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SANTA ROSA, CA - JUNE 13, 2008 - Motion Analysis announces the release of Cortex 1.0, the industry’s first mocap tracking software tailored to both a 32-bit and a 64-bit operating system for use with high-throughput multi-processor environments. Cortex replaces the company’s current core software, EVaRT and includes support for the new Raptor class of high-performance digital cameras. This next generation of 3D real-time motion capture software comprises tracking, editing, scripting and modeling functions in a single integrated package. "Cortex is built on Microsoft's .NET Framework", said Shel Fung, Senior VP of Engineering. "The .NET framework maximizes the productivity for our programmers, which translates into more features delivered at a faster rate to our customers. Due to the success and emulation of EVaRT's ease-of use and customer familiarity, Cortex, by design, maintains a strong resemblance to the successful EVaRT user interface and functionality.", Mr. Fung added. For biomechanics customers, Cortex features new kinematics and kinetics features, including user selectable bone axis and Euler angle sequence, linear and rotational velocities and accelerations for each segment. Cortex features a full-body, three-dimensional kinetics and kinematics analysis package called Kinetics. Kinetics is the industry's only self-contained kinetics and kinematics analysis package, capable of meeting the demanding analysis requirements from today's researchers while maintaining the familiar 'ease of use' expected in Motion Analysis products. Within Kinetics, users can create custom models using one of two skeletal engines to perform a range of analyses, including segmental, joint, and full body kinetics and real-time kinematics. The graphical interface is one of the more impressive feature of Kinetics in that users can obtain a visual representation of the magnitudes of the calculations (e.g., joint moments, angles, etc.) from within the skeleton itself. Users can batch process data through Kinetics using custom Sky files and export these data to an ASCII-friendly file for use in many analysis packages, including MATLAB and Microsoft Excel. For video production and pre-viz customers, Cortex features the new camera tracking module, CamTrack, which automates the process of aligning the virtual scene coordinates with those of the production studio. Laborious surveying of the production studio is not required. The production studio camera is tracked along with the performers to provide a live stream of animation viewed precisely from the position of the production studio camera. The data, including the principal point information, can be simultaneously streamed to animation software to provide the same special effect. Cortex runs under the Windows Vista and WinXP operating systems. Many of the tabular menu controls found in EVaRT have been replaced with more modern icons. The icon tool tray can be re-configured to the user's preference, resulting in easier navigation and a 30% increase in screen display. Other new Cortex features include a new and improved QuickFiles (file management) feature, wireless data triggering, a 2D zoom function and improved 3D calibration accuracy reporting. Backwards compatibility with existing data files and projects is maintained to ensure existing workflows. Cortex's installation is Windows registry independent, allowing cleaner side-by-side execution of different versions of Cortex. Cortex's internal plug-in architecture has been simplified through templates, making it easier for third party developers to create plug-ins to Cortex using free Microsoft Visual Studio express versions. Existing external software programs and plug-ins that use the MAC exclusive simultaneous-connection SDK2 environment will run without changes under Cortex. Cortex contains a new embedded "Single Touch" Sky scripting interface with access to hundreds of pre-programmed scripts that can be quickly and easily modified for custom operation. Sky now has user definable buttons that can be conveniently placed on the interface. It also utilizes drag-and-drop editing, syntax highlighting, embedded function documentation, shared network folders for scripts and automatic startup scripts. "Our existing EVaRT real time tracking software leads the industry by at least two years. Introduction of the new Cortex real time performance now puts us four years ahead of the industry" said Tom Whitaker, CEO of Motion Analysis Corporation.
"The limitation of most mocap cameras is their limited bandwidth and throughput capacity. At four mega-pixel resolution, the Raptor-4 processes in real-time full grey scale images, image analysis and centroid calculations for 5000 markers. Most motion capture cameras are limited to 100-200 markers." said Shel Fung, Senior VP of Engineering. "The Raptor-4 provides for large volume data capture while requiring only small markers. In today's large capture volume environment, one-quarter inch markers provide enough light reflection for robust real time tracking. The reflectivity of the markers drops off as the square of the distance from the camera. Higher resolution cameras, brighter ringlights or smaller markers will not solve this limitation. The real limitation has always been camera throughput." Mr. Fung added. "Our new Cortex real time tracking software leads the industry by at least four years. Users can now do high resolution facial capture with the performer forty feet from the camera. The Raptor-4 camera design eliminates the last barrier to large volume high marker count real-time motion capture. " said Tom Whitaker, CEO of Motion Analysis Corporation. SANTA ROSA, CA - JULY 23, 2007 - Motion Analysis Corporation, the world's leader in real-time optical motion capture technology, and Icarus Studios, a comprehensive resource center for builders of 3D virtual worlds, MMOGs, and simulation projects, will demo at Siggraph 2007 their new real-time streaming motion capture viewer, the Talon Viewer™. The Talon Viewer will allow motion capture studios, game developers, virtual world developers, and movie and television production companies to see - in real-time - multiple actors, cameras, and virtual props collectively in one tool. The Talon Viewer greatly reduces the time and costs associated with post production. "The beauty of this tool is that you could have one actor doing facial mocap, one actor doing hand motion with the Talon Glove, and another actor doing full body motion, all controlling different parts of one virtual character at the same time the director is manipulating a virtual camera with a game controller," says Judah Graham, Icarus Studios Lead Animator. Talon Viewer was built using the Icarus Engine, a robust and full featured next-gen 3D engine that supports normal mapping and dynamic lighting for production quality visual graphics. It can stream HTR and TRC data from Motion Analysis' EVaRT™ tracking software either directly from the host computer or from a hierarchical solving computer using Motion Analysis' SoNIC software directly onto a camera, a single character, multiple characters, or even specific parts of a character like hands, arms, legs, and face. Other input devices such as a game or midi controller can also be used with the Talon Viewer. "The Talon Viewer combines the strengths and advantages of the Motion Analysis Realtime capabilities with the power of the Icarus Engine to provide on-set pre-vis of production independent of your animation package," says Tom Whitaker, CEO and President of Motion Analysis. "The ability to view live characters, environments, and camera positions will save time and money by ensuring the capture that the director wants. By using the Talon Viewer you will see the actual captured data and not the data as interpreted through third party software." "Icarus Studios has created the only suite of tools designed from scratch specifically as an integrated third party environment for 3D online world creation," says Jim Hettinger, CEO of Icarus Studios. "The Talon Viewer provides a powerful tool to replace post production with real time motion capture." The Talon Viewer will debut in the Motion Analysis' booth #527 at Siggraph 2007 at the San Diego Convention Center, August 7th through 9th. About Icarus Studios Icarus Studios is a technology company dedicated to helping clients build virtual worlds, MMOGs, simulators, and 3D educational products. Our unique, next generation technology makes Icarus a comprehensive resource center for anyone tasked with quickly creating virtual space. From complete project development to platform and tools licensing, Icarus works with each client's time and budget to accomplish objectives in a fraction of historical development times. With an average of over fifteen years of experience building online worlds, Icarus technical and design leadership delivers consistent quality. Icarus today employs over 65 professionals who are passionate about their industry and the quality of their work. DELMIA Software Integrated with Full Body Motion Capture and Large Screen Virtual Reality AMES, IOWA (June 14th, 2007) - The Virtual Reality Applications Center at Iowa State University was the site of today's landmark achievement for virtual manufacturing and maintenance process simulation. In a multidisciplinary, large-scale collaborative effort with industry, technology leaders, Dassault Systèmes' DELMIA, Mechdyne Corporation, and Motion Analysis Corporation, will host a series of open house demonstrations to delineate the value proposal and benefits of having the V5 PLM architecture of Dassault Systèmes' DELMIA V5 DPM (Digital Process Modeling) software suite enabled for a fully immersive virtual reality display solution. The demonstrations will show that Delmia users can not only experience room-scale simulations of their prototype manufacturing and maintenance processes, but that several people can also work within the simulation by wearing full body motion tracking systems that interact with the virtual world. DELMIA V5 can now run natively, in real time, in a virtual reality environment when integrated with Conduit, an enabling software from Mechdyne's VRCO software division. Conduit enables DELMIA V5 to operate on PC clusters which are used to drive a large scale virtual reality environment. The tracking system, a Motion Analysis 8-camera Hawk-i system is configured to saturate the interactive volume of the virtual room providing the capability to track the user's entire body and movements, in real-time, and map them directly to the DELMIA V5 Human solution within the DELMIA V5 DPM environment. The user sees and interacts with realistic, stereoscopic surround screen images as if they were present in the real process. Since the solution is V5 compliant, this virtual environment solution is extensible across the Dassault Systemes' V5 PLM portfolio, which includes CATIA and ENOVIA. Enabling manufacturing engineers and plant designers to step inside their manufacturing process concepts before equipment is installed and operational, can generate significant savings and help with large scale cost avoidance. Creating an optimal design faster can increase speed to volume production which in turn can accelerate time to market. Virtually prototyping production assets and processes can eliminate the need to build physical mock-ups of the assembly floor and equipment. Identifying potential roadblocks in a process earlier can maximize production efficiency from start up. The immersive virtual solution will be demonstrated using a Mechdyne FLEX™ system that uses three rear-projected side walls and a top-projected floor to create an immersive, synthetic environment. The system can be easily and readily reconfigured to function as a "U-shaped" room or as a 36 foot wide by 9 foot high PowerWall™ by swinging the movable sidewalls out by 90 degrees. The system uses four stereoscopic (three-dimensional) projectors and a three-dimensional sound system. Within the motion tracked environment of the Mechdyne FLEX system, a user is able to move around, navigate through and manipulate virtual worlds and even connect with users in other simulated environments. From a tracking perspective, this capability is an industry exclusive, not just for full-body articulation, but multiple, concurrent users have the ability to enter and exit the tracking volume without effecting the system calibration or subject setup. "By integrating the DELMIA V5 Human and DELMIA V5 DPM as part of the immersive virtual reality solution, Human Factors becomes an integrated, intuitive component in the design process, truly supporting the concept of 'user-centered design", said Bob Brown, DELMIA CEO Advisor. "This allows engineers to analyze worker processes early in the manufacturing and maintenance planning lifecycle by creating detailed, virtual simulations to analyze how the human workers will interact with objects and to determine the technician's comfort and performance in the context of a maintenance or manufacturing operation." About Mechdyne Corporation Mechdyne Corporation is the world's largest company dedicated to consulting and development of immersive, networked and collaborative visualization systems. The company addresses complex projects where an in-depth understanding of user requirements leads to the development of products and customized solutions involving elements of visual, software and support systems. Mechdyne's subsidiary VRCO, Inc. specializes in immersive and interactive software development and support. Subsidiary Fakespace Systems Inc. provides advanced display technology and implementation services. Headquartered in Marshalltown, Iowa, Mechdyne's customers include leading government laboratories, military research programs, energy companies, and a variety of 'edutainment,' manufacturing, and other users of visualization technology. More information is available at www.mechdyne.com, www.fakespace.com and www.vrco.com. About DELMIA DELMIA is a premier brand for digital manufacturing solutions, focused on two unique software applications that can be used to streamline manufacturing processes. DELMIA Automation provides solutions to digitally design, test and validate the control of a machine, workcell, or entire factory line and DELMIA PLM provides the process and resource capability to enable continuous creation and validation of manufacturing and maintenance processes as related to the product throughout the entire product lifecycle. DELMIA serves industries where the optimization of manufacturing processes is critical, including automotive, aerospace, fabrication and assembly, electrical and electronics, consumer goods, plant, and shipbuilding sectors. Information about DELMIA is available at http://www.delmia.com. About Dassault Systèmes As a world leader in 3D and Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions, Dassault Systèmes brings value to more than 90,000 customers in 80 countries. A pioneer in the 3D software market since 1981, Dassault Systèmes develops and markets PLM application software and services that support industrial processes and provide a 3D vision of the entire lifecycle of products from conception to maintenance. The Dassault Systèmes portfolio consists of CATIA for designing the virtual product - SolidWorks for 3D mechanical design - DELMIA for virtual production and maintenance - SIMULIA for virtual testing and ENOVIA for global collaborative lifecycle management, including ENOVIA VPLM, ENOVIA MatrixOne and ENOVIA SmarTeam. Dassault Systèmes is listed on the Nasdaq (DASTY) and Euronext Paris (#13065, DSY.PA) stock exchanges. For more information, visit http://www.3ds.com CATIA, DELMIA, ENOVIA, SIMULIA and SolidWorks are registered trademarks of Dassault Systèmes or its subsidiaries in the US and/or other countries. FLEX is a registered trademark of Mechdyne Corporation. All other companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners. SANTA ROSA, CA (July, 2006) - Motion Analysis Corporation, the world's largest manufacturer of high-performance computer-based optical motion capture systems, today announced that WETA Digital, the digital effects studio responsible for the epic remake of the 1933 Hollywood fantasy classic, "King Kong", has purchased their third MAC system, a twenty camera Eagle-4 Digital System for use in their film and television projects. This third system can now be combined with their other two Eagle Digital systems to create one large 60 camera system, or be divided into smaller systems for use on multiple projects simultaneously. With the Motion Analysis systems, WETA Digital will be able to continue their pioneering use of face, hands and body motion capture. About WETA Digital WETA Digital Ltd. is Australasia's premier digital visual effects studio, with established pipelines encompassing all aspects of modern digital effects production. Core competencies include CG creature design, animation, environments, crowd generation and control, digital compositing, and film scanning and recording. The facility is based in Wellington, New Zealand. SANTA ROSA, Calif. (July, 2006) - Motion Analysis Corporation has announced the release of their latest product, the Talon, a wireless motion capture glove that will be shown at Siggraph 2006 in Boston on August 1-3. The Talon measures abduction / adduction, flexion / extension, thumb rotation, and pinch events. The sensors are adjustable to fit directly over a person's joints and can accurately measure knuckle movement, can track the position of the thumb as it bends under the palm, and has an integrated battery pack and transmitter in the lightweight glove. The Talon has a tested range of 100 feet and with a maximum latency of 18 milliseconds. Hand Animation Data Integrated with Face and Body Capture The Talon glove is fully integrated with Motion Analysis' optical motion capture systems and works in real-time. With the increase for cinematics in video games, the Talon provides detailed hand animation data at the same time as the body movements are being captured. Historically, hand data for video games was either too inaccurate or necessitated an additional, separate tracking session. The Talon now offers the video game industry a single, accurate, integrated solution for simultaneous capture in real time of both the hand and body. SWITZERLAND (May 13, 2006) - On May 13th 2006, Virtual Entertainment Productions (VEP), a Swiss Production company, went on air with a new virtual, fully interactive, real-time quiz show called "StarJack TV". One year of research and development in Switzerland driven largely by the creative vision of director Yoav Parish, the motion capture expertise of John Klepper, and the technology and support of Motion Analysis Corporation has pushed the boundaries of virtual entertainment. The show demonstrates just how far the new technological advances in real-time have come - three motion capture driven CG characters all interacting in real-time with a live host, live to air. Contestants Compete Remotely Over Telephone StarJack TV allows anyone with a phone the opportunity to play on the show and hear and see "themselves" on TV at the same moment they are speaking. The contestant's movements and expressions, represented by actors in motion capture suits, are translated to the CG characters in the virtual set. Here is how it works: The contestant calls into the show and chooses a character from a bank of twenty CG characters. The selected CG character materializes in the virtual set complete with full body motion capture by the actors, facial animation, synced voice of the real contestant, hand animation using wireless gloves, and cloth and hair animation. Each CG character is then asked questions by the host (with the real-life contestant answering) in order to "climb the money ladder". They will remain in the contest until they get a question wrong or chose to leave the show with the money they have won. When a contestant leaves the show, a space is opened for another contestant. The new contestant chooses another CG character and in real-time, it materializes on the set with the other characters and the game continues without delay. Future of Virtual Broadcast "Never before has such a complexity of animation been attempted at once in a live to air TV show", said John Klepper, motion capture supervisor for VEP. "The tools developed for StarJack TV can be used to create a variety of different shows. It's exciting to see something of this scale being done in Switzerland", Klepper added. "It gives the content creator a new tool to explore concepts." said director Yoav Parish, "the benefits of the virtual set, the real-time animations, and the integration of video are augmented by the interactivity of viewers at home. StarJack - our first show - is proof that you can quickly create complex shows and easily redesign them as you go along." The show is currently being aired in Switzerland and will be on air in Germany in July 2006. VEP is marketing this show worldwide and believe it will shape the path for many such virtual shows in the near future. WINTER PARK, FL: June 21, 2006 - On Tuesday, June 20, 2006 at 10:00 AM, Full Sail Real World Education held a press conference and ribbon-cutting ceremony to unveil two new studios on their 91-acre campus. This includes a Sony High-Definition (HD) Studio, which is the first ever of its kind in a college in the United States, as well as a premiere Motion Capture Studio. Full Sail was also honored to welcome Orange County Mayor Richard Crotty, City of Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer, City of Winter Park Mayor David Strong, and Orange County Commissioner Bill Segal, to cut the ribbon with Full Sail President, Garry Jones, at this landmark event. The Sony HD Studio is an elite television broadcast training facility that houses multiple settings, a fully-equipped HD control room, and features Sony HD cameras that are currently used by such well-known television programs such as: Late Show with David Letterman, American Idol, Saturday Night Live, Late Night with Conan O'Brien and Good Morning America. The Motion Capture Studio presents a system by Motion Analysis, the world's largest manufacturer of high-performance computer-based optical motion capture systems. The studio is 2500 sq. ft. and debuts 12 new cameras to be used by the Game Development and Computer Animation Degree Programs. The system is the same as those widely used in some of the most exceptional projects in the video game and film industries today such as video games, Tiger Woods PGA Tour and Knockout Kings, as well as films, The Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong. In addition to Full Sail's in-house design team, both studios were also completed by the Florida-based firm, MRI Architects. "This event marked another exciting day for Full Sail. The addition and upgrade of these two new incredible studios on campus will enhance our degree programs even further, and will provide an invaluable opportunity to the students we serve," said Jones. "Full Sail is also very honored to have such strong local support as we strive in our commitment to stay on the cutting-edge of technology. Full Sail is dedicated to offering the best education in entertainment media today, and to create a strong presence in the Central Florida community and throughout the world." Since 1979, Full Sail Real World Education, a college outside of Orlando, FL, has been an innovative educational leader for those pursuing a career in the entertainment industry. With over 20,000 alumni, graduate credits include work on Oscar and GRAMMY-winning projects, best-selling video games, and the #1 grossing U.S. concert tour six out of the last six years. Full Sail's 91-acre campus proudly welcomes over 5,000 students from all 50 states and 37 countries worldwide. Currently, Full Sail offers degrees in the following disciplines: Computer Animation, Digital Arts & Design, Entertainment Business, Film, Game Development, Recording Arts, and Show Production & Touring. Students experience a "real world" education, with a professional class structure of 8-12 hours per day, and a 24-hour round the clock schedule which earned Full Sail the "Most Innovative Program" Award by the Florida Association of Postsecondary Schools and Colleges. Full Sail has also been named one of the top three entertainment media colleges by Shift Magazine alongside the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (No. 1) and New York University (No. 2); Electronic Gaming Monthly named Full Sail one of the Top Five Game Degree Programs in the world; Rolling Stone Magazine recently named Full Sail one of the "Best Music Programs" in the country, in addition to one of the "Best Music Business Departments" in the Schools That Rock: The Rolling Stone College Guide, and UNleashed Magazine has just named Full Sail one of the Best Film Programs in the country. HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (May, 2006) - Motion Analysis Corporation (MAC), the undisputed world's leading manufacturer of high-performance computer-based real-time optical motion capture systems, recently demonstrated at The Jim Henson Soundstage the superiority of their system with a ten person realtime motion capture session. A twenty eight camera Eagle-4 Digital System was used for capturing ten performers at 60 fps in a 40x40x15 feet capture area. Each of the ten performers was wearing 42 markers. The Eagle-4 cameras captured and Motion Analysis' EVaRT software tracked the motion and identified the data of all ten performers in real-time. Industry First - Ten Person Motion Capture in Real Time "The software algorithms enabling us to track ten performers in real-time is a major breakthrough for our industry. This release of our tracking software is at least two years ahead of the industry", said Shel Fung, Senior Vice-President of Engineering at Motion Analysis. "Using only 28 cameras for a 40x40x15 feet capture volume demonstrates the advanced development behind our tracking software. Other companies need to use twice as many cameras for the same capture volume, hoping that increased camera coverage will make up for inadequate tracking software. This is a self defeating strategy for real time because it only increases the complexities of real time tracking. For post process, our advanced algorithms provide similar benefits for reducing data clean-up. Excessive numbers of cameras also increase the burden of sorting out terra bytes of unnecessary data, requiring extensive clean-up software bandaids", Mr. Fung explained. Jeff Forbes, Technical Manager of Jim Henson's Creature Shop and an observer at the test said, "Watching the world's first ten-person realtime capture was a true glimpse into the future for all forms of CG entertainment production. It is clearly the most cost effective solution and gives the opportunity for unlimited creativity." "Multiple character previsualization has been an industry request for many years. This capability is unmatched in the mocap industry", said Rita Maloney, Vice-President of Marketing for Motion Analysis. "When doing ten person real-time capture with the Motion Analysis system, it is not necessary for all ten performers to be in the capture volume all of the time. Once the setup is complete, any combination of performers can enter and exit the capture volume and the software will automatically identify and track each individual performer within three frames of data collection. No operator action is required to identify markers or the performer's skeleton at any time. Plus the realtime feedback allows for more on-set creativity and artistic exploration", Ms. Maloney explained. SANTA ROSA, CA (July, 2005) - The "Prototype Robot Exhibition", sponsored by NEDO (New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization), was held June 9-19 at the 2005 World Exposition in Aichi, Japan. A total of sixty-three robots, from practical rescue robots to life-size humanoids, were invited to show state-of-the-art robotics research. Two of those robots used the Eagle Digital System and the Hawk Digital System to support their demonstrations at the exhibition. Robot vs Man in Virtual World An Eagle Digital System was used for a demonstration of a real robot fighting with a real man in a virtual world. The University of Tokyo's Nakamura & Yamane Laboratory demonstrated their intelligent humanoid robot, UT-u2. The Eagle Digital system was used as the "eyes" of UT-u2. Motions of the real man, captured with the Eagle Digital system, were exported to UT-u2. The robot has his own brain (consisting of a unique processor and software, called "Animato Core") which recognized the position and motion of the man. UT-u2 then counterattacked the man in the virtual world, based on real world information. Rescue Robot International Rescue System Institute (IRS) demonstrated their remote-control mobile robot, UMRS-NBCT, which is designed to go to the epicenter of NBC (Nuclear, Biological and Chemical) pollution and collect samples of residual material in order to prevent secondary disasters. It has four caterpillar-equipped legs for movement on rubble or any rough surface. It is equipped with a foldable arm, video camera, microphone, speaker and various sensors for monitoring the surroundings for the purpose of finding/communicating with people under the rubble of a broken building. The Hawk Digital System was used to track the position and direction of the UMRS-NBCT for their demonstration. About Nakamura & Yamane Laboratory One of four major research projects of Nakamura & Yamane laboratory is the Humanoid Robot. They are integrating artificial kinetics systems with intelligent systems of human beings into the same architecture to develop the ultimate styles of robots, humanoids. Three additional research projects are "Dynamics-Based Information Processing for Motion Recognition and Generation", "Human Figures" and "Medical Robotics". About IRS IRS is the industry-government-academia-civilian research organization to advance and diffuse high technologies coping with disaster, established in 2002. One of their major research laboratories is located in Kobe, Japan where the 1994 earthquake caused widespread destruction. SANTA ROSA, CA (January 3, 2005) - The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Board of Governors has voted to grant Technical Achievement Awards to Dr. John O.B. Greaves, Ned Phipps, Antonie J. van den Bogert and Bill Hayes for the development of the Motion Analysis motion capture technology. Technical Achievement Awards are given for devices, methods, formulas, discoveries or inventions of special and outstanding value to the arts and sciences of motion pictures and contribute to the progress of the industry. Technical Achievement Awards, to be presented as certificates, are based upon recommendations from the Scientific and Technical Awards Committee, chaired by Richard Edlund. The Scientific and Technical Academy Awards will be presented at a gala black tie dinner on Saturday evening, February 12, at the Ritz Carlton Huntington Hotel in Pasadena. Additional Oscar news from Motion Analysis Corporation include two films, "I, Robot" and "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow", being qualified to compete for nominations for the "Best Special Effects" Oscar. Both films include motion capture provided by Motion Analysis Studios. All final nominations will be announced on January 25 with the awards ceremony broadcast live on February 27. SANTA ROSA, CA (September, 2004) - Motion Analysis Corporation, the world's largest manufacturer of high-performance computer-based optical motion capture systems, today announced that WETA Digital, the digital effects studio responsible for the adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien's epic "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, has purchased their second twenty camera Eagle Digital System for use in their film projects. WETA Digital is currently in production with Peter Jackson on the epic remake of the 1933 Hollywood fantasy classic, "King Kong". About WETA Digital WETA Digital Ltd. is Australasia's premier digital visual effects studio, with established pipelines encompassing all aspects of modern digital effects production. Core competencies include CG creature design, animation, environments, crowd generation and control, digital compositing, and film scanning and recording. The facility is based in Wellington, New Zealand. SANTA ROSA, CA (June 11, 2004) - Motion Analysis Corporation (MAC), the world's largest manufacturer of high-performance computer-based optical motion capture systems, today announced the availability of their new 4.0 million pixel Eagle Digital Camera, the Eagle-4. The Eagle-4 uses the Micron Corporation MI-MV40 sensor and operates up to 166 fps at a full resolution of 2352 x 1728 pixels. "We evaluated the Micron's MI-MV40 and the PB1024 sensors back in 2001 when we first introduced the Eagle Digital Camera. At that time, we chose Micron's MT9M13 sensor (1.3 million pixels at 0-2000 fps) because of its TrueSNAP™ electronic shutter and inherent performance advantage in "freeze frame" capabilities. Freeze frame capabilities are critical when taking images of moving objects because each target image is smeared. While external optical strobing helps, it does not produce as clean a freeze frame image. It is also subject to ambient light interference, while the sensors with electronic shutters are not", said Shel Fung, VP of Engineering for MAC. "For those applications that can work with the lighting limitations of external optical strobing, the new Eagle-4 camera is an excellent product," Mr. Fung continued. "Our inherently intelligent motion tracking software performs equally well with all of our digital cameras". "MAC was the first company to introduce digital cameras for motion tracking nearly three years ago. Today we offer three digital cameras, the Hawk, the Eagle, and now the Eagle-4. We continue to be the undisputed leader in motion capture system technology," said Rita Maloney, VP of Marketing for MAC. Culver City, CA (June 8, 2004) - Motion Analysis Studios (MAS) has teamed with Digital Domain to create the seamless integration between live-action and CG elements needed for Fox’s upcoming I, ROBOT (opening July 16, 2004). The action thriller inspired by the classic short story by Isaac Asimov, in which a human detective investigates a crime believed to be committed by a robot, required a large amount of motion capture services in order to create the life-like movements and actions of the robot race. It also included the creation of a major CG character. “MAS was very dedicated and ingenious in adjusting the mocap setup to accommodate our specific needs,” said John Nelson, visual effects supervisor for I ROBOT Prods. “We asked for some extreme stuff and Motion Analysis got us what we needed quickly and straightforwardly. This included adjusting capture dates and dealing with large sets and camera occlusion.” The team at Motion Analysis Studios traveled to the set of the film in Vancouver to capture, track and solve data in realtime, so director Alex Proyas could easily manage the robots’ performance for each shot in the film. “With film production, the setup time allotted between shots allows our team to streamline the data onto the character model so that production can immediately see exactly what was captured during the previous shot,” said Scott Gagain, vp of project development for MAS. In addition, the company was brought in to help create the fluidity of human motion without losing the classic robot-like stiffness needed for the robot race. To achieve this effect, Motion Analysis built a 32x32 foot stage that was 17-feet high and used 22 Motion Analysis Eagle cameras. The film's actors were trained to move like robots and the team at Motion Analysis maintained every nuance of the actor’s performances by using their proprietary software which retargets the data to the CG robots and is able to drive the CG skeleton directly. Since most of the shots were tailored for specific parts of the film, production had a video reference crew on set to mimic the camera angle from the footage shot on set months before. This was critical for creating the seamless integration between the live-action and CG elements. “The data from our system was extremely accurate and allowed us to capture the most subtle motions for the dramatic portions of the film, as well as multiple person captures for some very intense action/stunt sequences,” said Jeff Swenty, head of production for Motion Analysis Studios. “Most importantly, the job that we did for I, ROBOT, didn't slow down the actors or the director at all. We provided retargeted skeletal data in Maya for each robot in each scene.” “The data that we received from MAS was very clean to begin with and made things much easier on our animators. Typically, animators get frustrated with motion capture and end up throwing stuff out that was shot on set,” said Andy Jones, animation supervisor, Digital Domain. “MAS provided seamless data which enabled our animators to focus on the subtleties of the characters' motions. It saved us a ton of time on our end.” The pioneering Motion Analysis Studios (www.mastudios.com), based in Culver City, California, is dedicated to providing the 3D animation industry with the highest quality motion-capture services. The company is owned by Santa Rosa-based Motion Analysis Corp. SANTA ROSA, CA (April, 2004) - Motion Analysis Corporation (MAC), the world's largest manufacturer of high-performance computer-based optical motion capture systems, today announced that the British Broadcasting Corporation's (BBC) Research and Development Department has purchased an Eagle Digital System. The BBC is investigating methods of providing elective ("closed") Deaf Sign Language interpretation to accompany digital television services. One possible method involves the use of avatars. Using the Eagle Digital System, motion capture data will be collected from the face, hands and body of a signer, who is interpreting the program to be broadcast. The signer would view the program to be interpreted while wearing markers, and the "performance" of the interpreter would be collected using the Eagle system. The data would then be transmitted as part of the digital television signal to the end user who has a suitably-equipped set top box to receive the data. The data is applied to an avatar rendered in the receiver, which is then overlaid on top of the normal decoded broadcast video in one corner, to give simultaneous television and sign language. Traditionally, a sign-language broadcast has been a conventional video overlay, but significant additional bandwidth would be required to provide a separate video feed- with the mocap data there is much less data to transmit. The main reason for buying the Eagle Digital System was the superior tracking capabilities, so that face, body and hands could be tracked simultaneously. Nick Tanton, Principal R&D Engineer with the BBC, says "The Eagle offered us a stable integrated system for capturing the salient motion of a Deaf Signer/Interpreter and the Motion Analysis staff engaged immediately and enthusiastically with the particular technical challenges of this project." About British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) The BBC is the foremost UK public service broadcaster delivering television, radio and on-line services to the UK and throughout the world. BBC R&D provides strategic technical advice to the BBC and has taken a major and leading role in the development of digital broadcasting technology. About Motion Analysis Corporation Motion Analysis Corporation (MAC) is the worldwide leader and provider of optical motion capture systems in entertainment, medicine, video games, film, sports, broadcasting, virtual reality, and research. The company was formed in 1982 and has its headquarters in Santa Rosa, California, USA. SANTA ROSA, CA (April, 2004) - Mississippi State University's Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems (CAVS) recently acquired from Motion Analysis Corporation a state-of-the-art, real-time motion tracking system: a 16 camera Eagle Digital System. "This landmark acquisition is the first of its kind where a university has invested in a system on such a scale for an industrial engineering application", stated John Francis, Motion Analysis' VP for industrial & military sales. "Technology on a large scale is nothing new to Mississippi State, which ranks in the top one hundred super computer installations in the world." The system, operational since February 2004, is located at the University's state-of-the-art Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems (CAVS) adjacent to the Starkville Campus. "The laboratory at CAVS was designed with a tracking system in mind and was particularly configured for such, which makes for a very clean and efficient installation", commented Zach Rowland, Project Manager at CAVS. "The Eagle Digital motion capture system by far represented the best in technology, which is a theme and practice we foster within CAVS and the University; logistically, CAT-5 cables and RJ45 connectivity with 100% digital processing was a major advantage", he added. The new CAVS facility represents an enormous strategic resource for the automotive industry in the state and nearby Nissan who recently began production of vehicles at their new Canton, MS assembly plant where Pathfinder Armada, Titan, Quest and Infinity QX56 and Altima vehicles roll off the production line. Efficient, productive, safe work-cell configuration is a major issue for automotive companies who carry large premiums for worker compensation, short and long term disability insurance; ensuring best practices in human factors and ergonomics is highly [mutually] beneficial. Student and staff engineers at CAVS investigate, validate and analyze human factors and ergonomics behavior using the latest in digital human modeling software with the Motion Analysis real-time, live tracking system the nexus. "Strategic alliances with UGS PLM Solutions and Dassault Systemes, makers of JACK and SAFEWORK, respectively, the top two producers of digital human modeling software made the decision to go with a Motion Analysis solution an easy one", said Dr. Vincent Duffy, Professor of Industrial Engineering at the University. "Nissan is but one of many companies we're looking at to share our resources", added Bob Kirkland who is responsible for business development at CAVS. "CAVS is a strategic asset intended to provide a resource for manufacturers in Mississippi and neighboring communities where we offer services that provide better and faster product design cycle time, material optimization, manufacturing efficiency, logistics, alternative power research and much more", furthered Mr. Kirkland. About Mississippi State University Mississippi State University is a comprehensive, doctoral-degree-granting university with a diverse student body of more than 16,000 students from every Mississippi county and from more than eighty countries. The National Science Foundation ranks Mississippi State 57th among public universities in total research and development expenditures, fifth in agricultural expenditures, and 32nd in engineering expenditures. Information about MSU is available at http://www.msstate.edu. SANTA ROSA, CA (March 1, 2004) - Motion Analysis Corporation (MAC), the world's largest manufacturer of high-performance computer-based optical motion capture systems, today announced that Pennsylvania State University has purchased an eight camera Eagle Digital RealTime System for its Center for Locomotion Studies (CELOS) lab. The system will provide the CELOS research faculty an accurate tool for improving the diagnosis and treatment of musculoskeletal and neuromuscular conditions. CELOS extends the techniques developed in sports medicine to other populations and to problems reaching beyond the competitive arena. Eagle Exceeds Requirements "The Motion Analysis Eagle Digital System solves many problems for the Penn State researchers", according to director Neil Sharkey, Ph.D. and Professor of Kinesiology. "There were serious limitations with our previous system, so we evaluated numerous 3D systems, and the Eagle was the only system that met our requirements. The Eagle Digital System has the added benefit of portability to quickly move and relocate the system to benefit multiple areas within the lab", Dr. Sharkey added. The new system will be used for: Laboratory modeling of skeletal and diarthroidal joint loading; internal biomechanical behavior of the foot and ankle, knee, hip and shoulder; measurement and simulation modeling of the human musculo-skeletal system; kinematic and dynamic computer simulation applied to the study of normal and pathological human gait; effects of design and surgical variation on the mechanics of total knee replacements, modeling of articular contact; and general sports biomechanics, gait analysis and student/faculty projects. |
SANTA ROSA, CA - JUNE 13, 2008 - Motion Analysis Corporation today announced the introduction of the Raptor-4 high-performance mocap camera. It features massive on-board throughput processing power for real-time processing of up to 5,000 markers at 600,000 markers per second, making it the industry's most powerful video processing camera. The Raptor-4 automatically measures focus and adjusts brightness for optimal performance. As with other MAC digital cameras, the Raptor-4 is field upgradeable via email, compatible with other MAC digital cameras and supported with their new generation Cortex software.