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MOTION CAPTURE (MOCAP) HISTORY

     "Voltron: The Third Dimension," was the first television series to use motion capture for its primary animation process. Before the more famous, "Starship Troopers," and "Max Steel," productions, our team had forged motion capture techniques in the fire of series production.

     I was introduced to motion capture at Rainbow Studios.

Rainbow Studios (1997)

Rainbow Studio mocap stage

Rainbow Studios had located itself in a large wooden building to minimize the havoc that steel structures could wreak on the magnetic motion capture systems. At that time it was the largest, and arguably, the most experienced mocap stage in the nation.     At left their mocap stage is a platform elevated several feet off the floor. For a sense of scale look for the blackboards standing in the upper right quadrant. There is also a ping-pong table next to the edge of the stage. Even today it's big, but in 1997 it was HUGE!

     I began to learn the peculiarities of motion capture. An antenna misalignment could cause the characters to float above the floor at one end of the stage and sink into the floor at the other end of it. Often character geometry differs greatly from actor geometry. One character can be far larger than the other, while the actors are much the same size. If the actors look at each other, the characters will not.

When the actors walk side by side, the large character's stride will force it out ahead of the small one. This happened in their "Naked Universe," comedy series promotion. If forced to remain abreast, one or both character's feet will slide. The solution at the time was to hide it with the camera angle and not show their legs. I learned later, a better answer is two separate captures.      Scale the distance that the actors walk by the relative character size and have the half-size character walk twice as far. Have an unsuited grip stand in for the other character. He or she holds a head target for proper eye line. Play an a sound file or an animatic to synchronize the action.

The Naked Universe (Rainbow Studios) art by Dave Dwire

Netter Digital Entertainment (1998 - 2000)

Netter Digital motion capture was like the Star Wars Millennium Falcon...
it was the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy.

Front to back: Burton Vargas, mocap PA, Art Manukian, Bruce Considine (me)

Though the motion capture stage was cramped, we needed more computer power, and didn't have enough cameras, we were the fastest cheapest mocap production in the world. Josh Prikryl, who functioned as the animation CO-director, maintains we hit a price/production point that's never been matched.      I had functioned as an Assitant Mocap Director during the Voltron season, and was told by the Executive Producer that I would be Directing mocap the next season. I had warned my superiors that there were problems with our motion capture system as our new projects were even more demanding than Voltron and required higher performance. These concerns were dissmissed by the company Technical Director, and seemed to fall on deaf ears at the time.

After the season was over, Netter never bothered to debrief our team for mocap strategy and techniques. The chief grip/prop and mocap tech guy, Burton Vargas was let go during the lull and never rehired. The mocap PA was promoted to Production Coordinator for Max Steel mocap. Technical Director Art Manukian was retained in a diminished capacity. A perplexed Mocap Director Mike Parente went back to supervising post-production. Netter had decided to throw away its experienced mocap team.       On a warm up for the new season's production, our mocap system failed when we tried to use it on the larger stage. This failure was in front of our client, Sony, and led to an upper management rumble. First the Financial Director and later the Chief Animators, Shant Jordan and Patrick Perez., were axed.      Though I was slated to Direct motion capture for "Dan Dare," I was shoved out of the process altogether. I ended up animating again, and wondering where that mountain trail towards Director had gone.

Left to right: Mike Parente, Art Manukian, Rich (actor), Bruce Considine Front: Burton Vargas

QUICKTIME MOVIE Image: Paul Sampson, actor on the new mocap stage for the Max Steel and Dan Dare. The stage extends to the edge of the wood floor. Apple box unlimited!

Stunt Director Kerry Rossall , took the reins and a green team charged up the learning curve again. Though an experienced stunt and second unit director, Kerry Rossall was, at the time, inexperienced in motion capture and animation. Eventually I was called back onto the mocap stage to help the Director produce better output for the animators.      I saw the mocap production gain speed and skill. Kerry was building rigs I would never have thought of and had his actors doing amazing stunts. I gave Scott Gagain his beginner lessons in mocap for animators and he caught on fast. Jeff Swenty was even pioneering facial capture. Unfortunately damage was already done. While doing the dance of death with the 800-pound Sony gorilla Netter got stepped on. Sony pulled the plug on Max Steel and went to Foundation Imaging with it. After that Netter circled the drain for about a year, and went under.

Some of that team have gone on to the highest levels in the mocap field. Scott Gagain is an Executive Producer at House of Moves and Jeff Swenty is Head of Production at Motion Analysis Studios.

      Later Sony took a working Max Steel production from Foundation and outsourced it to Mainframe (Canadian government subsidy). Then the animation biz was hit HARD in the recession. For one reason or another, Foundation didn't make it. Flat Earth, Netter Digital Entertainment, and Foundation Imaging, some of the most inventive animation studios in Hollywood are now RIP.
     As a member of the Max Steel production, I was let go. I spent most of the year writing a spec script that was read by Executive Producer, Brannon Braga, and trying to wrangle a pitch meeting or something from it. Then it was off to Foundation Imaging.

Foundation Imaging (2000-2001)

     Foundation Imaging was a class act. A company founded by an animator that knew where not to "save" money (Ron Thornton.) Foundation's home was an aircraft hangar type building in Valencia, CA. Its high ceilings and large floor space were ideal for the largest optical stage in the US (at that time.)
     They had plenty of cameras, more processing power, and could do just about anything they wanted. Their mocap to edit pipeline was the industry's benchmark. Instead of churning their actors they stuck with a small stable of experienced players. The animator directed his/her own mocap and thus knew exactly what he was getting.

     I believe that the motion capture skills forged by my peers are in no way second to any in the film industry. "Hah! What about the nine-hour marathon 'Rings' trilogy," you say. Try Thirteen hours with five or more characters every season. TV has pennies for every film dollar. What the people I worked with could do with even a modest film budget. The best motion capture techniques and most experienced mocap crews are forged in the fire of series television.
     I can imagine a "Spaghetti Western" stand off on a mocap stage between Ron Thornton, Peter Jackson and James Cameron. Ron would be off to the Emmys before either could clear leather.

     For all the sniping at theVoltron: The Third Dimension production, that project and Netter Digital are proving to be the training ground for industry leading animators. Foundation found that out when they hired a lot of Netter University graduates for Dan Dare. At least two have become Emmy award winners and one directs a VFX studio. I wonder what the future will bring.

MOTION CAPTURE TECHNIQUE

     Before we get to the process, a word of warning. Don't skimp on your motion capture system! Make sure it is technically capable! If your actor bends over to tie their shoe and you lose their markers, you have a problem. Don't laugh, on Voltron the actor couldn't do a hand spring without vanishing. No somersault, not even, diving into a mat before, "poof!" It was crippling then, and the bar is MUCH higher now. Make sure your cheap system isn't tying your technicians and animators in knots.
     Saving a dollar now by spending ten later is a time-honored tradition in Hollywood. I believe that not having enough cameras soon enough, played a major role in Netter Digital's extinction. You know you're in trouble when your animator has to do what your mocap system was supposed to.

     Ideally the first step in the motion capture process for an all CGI show is to vet the script and fight to take out those few bits of writer's animation that are contrary to all animators. Things that do not add much to the story's drama but add exceedingly to the animation effort.

     Then we give a script to the sound studio so the gregarious actors (who get most of the attention) will have fun performing the show. We also send one off for a darker purpose. It flies far off to a dimly lit cave where a story board artist toils at each and every panel of every and every scene. For Voltron the artist drew a "ho hum" 300 scenes or so, but for one Max Steel episode the artists sweat out a merciless 900!

No matter how fast the galley drum beats, there are limits to how fast the mouse moves. If your production also has these stratospheric shot counts for a half hour show, it sails towards the rocks. I recommend you read Josh Prikryl's awn.com article on manageable CGI series production.

     Ideally R & D is completed by this point and he or she has 3D sets to refer to. Ideally he is a decently paid artist experienced in boarding for live action production, or at least a poorly paid artist with experience from an all CGI show. Bottom line, he should have experience boarding for a shoot in a 3D environment. Thus he avoids the 2D cheats common to cell animation but that give a 3D animator seizures (and thus cost $$.) Ideally he has enough time to do decent work, but probably not.
     Due to the mercurial nature of kids television and despite dire warnings it is quite likely that our artist will only have 2D experience because he or she is cheap. Worse yet, he is a (friend, a second cousin, the family dog) of some heavy hitter (hopefully cheapest.) Thus the board will probably have sections that rival Pollok's work or are blank. In order to prevent the 3D animator from careening off in an unguided creative frenzy (redo's, costs lots of $$$$!), the board should be vetted by an experienced supervising animator.

     Flushing out character, prop location, and set errors, self contradictions, and continuity errors will save many hours of work. On Voltron this was started by one of the two Supervising animators, Josh Prikryl, when he broke down the story board into convenient sequences for animation and motion capture. These sequences allowed the animator to synchronize all the characters at the start of the sequence (above left.)

      Synchronizing the mocap for a handful of characters can be a clumsy process. If the animator does it for the first scene, he gets the rest of the scenes in the sequence for free. We has some pretty long captures on Voltron. Also, all the characters should be captured for the full length of the sequence, even if they don't appear in every scene. It streamlines the process for both the animator and the stage.

     I found many more board problems when I marked the characters' locations and motions on the CG set for each sequence. Sometimes I drew on printouts of the set when I had them, sometimes I drew simple plan view sketches. These aided the motion capture Director and his assistant (yours truly) to orient the CG set on the mocap stage. We used these diagrams to place marks, props, define motions, and establish eye lines for the actors. It also enabled us to capture each character singly and still have them interact in the scene.
     Foundation's approach differed here as each animator directed their own shots and simultaneous captures were common. It was possible to keep this stuff in their head. I still recommend diagrams, especially when there are enough characters to require multiple captures, or the sequence is long. You're going to have to put them in the CG set anyway, why not eliminate problems before they happen?

     Get quality actors with great physical skills and mocap experience. Though mocap experience is not absolutely necessary, it is highly desirable. It will make a difference in performance and progress, and time is always a factor. You do absolutely need acting ability AND physical skills.
     I remember watching a talented stuntman woodenly lumber his way through the script. I was told that the Director had to work him (pushups running etc...) to get him loosened up. I guess he eventually thawed out but that's got to happen out of the gate. Performance or a lack thereof WILL read. Don't put a stuntman in there thinking it won't matter, the animator will not have time to add acting that isn't there.
     Don't make the other mistake. Trying to direct an intense martial arts fight with actors who don't know martial arts is no fun at all. Don't look at me, I didn't cast the show, but with hindsight I should have fought for that. Blame splatters.
     Stunt actors can play the character for those action sequences, but where EXACTLY will he or she take over? Will the audience notice? And changing the actor in the middle of a character can be tricky for your motion capture techs.

     It is obvious but I'll say it anyway. It is important for the actors to move properly and hit their marks. The complication is not seeing the environment, and the marks are not only where they stand, but where they grab, push, or punch in three dimensions.

     Props are important, weight reads. They can be surprisingly simple, but if your character is carrying a staff, or aiming a rifle, give them a sized prop with mass. If your character moves a heavy weight, make the actor feel some. Give them simple controls to work, an angled flat surface to push buttons on. The motion is important, not the look. Apple boxes are great, it's surprising what they can become. Don't try to pantomime your way through unless you WANT it to look worse than cheap Saturday morning tv.

     Timing a character in a simple scene with simple action CAN be done with a watch, but anything more and you're asking for trouble. A timing system is absolutely essential in series production.
     At Netter Digital we played the episode animatic off a vcr during the capture. This established the capture length, and the Director and AD could see if the motions and marks were hit on time. The problems were a wandering start time, a distracted actor, and a Director who went cross eyed keeping one eye on the actor and one on the screen.
      The wandering start point is a problem when the animator is not present at the capture. A long sequence can confuse the animator into grabbing any motion that seems to work. The shot gets done, but when the acting is out of synch, it is gone.

     The best system I've seen was at Foundation Imaging. The animators had the animatic on a hard drive recorder and used premiere to generate sound files with a start tone, dialogue, and sound fx to que the actions in the sequence. Pre-roll was always the same and the sound file synched to the mocap start. A problem that could have the Netter animators guessing didn't exist at Foundation. Not only did the actor's work make it to the screen but the actor had fx to bounce off of (there's no sound fx in an animatic.)
     With Foundation's system, directing responsibilities were split between the animators and the actors. The small but experienced actors stable made this possible. If you want one person to be responsible for character arc, integrity, etc... you'll have to get a motion capture director. Motion capture demands a LOT of time, your show runner and your lead animators will not have it.