One of the best tools used today in live animation is mocap. Mocap is basically an acronym for motion capture, or performance capture where human body movements and all other types of movements are digitally recorded for playback and analysis purposes.
By using mocap in live animation, human motion is mapped onto a computer character’s movements. This tool was first used as an analysis tool in the field of biomechanics. However today it has widespread applications in different areas such as game development, events, education and advertising.
With the help of mocap in animation, you save lots of time, and in the process find that the animation process is much easier than would otherwise be. With mocap, you can start your work at a higher level of completion and thus get more time to create spectacular animations with photo-realistic subtlety and refinement.
Mocap is used extensively in the animation field
Mocap has wide applications in the animation field, as you can place actors in situations that are not practical or dangerous to attempt in real life. Lots of production costs can be reduced with mocap as it can be used to produce scenes that are otherwise expensive like impossible, realistic shapes and perhaps, getting an actor dance with an object that becomes alive.
Mocap has wide applications in the TV and animation field. This is because it can be used for effectively placing virtual characters in real scenes and to place real actors in a virtual scene having virtual actors and also for placing virtual actors on a virtual scene.
Game developers and event managers benefit with mocap
Even game development is benefiting with mocap as it requires lots of motion capture in its games. To create a really cool game, the game developer should be able to create something innovative and spellbinding with mocap. And in the process, the developer has more efficient time for making aesthetic finishing touches and fine tuning to the game.
Besides game development, TV, movies and animation, mocap has its own applications in events. This form of motion capture is called ‘Improvisation meets Computer Graphics’ where great improvisers can act through CG characters in real time, of a trade show, press conference or meeting. This creates a great experience to the viewer; and if used with live actors, creates an even more fascinating experience.
With all this, it can be seen that mocap is indeed a fascinating animation tool that has the potential to create wonders in movies, games and events.