Vicon, a motion capture systems and technologies provider, has announced this week its plans to unveil the Markerless Motion Capture solution at the upcoming Game Developer Conference (GDC) in San Francisco next week.
This unveiling follows a captivating presentation of the Vicon Markerless prototype at SIGGRAPH 2023. Vicon revealed that the technology underwent extensive beta-testing as part of the company’s Visual Effects (VFX) Pioneer Program, allowing the VFX and virtual production sectors to explore and understand how markerless motion capture could benefit their fields.
Vicon shared that beta testers included notable companies such as Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), Gearbox Entertainment, Dimension | DNEG360, Dreamscape Immersive, Framestore Pre-production Services, and others, all contributing to the development of “Vicon Markerless.”
Commenting on the imminent launch, Vicon CEO Imogen O’Connor stated: “Vicon Markerless, which has been developed meticulously over the years, establishes a new benchmark for motion capture… It allows VFX teams to swiftly hone early creative concepts and iterations without markers and provides a fluid transition to optical motion capture as necessary.”
Based on what Vicon claims as “40 years of expertise in developing high-fidelity motion capture solutions” across various sectors including life sciences, media, entertainment, location-based virtual reality, and engineering, Vicon Markerless facilitates quicker creative iterations by allowing users to visualize concepts instantly.
Featuring a new markerless motion-tracking camera (“Vanguard”) along with innovative software that utilizes advanced computer vision, machine learning, and algorithms to capture human performance without the use of markers (“Shōgun Markerless” and “Shōgun Post”), Vicon Markerless reportedly streamlines the transition from prototyping and previsualization to real-time animation. The company also emphasized that the new system is designed to seamlessly integrate with existing Vicon optical motion capture workflows, providing a unified ecosystem for calibration, capture, and data cleansing processes.
“The innovative markerless system from Vicon has greatly expedited our creative workflow, enabling quicker outcomes,” expressed Ben Kolakovic, Virtual Production Operations Manager at Industrial Light & Magic, a beta tester. “We now obtain mocap data much faster, allowing our artists to explore new concepts in a fraction of the time. This optimized workflow not only boosts creativity but also improves our capacity to iterate efficiently and refine performances.”
Vicon Markerless for VFX will be available to the public starting March 19. The company will be presenting its new solution at GDC (booth #S335) from March 19-21. For further details regarding Vicon and its motion capture technologies, please check the company’s website.
