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Mocap Animated Characters
Debut on Russian TV
| Burlington,
Vermont USA: October 13,
2003: Russian
television’s REN
TV is launching
The Dyatlows,
an animated children’s
show relying on
Ascension Technology’s
MotionStar®
for motion capture. The
22-episode series debuts
this September after recently
winning the Animation
prize at the Moscow Festival
of Digital Technology. |
 |
The Dyatlows depicts the
daily lives and adventures
of a computer-generated family
of characters—their happiness,
sorrow, humor and recklessness.
The family bread-winner is
Mother, who dreams of getting
rich and living a beautiful
life. Father is afraid of
her, adores his kids and can’t
seem to find a job that will
last more than one day. Their
son Nikita is long on trouble
and short on ambition. Sister
Svetochka is a material girl,
brother Petechka acts mature
before his time and Grandpa
wants to be a teenager again.
The 3D Graphics and Animation
Studio of REN-TV has two MotionStar
(wired) systems for their
production work. “We selected
MotionStar because it is the
best for recording movements
of the characters in real
time,” said Director Dmitri
Azadov. “MotionStar lets us
see immediate previews of
capture animation. We like
it because it is easy to use
and the quality of the tracking
is great.”
Produced by Dmitri Lesnevsky,
each episode requires a sequence
of mocap sessions. The studio
uses two different performers,
so the characters’ gestures
will be varied. “The number
of motion capture sessions
per episode depends on the
difficulty of movements carried
out by the actor and on the
performer’s interaction with
other characters,” Azadov
explained. So far, the hours
and days saved using MotionStar
have been significant. MotionStar
mocap requires less than a
quarter of the time needed
for traditional keyframing.
“The equipment allows the
performer to watch himself,
his movements and the other
characters in real time on
a big screen. At the same
time, the MotionStar operator
can follow all the movements
on his computer monitor. With
this capability, the system
helps create very harmonious
animation,” Azadov said.
The MotionStar six degrees-of-freedom,
real time motion tracker uses
pulsed DC magnetic field technology
to capture the motions of
one or more performers simultaneously.
New MotionStar tools now allow
real-time motion capture without
metallic distortion and with
no line-of-sight restrictions.
MotionStar’s extensive animation
credits include television,
film and live performances
worldwide.
For The Dyatlows, REN TV’s
3D Graphics and Animation
Studio developed software
to edit animation and eye
control data in real time,
making changes on the whole
character or separate parts,
blending the animation in
3D Max with the motion capture
data. Lipsinc and scene re-rendering
programs were also created
for the production.
The 3D Graphics and Animation
Studio of REN TV is engaged
in a variety of multimedia
entertainment projects including
animation series, demo reels
and other television targeted
productions. For more information,
visit http://animation.ren-tv.com.
Ascension Technology Corporation
(Burlington, VT) is an industry
pioneer in the innovation
and production of motion tracking
devices. Ascension’s magnetic,
optical and inertial trackers
are used in animation, visualization,
military targeting systems,
medical imaging and simulation.
For more information, visit
www.ascension-tech.com.
-- end --
For Immediate Release
Contact: Jack Scully (802)
893-6657 or e-mail: jscully@ascension-tech.com
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