Optical Mocap Set-up Used by Underworld: Awakening Animation Team and Directors as a Previs and Animation Tool; Behind the Scenes Video Just Released
Corvallis, Ore – April 10, 2012 — Translating concept art and storyboards into the animated mannerisms of a larger-than-life CG monster is challenging for even the most talented animators. Luma Pictures — the team responsible for character development, animation, and film VFX for the Ãœber Lycan in Underworld: Awakening — addressed this challenge with the assistance of an OptiTrack motion capture system, installed on-site at their Santa Monica studio.
Luma’s animators utilized their OptiTrack system to record the movements of actor Kris Holden-Reid, as he brought the film’s most notorious creature, the Ãœber Lycan, to life. Mocap was employed both to fine-tune performance points during previs and quickly create realistic reference animations that could be used as starting points for the final keyframing process. As Luma prototyped character animation and virtual cinematography alongside the film’s directorial team, new ideas could be fleshed out in real-time and then baked onto a character’s control rig for further post-animation in Maya. A just-released short was created by Filter Foundry to document this process and can be seen here on OptiTrack’s website.
