Real-time MOCAP will be Accessible TO All

VR will change everything, says Ikinema’s Alexandre Pechev

creating motion capture at home or in a small studio can be expensive, and while Kinnect is an option and Xsens’ costs are coming down, the future may lie in Vr.

on Hellblade, ikinema’s Liveaction was used to stream the live motion capture data from the actor’s body and to solve on the avatar in real time. recently, the mocap specialist has moved from rendering Maya’s Motionbuilder to using game engines, particularly Unreal engine.

While Liveaction is available out of the box as a 14 day trial, you still need to rely on a motion capture system such as Vicon, optitrack and Xsens. “but we’re also working on an independent interface, where you can stream any mocap data in for live mocap,” says ikinema’s ceo alexandre Pechev.

in fact, alexandre is clear that Vr headsets and gloves could set the benchmark for mocap in the home.

“We’re working on using low-cost controllers, like Vr controllers,” he says. “We’ve demonstrated how we can serve the upper body from the hand controllers and the headset, now big manufacturers like Htc are pushing high quality mocap devices for the home.”

it’s a position supported by epic’s Kim Libreri: “Valve announced open sourcing its mocap system for its Vr system… if you think about it, the way that the mocap headsets [work] – they have to track the headset, they have to know where they are in 3d space, just in the same way as we have to know where the markers are on Mel’s body [in Hellblade] to be able to do her motion capture. So i’m pretty sure we’re going to see adaptations of the Vive technology allowing mass commoditisation of mocap for hobbyists. i think we’ll see loads of people hacking the Vive and making body mocap systems.”

ikinema is already hacking the Vive system: “We are strapping controllers to feet in order to get a full body immersive experience. converting this to a full ‘slipper’ controller shouldn’t be a technical challenge. then you have the opportunity for small indie developers, filmmakers and artists to buy a kit for £800 and they will have a full motion capture system,” says alexandre.