By Phoenix Smith

Motion Capture

A process by which game developers can track live action performances of actors, and apply that data to game characters. Motion capture is being used more and more in a effort to bring more acting and performance into characters animations. Typically this is mainly used in cut scenes, as in game play you will want a wider and more random range of animations available to the character that would be difficult to capture. Through motion capture video game animations can more resemble film acting, with detailed performances from actors portraying each character.

Motion Capture History - Rotoscoping

Rotoscoping can be considered the earliest form of Motion Capture, as it was an attempt to translate realistic and fluid movements, into computer characters. This more primitive method involved filming a movement in the real world, and then frame by frame drawing over that video, so creating an animation that can be put into the computer. This method was most notably used in ‘Prince of Persia’ (1989) were designer Jordan Mechner rotoscoped footage of his younger brother for the titular Prince.

A highly successful example of motion capture is in the game L.A. Noire (2011), which features very detailed motion captured character animation, taken straight from actors performances and resembles their likenesses.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTOlEUAtGog#t=10

Facial Capture

Facial capture is a part Motion Capture, and capturing the performance of an actor digitally, however is actually a different process, typically done independently to the motion capture recordings. This is because it’s easier to record the information of the facial movements on their own, without the added complications of body movement a Motion Capture session has.

Cost

The physical studio space to record in Actors Motion Capture Suits Various recording equipment Computers to handle the data

As the animation area becomes more about AI interactions and motion captured performances, the cost is growing larger and larger. As the price grows, it’s getting to the point where the level of animation audiences expect is out of reach to smaller studios.

When you start to breakdown the cost of motion capturing a game it shows how expansive it can be:

Team Bondi, The company behind L.A. Noire went under after the release of that game due to high costs. Although the technology used to create the detailed faces in the game exist, they just aren’t being used because of this.

Along the same lines, the Euphoria Engine just isn’t being used very much, because no companies can afford to pay for their services.

Memory/Resolution

Another issue with all the recent developments is the vast memory required to run them in the game. Dynamic Animation using the Euphoria engine would require an AI system in play for every character on screen so that each could make it’s own decisions. Similarly, facial captured performances will be highly detailed in terms of polygons and light rendering on the faces, as well as the recorded animation it’s self.

Resolution is also important, as running a high res animation on a low res system would make the animation choppy. With the goal being to make animation smoother and more realistic, it’s getting harder for console technology to keep up and accommodate that level of rendering and resolution. So another issue would be if consoles can actually run these highly detailed animations being produced.

In L.A. Noire 3 characters talking together on screen takes up roughly 30MB of data.

Uncanny Valley

This is more of a creative challenge in the area, as it’s about how developers use the motion capture and animation tools they have. As textures, shapes, and dynamic lighting becomes more advanced, it’s highly important that characters facial animations keep up with these advances. A highly rendered face with sloppy or stiff animations will not just look unconvincing, but highly un-appealing to players. It starts going into the realm of uncanny valley; the idea that when something is so close to life but just slightly off, it has a scary and off putting effect.

One way around this is to use animators to come in and enhance the motion capture performances, stylising it enough so that it doesn’t hit that uncomfortable uncanny valley space. This approach was taken with The Last Of Us (2013) were all facial animation was handled by animators, only using live performances as basic reference.

Example of the uncanny Valley effect from Motion Capture game Heavy Rain (2010)

Sources

http://www.develop-online.net/tools-and-tech/motion-capture-moving-with-the-times/0117523

http://www.develop-online.net/tools-and-tech/putting-the-character-in-animation/0117503

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_capture http://www.fastcompany.com/1724050/game-face-la-noire-brings-

actors-full-performance-gaming http://blog.wolfire.com/2009/11/why-we-are-not-using-euphoria/ http://nerdophiles.com/2013/02/07/realism-and-motion-capture-in-

video-games/