintin etc)

VIDEO GAMES

MEDICINE

•Eg: gait analysis, rehabilitatition•Sports medicine(eg: injury prevention, performance analysis, enhancement

MILLITARY

Tracking head movements of pilots in millitary

CONCLUSIONMotion capture (MoCap) is an effective 3D animation tool for realistically capturing human motion.

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