VICON, Mova Join Mo-Cap Forces

At SIGGRAPH in Boston today, leading motion-capture solutions provider VICON announced a technology partnership with San Francisco-based company Mova, which is unveiling its new Mova Contour Reality Capture system at the computer graphics convention. The Contour system allows for accurate, markerless motion-capture to be recorded using a combination of phosphorescent make-up, digital cameras, customized fluorescent strobe lighting and proprietary software.

“Contour was designed from the ground-up to work seamlessly with the VICON

MX40 system, allowing both systems be used simultaneously in a capture

session while maintaining the highest levels of quality and precision,”

says Steve Perlman, founder and president of Mova. “We are really excited

about entering this market with the support of VICON and look forward to

collaborating with them more closely as we extend development of our

Contour Reality Capture system.”

“The innovation by the team at Mova is quickly coalescing into the most

profound improvement in CG facial animation since our own MX40 camera,’ adds VICON U.S. CEO Brian Nilles. ‘For CG animation that requires both the performer and CG character to be the same, the Mova Contour system should provide a clear and significant step toward the holy grail of a photorealistic final product.’

The optics-based Mova Contour process employs two separate-yet-synchronized camera systems to simultaneously record visual and geometric information of the subject. These two sets of data are the combined to yield a high-resolution 3-D

digital image that replicates in real-time every subtle detail of a human performance. Mova is demonstrating the application at booth #1027 at SIGGRAPH. Academy Award-winning VICON can be found at booth #2215.

Mova’s sister company, Ice Blink Studios, which Perlman co-founded with production designer Doug Chiang (The Polar Express), provided visual effects and art direction for Sony Pictures’ Monster House and is completing art and production design for Warner Bros’ upcoming mo-cap feature, Beowulf. For more information about Mova, a subsidiary of Rearden Companies, go to www.mova.com.