motion capture Archives

Top Story: Despite A Large Number Of Detractors, Animation Guild Members Ratify New Contract

Beyond Capture Studios Unveils New 40,000-Square-Foot Montreal Facility

The studio is currently assembling a staff of 25 including a production manager, capture tech, real-time operator, and more

Polish Studio Platige Image Launches New Mocap Facility

According to Platige, the new studio will facilitate a major boost in the number of projects it can work on for external partners.

This Puppet-Like Contraption Lets You Animate CG Characters In Real Time

New York studio Thinko believes that its Mr. Puppet Animation System could change animation production.

After A Decade, James Cameron Finally Admits That ‘Avatar’ Is Animated

Well, it’s about time!

New ‘Alita: Battle Angel’ Trailer Highlights More Of Its Animated Lead

A photoreal animated character stars in Robert Rodriguez’s new mega-budget action film.

Jet Li Turned Down ‘The Matrix’ Films Because He Didn’t Want Warner Bros. To Own His Mo-Cap Martial Arts

“They wanted to record and copy all my moves into a digital library,” says Li. “They could own [my moves] as an intellectual property forever.”

New Trailer For ‘Alita: Battle Angel’ Mixes Fully-Animated Lead Character With Live Actors

A fully-animated cg character leads the cast of “Alita: Battle Angel.”

It’s ‘The Jungle Book’…Again. Here’s The First Trailer For Andy Serkis’ ‘Mowgli’

It’s “The Jungle Book”…again.

How ‘Ready Player One’ Combined Virtual Production And Motion Capture Tools To Create Digital Characters

A look at the steps involved in “Ready Player One”’s virtual production paradigm.

‘Flesh Nest’ By Andrew Thomas Huang

A nine-part sci-fi video series illustrating a post-apocalyptic digital multiverse.

The Evolution of Snoke In ‘The Last Jedi’: From Andy Serkis To Animation

A look at how ILM and Andy Serkis’ Snoke continued to evolve during production on the latest “Star Wars” film.

See The Results Of This Animator’s Homemade Motion Capture System Using iPhone X

The Apple iPhone X is turning out to be a much more powerful tool for animation artists than anyone could have imagined.

Steven Spielberg’s ‘Ready Player One’ Is Filled With Animated Characters

Steven Spielberg’s “Ready Player One” is a lot more animated than you may think.

Actors Shouldn’t Take All The Credit For Performance Capture, Says ‘Kong: Skull Island’ Director

“[It’s] misguided to even consider nominating an actor for a performance unless you’re also gonna nominate the part of the vfx team behind it and the vfx supervisor because that is a joint effort.”

This Award Season, Andy Serkis Has Found New Ways To Disrespect Animators

Andy Serkis’ newest lie: animators aren’t part of the production process for the characters he performs.

‘Transformers: The Last Knight’: Behind Bumblebee’s New Trick

How the “Transformers: The Last Knight” vfx crew crafted a new kind of transformation for the franchise’s fifth outing.

ILM Animation Supervisor Hal Hickel Explains How To Add Personality To A Star Wars Droid

Just how do you give a Star Wars droid a personality?

’25 April’ Opens Tomorrow in L.A. To Qualify For Academy Awards

New Zealand is poised to enter the Academy Award race this year with “25 April,” an adult-skewing animated feature about World War I.

‘Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children’ Goes For the Harryhausen Touch

Find out how Double Negative created a battle sequence between skeletons and invisible creatures in Tim Burton’s latest film.

‘Wide Open’ by Dominic Hawley and Nic Goffey

Music video for The Chemical Brothers “Wide Open” featuring vocals by Beck and dancer Sonoya Mizuno.

‘Change My Head’ by Thomas McMahan

An experimental animation using motion capture data set to Autolux’s song “Change My Head.”

Andy Serkis Takes His Oscar Campaign To The People

He’ll stop asking for an Oscar when he gets an Oscar.

Golden Globes Change Their Animation Rules

The Golden Globes, awarded annually by the Hollywood Foreign Press Assn., has revised its rules for the animated feature category. The winner of the category has gone on to win the Oscar in six of the last seven years.

‘Planes: Fire & Rescue’ Opens With $18 Million, But The Real Money Is Elsewhere

Like its predecessor, “Planes: Fire & Rescue” opened in third place at the U.S. box office. The new film, however, grossed only $18 million, or 19% less than the opening of the first “Planes.”

Andy Serkis Is Giving More Credit to the Animators Now

Actor Andy Serkis may have changed his tune somewhat from earlier this spring when he insisted that animators do nothing but add ‘digital makeup’ on top of his acting.

Mexican Mo-Cap Feature ‘JOYFLUID’ Opens This Friday

The animated feature “JOYFLUID” opens in a limited number of IMAX 3D theaters in Mexico this Friday. The Mexio City-produced motion capture animated film was directed by Alejandro Rodriguez Huerta and made by the Rodriguez Brothers Animation Group.

‘Entertainment Weekly’ Caves In To Andy Serkis, Replaces the Term ‘Animation’ With ‘Digital Makeup’

“Entertainment Weekly” has published a piece on the upcoming “Dawn of the Planet of the Apes” without once mentioning the terms ‘animation,’ ‘motion capture,’ or ‘performance capture.’

‘Lord of the Rings’ Animation Supervisor Randall William Cook Speaks Out On Andy Serkis

Our post on Andy Serkis’s inflammatory rhetoric about the limited role of animators on his motion capture performances generated a robust, often heated, discussion in the comments. By far, the most informative comment was provided by 3-time Oscar winner Randall William Cook, who was the animation supervisor and designer at WETA on the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy that was released between 2001 and 2003.

Andy Serkis Does Everything, Animators Do Nothing, Says Andy Serkis

In his never-ending quest to be recognized as a serious thespian, character actor Andy Serkis continues to minimize the role of the animators who make his performances possible. With each interview he gives, Serkis seems to do more and more of the work, and the animators less and less. About the only thing Serkis doesn’t do at this point is build his own motion capture rigs and provide his own craft services.

motion capture