MoCap Comes to Escape Studios

Last week Motion Capture came to Escape Studios, as cinematographer and film-maker Clement Gharini tested out his new XSens MoCap suit on our student projects. We're delighted to be working with Clem  - the XSens system is one of the best on the market, and offers a user-friendly solution to the challenges of motion capture hardware.  MoCap expert and Escape Studios tutor Amedeo Beretta was on hand to process the data - a "soup to nuts" pipeline in which the MoCap performance was successfully captured and then re-targeted onto the students' animation rigs.

MA Animation project

Colour key from student film project

The MoCap day at Escape Studios took place last week, as part of the final module of our MA in 3D Animation, in which students deliver a personal film project, either individually or as part of a team. 

On this occasion our students from 3D VFX, 2D Compositing and also Animation chose to work together to deliver a short movie, using Motion Capture to create the animation.

Clement Gharini

Cinematographer Clement Gharini
The animation department teamed up with Clement Gharini, who teaches cinematography at Escape Studios, and who loaned us his brand new Awinda MOCAP system from Xsens. In just one day we were able to capture all the takes for our short movie, which involves a humanoid robot.  

Jake Lee - MoCap Actor

Jake Lee, one of our 12 week animation students, suited up and acted out the scenes, while Edoardo Sartori and Karla Rojas, year three animation undergraduate students, helped to manage the software and the video references.  

Iliana Franklin, who teaches storyboarding and previz at Escape Studios, joined us initially as an observer and helped out with some of the takes.  The Awinda suit performed well throughout the day, and the short film is currently in the previsualisation stage of production.

Xsens Performers

Xsens Motion Capture system 

Clement Gharini acquired the Xsens Motion Capture system as part of his professional and creative journey from camera operator to filmmaker; for 20 years Clem has witnessed the transformation of the film industry from analogue film capture to digital.  Clem believes that MoCap is very much the future of animation: "it is clear that in five to ten years animation and live action will converge to such an extent that animated digital humans and actors will be indistinguishable."

Data Retargeting

Once the MoCap data had been captured, Escape Studios' tutor Amedeo Beretta was able to help re-target the data (see his tutorial below) onto the students' animation rigs. This is a highly technical but necessary part of the pipeline, without which the animator cannot make meaningful adjustments to the MoCap performance. 

MoCap Resources at Escape Studios

We have a number of MoCap resources for our students at Escape Studios. To learn more, follow the links below to our Vimeo Channel. Note that these tutorials are password protected and for current students and Escapees only.

• Mocap Animation Tutorial with Steve Lall. This tutorial explains how to use motion capture data and clean it up in animation.
• Mocap Retargeting with Amedeo Beretta. This tutorial explains how to take raw MoCap data and re-target it onto your animation rig.

The Escape Studios Animation Blog offers a personal view on the art of animation and visual effects. To apply for our BA/MArt in 3D Animation, follow this link.  To apply for our storyboarding evening class, visit this page here.  For the next 12 week animation course, click here.