WHAT could your club or company do with motion capture? Maybe you've got a throwing or running motion you need to fine-tune, or an injury you need to monitor. Maybe you're looking to make an animated movie, but you don’t have the money you'd need to cook up a Tin Tin or a Gollum.
According to Christopher Nichols of new North East company Undisputed Visual Effects, motion capture will be even more in demand in games and films in the next few years, but it’s also increasingly available to those without deep Hollywood pockets.
“It’s increasingly affordable”, he said. “Obviously, things like Tin Tin were filmed using motion capture, but you’re also seeing a lot more motion capture in advertising at the minute, and people are starting to be aware of it a bit more.”
Northumbria University graduate Nichols set up Undisputed Visual Effects to provide 3D animation and motion graphics for companies looking to create animation for internet or TV advertising. But he believes its motion capture service is a hook that could prick up the ears of companies around the region.
If you’ve seen players like Wayne Rooney covered with ping pong ball-style blobs, you’ve seen motion capture. It’s used by the creators of games such as the FIFA franchise to track the movements of players so they can be replicated in game.
It was also used by the makers of the recent Tin Tin movie to make the animated folk look lifelike. Closer to home, the University of Sunderland recently picked up a 3D motion capture suit for use in sports science, bio-mechanics and nurse training, and admitted to being impressed by the range of potential uses.
Nichols did a dissertation on motion capture while at Northumbria, and says technology and price evolved quickly while he was researching it.
“It evolved before my eyes during the dissertation”, he said. “It’s moved on in terms of accessibility, not to mention the advances in marker-less technology. I was reading a 3D magazine article and the month after I started my dissertation there was an affordable system advertised, and I managed to pick one up.”
The system used by UVE tracks a person using colour, rather than markers. Filming takes place on a squash court, and those being filmed are kitted out in different coloured clothing, such as a black top, a yellow undershirt and blue pants. The system then maps a 3D virtual character on top of the person it is filming, and tracks their movements with four cameras by keeping an eye on the colours and where they go.
Nichols believes the system will be extremely useful to games and creative companies that don’t have the budget for an in-house motion capture team, but he’s also targeting the sports and medical sectors.
“It’s useful for people coming back from an injury, to see how their body movement is improving. But it’s also handy for sports clubs and individuals. My brother is a cricket coach, and we’re thinking about doing something with him and his team to analyse bowling action.
“We’re also looking to get in touch with people like Durham County Cricket Club and the Newcastle Falcons to see if they’d be interested.”
