New ideas to upgrade motion capturing New knowledge in motion capturing could eventually be used to enhance virtual environments in the film industry. Digital Economy © Thinkstock Motion capturing, or MoCap, involves recording human actions to animate digital character models in 2D or 3D computer animation. It is being used extensively in video game and film environments. Despite this, it still doesn't quite offer a natural quality in game and movie applications, particularly with respect to acting in virtual environments. The field, however, may progress rapidly with new capturing equipment such as the polarised head-mounted laser under development at Koç University in Turkey. Against this backdrop, the EU-funded project NAMOCAP worked to advance this technology in new ways. Operating in close conjunction with Koç University, the project team looked at developing an immersive environment enabling actors to perform effectively and naturally at MoCap shoots for game-based animations. It envisioned a powerful system that could greatly upgrade the quality of a motion capture shoot. The project released and distributed two publications on the topic, in addition to conducting two seminars and a conference. The first seminar focused on advances in motion capture technologies, and the second introduced retro-reflector–based stereoscopic display systems for motion capture application. The one-day conference 'Scenario Creation for Optical Motion Capture' also helped advance the state of the art in the field. While the project could not fully complete its objectives due to the partnered film studio closing its doors, significant knowledge has emerged on the topic. The ground is now ripe for other enterprising projects or parties to pick up where NAMOCAP left off, taking MoCap to a whole new level. Keywords Motion capturing, virtual environments, film industry, MoCap, computer animation, video game, movie applications, polarised head-mounted laser, immersive environment, actors, game-based animations, motion capture, display systems, scenario creation
