New technology will keep
CSUF students on cutting edge
April 21, 2005
By Gail Matsunaga
They're make-believe
characters, but in such films as "Lord
of the Rings" and "The Polar Express," Gollum and the Conductor
display remarkably real and natural human movements, through
the magic of motion-capture technology. Thanks to a donation
of motion-capture equipment valued at $88,000 from former
Los Angeles media company 3D Bob, students in the entertainment
arts/animation program are learning to use some of the same
cutting edge tools that add realism to movies and computer
games.
Motion capture digitally records the
movements of, in most instances, people so that the action
can be played back with computer animation. Since it records
only the movements of the actors, not their appearances,
the performance recorded
as animation data can be mapped onto a 3D model created
by a computer artist. The animator can then take the model which
can be a human, robot or other computer-generated character and
impose the recorded behavior on them.
How is this done? According to Dana
Lamb, professor of art, "a
set of straps with multiple sensors from head to toe is attached
to an actor. A pack that also is attached to the actor has
wires that run to a box that connects to the computer system.
There are two boxes on pedestals that
create the magnetic field around the actor that 'read'
the movements of the sensors. This tells the computers
where the actor's elbows, head, stomach, feet, etc. are
during movement.
"And, because the rebar in cement flooring
can disturb the magnetic field, there's a modular wooden
platform to raise the actor and boxes enough so that the
computers can get a clean signal."
The equipment is housed at Irvine-based Wild
West Media, a company that is working in partnership with
the entertainment art/animation program. As part of the partnership,
Wild West pays for motion-capture specialist Kevin Schooler
of Sony Pictures Imageworks to teach students how to use
the technology. This first generation of trained students
is developing their own training manual, and they, in turn,
will teach their suc cessors.
"Our foray into motion-capture technology is
just one more victory in the battle to keep our students' education
and career prospects current with an industry that changes is expectations
in a matter of weeks or months," says Lamb. "Contributions
of these kinds of equipment and training is the highest compliment
we can receive from the studios, who only invest in schools that
as one recruiter told me 'deliver the goods.' Our 'goods' being
young talent with the determination, knowledge and creativity to
hit the ground running."
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