Motion Capture in

3D Animation
Edward Tse

Motion Capture as a
Tool

Motion capture (MOCAP) is an

effective 3D animation tool for
realistically capturing human
motion

Outline

Rotoscoping
The MOCAP Pipeline
Limitations of MOCAP
The Future of MOCAP
By the
Power of
Appendix B!!

Rotoscoping

Captured Video

Johnston, et al., 1995

History

Rotoscoping

Tracing

Johnston, et al., 1995

History

Rotoscoping

Post Processing

Johnston, et al., 1995

The MOCAP Pipeline

Calibration
Capture
3D Position Reconstruction
Fitting to the Skeleton
Post Processing

Capture
Optical

Infra Red
LEDs

Magnetic

Magnetic Transmitter

Potentiometers

Costa-Sousa, M., 2004

Mechanical

Calibration
C

C
Image
Space

World
Space

(X,Y)
(X,Y)

(X,Y,Z)
(X,Y,Z)

(X,Y)

(X,Y,Z)

C
C

x , y , z
x , y , z

3D Position
Reconstruction
(Utopia)
C

C k I C C k I C
C1 k 1 I 1 C1 P
C 1 kk 1 I I 1 CC1 C Ck2 kI 2 C
C
I
2 C2

C
k
C
I
P
2
2
2
2

C k I C C k I C
1x

1x

1x

2x

2x

2x

1y

1y

1y

2y

2y

2y

1z

1z

1z

2z

2z

2z

3D Position
Reconstruction
(Reality)
C

P x , y , z
P2 P1 I 1 C1 0
x , y , z
P2 P1 I 1 C1 P2 P1 I P2 C
2

P P I C 0
2

Multiple Markers

C
1
small

For
number of markers: Size
Occlusions
are a problem
C
2 Hypothesis Tracking
Multiple

Ringer, et al., 2002

Multiple Markers

Mechanical Optical Hybrids

http://www.animazoo.com/services/gypsyHybrid.htm

Fitting to the Skeleton

Utopian approach
10 20% length
changes

Markers on both
sides
Joint
Displacement
Use Rotation
Angles Only

Post Processing

Motion Editing
Cut, Copy, Paste

Motion Warping
Speed up or Slow Down
Rotate, Scale or Translate

Motion Signal Processing

Smoother Motions

Limitations of MOCAP

Subject to data inaccuracy

Expensive

Device

Cost for Body

capture (USD)

Mechanical
Electromagneti
c
Optical

$20000 $30000
$100000
$120000
$90000 $210000

Limitations of MOCAP

Only realistic motion captured

Cartoony Animations not possible

WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get)

Cant add more expression
Continally need to recapture motion

Robertson, B., 2001

The Future of MOCAP

Markerless MOCAP
Cheaper MOCAP
MOCAP as Input to Large Displays

Bregler et al., Ngan, S., 2004

hollywoodjesus.c

Conclusion

Motion capture (MOCAP) is an

effective 3D animation tool for
realistically capturing human
motion

Questions?

References

Johnston, O., Thomas, F., (1995) The Illusion of Life: Disney

Animation, Disney Editions, ISBN: 0786860707
Costa-Sousa, M. (2004) Motion Synthesis, Powerpoint
Presentation
Parent, R. (2002) Computer Animation: Algorithms and
Techniques, Morgan Kaufmann Publishing
Ringer, M., Lasenby, J. (2002) Multiple Hypothesis Tracking
for Automatic Optical Motion Capture, European Conference
on Computer Vision (ECCV 02)
Robertson, B. (2001) Medieval Magic, Computer Graphics
World, April 2001.
Tse, E. (2004) The Single Display Groupware Toolkit, MSc
Thesis, University of Calgary, Ab, Canada
Bregler, C., Loeb, L., Chuang, E., Deshpande, H., (2002)
Turning to the Masters: Motion Capturing Cartoons,
Proceedings of ACM Siggraph 2002 pp 399 407.
vicon.com, inition.co.uk, polhemus.com, wikipedia.org,
animazoo.com, hollywoodjesus.com

Bonus Slides
Stuff thats too cool for you!

Stats
Input Device

Frame Rate
Range
(hz)

Position
Accuracy

Orientation
Accuracy

Latency &
range

Maximum
Points
tracked

Use in Movies

Cost Range
(USD)

Polhemus
(Magnetic)

60-240

.03in RMS
static
0.00015in at
12in range

.15 RMS
static
0.0012 at
12in
range

3.5ms
5 ft

16

Woody and
Hamm in Toy
Story, The
Chandelier in
Beauty and the
Beast

$8495 $21925

Vicon
(Optical)

166-10000

1/117600in or
0.02 of a Pixel
up to 4MP

No camera
limit

500

Sony, Nintendo,
Microsoft,
Boeing,

$89170 $209920

Ascension
ReActor 2
(Magnetic)

100

0.08cm RMS
at 1.52m range

0.5 RMS at
1.52m range

4.11m x
4.11m area

30

$99,410 $102315

Gypsy
(Mechanical)
wireless
possible

12-120

No Absolute
position

200m

42

$20000 $27000

Calibration

Outline

History
Motion Capture Pipeline
Limitations
Future Work