VICON, an Academy Award-winning leader in motion capture technology, has announced the formation of the VICON Feature Unit (VFU). The Los Angeles, Calif.-based entity will be dedicated to on-the-ground consulting, custom service, development and pipeline building for VICON’s film, video-game and television clientele.
“The VICON Feature Unit is yet another industry first for VICON: a focused business unit aimed at delivering radical new technology, service and customization for high-end vfx clients,” says Gary Roberts, the newly appointed VP of the VICON Feature Unit. "With the rise of performance capture, first unit on-set motion capture and camera counts in the hundreds, the creative and technical aspirations of the market are demanding this type of complete service."
Having blended a passion for traditional animation with development at IBM’s Scientific Research Center in conjunction with Oxford University, Roberts spent a number of years using motion-capture technology at EA, DreamWorks, Motion Analysis Corp. and other production companies before designing and managing Performance Capture Studios in Los Angeles.
Brian Nilles, CEO of VICON Motion Systems, comments, “Gary and his team will be bringing their wealth of studio experience directly to customers, and, in a related move, we will also be building a new VICON development team, based in Los Angeles, focused on the entertainment and visual effects community. This will enable development efforts to be aimed squarely at our customer needs and requirements, and managed right in the heart of the industry.”
The VFU team of developers, specialists and technical directors will have access to VICON’s engineering teams, as well as the motion-capture services and facilities at VICON company House of Moves, also in Los Angeles.
VICON systems have been employed on such high-profile projects as Titanic, the Star Wars prequels, Robert Zemeckis’ The Polar Express and last year’s Best Visual Effects Oscar winner, Spider-Man 2. The company’s next-generation VICON MX real-time optical motion capture systems boast ultra-high-resolution, virtually artifact-free capture with VICON MX40, the world’s first four-million-pixel motion capture camera. For more information about Vicon go to www.vicon.com.
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