Robert Zemeckis (left) with Softimage's Kevin G. Clark (center) and Thomas Kang, co-instructs a new graduate-level performance-capture class at USC's School of Cinematic Arts. © 2007 Kevin G. Clark for Softimage, Co.

As the animation industry has matured and tasks have become increasingly specialized, there's more need for specialization in the educational process as well. "Now you can have one course, not just on 3D animation but on performance capture, or even just on facial animation," says Marc Stevens, vp/gm of Softimage.

A case in point: the new graduate-level performance-capture class at USC's School of Cinematic Arts, co-instructed by the Polar Express director and Monster House producer Robert Zemeckis, who currently is working on the performance-capture film Beowulf. In February, he announced a partnership with Walt Disney Studios for the formation of a new performance capture company that will create 3D animated films using this technology, to be produced by Zemeckis and his partners and distributed by Disney.

The 15-week course, which started in January, came about when Zemeckis approached USC with the idea that students should be exposed to performance capture as a filmmaking technique. To get the program off to a good start, he told the school, he'd be willing to be involved in the first class. "He's been making films this way for the last five years," explains Eric Furie, digital systems specialist and adjunct faculty for motion-capture at USC's School of Cinematic Arts, who co-instructs the course with Zemeckis.

The 15-week course originated when Zemeckis approached USC with the idea to expose students to performance capture as a filmmaking technique. © 2007 Kevin G. Clark for Softimage, Co.

"We approached the first class with something of a directorial mindset," Furie continues. "That's where Bob's knowledge and experience come into play." The 12 grad students in the class are writing and directing a two-minute scene that relies on motion- and performance-capture techniques.

The key to performance capture is the face. "Performance capture is motion capture, but it's targeted toward capturing the whole performance of the actor, especially the face," says Furie. But facial animation -- like performance capture in general -- is complicated and difficult to teach in a single course. "It's a steep learning curve to cover the whole process in one semester," he explains. "We stripped it to its barest bones."

Adding to the challenge was the fact that the students came from diverse backgrounds, evenly divided between three of the school's divisions (production, animation and interactive), and therefore had a wide range of knowledge about 3D animation, from very little to a lot. "Half the students hadn't ever touched a 3D software package before this," Furie reports.

Eric Furie of USC's School of Cinematic Arts co-instructs the course with Zemeckis.

Facial Animation and Face Robot
The School installed Softimage|Face Robot for facial animation. "We found that it could do a good percentage of what we needed to get a taste of motion capture without a deep knowledge of 3D software packages," Furie says, noting that it allows students to quickly get to the point where they can start to tweak the animation. "We want to extract the technological drudgery and focus on the artist. That's one of the charms of Face Robot, that it allows you to do that."

"The strength of the human being is in the art and creativity," notes Thomas Kang, senior consultant at Softimage Special Projects, who co-created Face Robot and teaches in the animation division at the School of Cinematic Arts. "[Face Robot] takes care of the technology of facial rigging, so [the student] can focus on the art."

A company like ILM can put the infrastructure and team in place to do a character such as Davy Jones in Pirates of the Caribbean 2. But "to have 12 students all doing facial animation -- what army are you going to bring in?" Kang asks. "You may not be able to get 100% of Davy Jones [with Face Robot], but if you can get 70% to 80% of Davy Jones in a fraction of the time, it fills a need."

"We automate the process of getting the face set up," Stevens explains, noting that Face Robot can do in minutes what might take weeks or months for a team to set up using traditional means. Since its introduction in June 2006, the package has been used in films, commercials, music videos and especially games, where time frames are especially tight and teams small. The quick set-up also translates to more flexibility for directors, who can change their minds and do more iterations, something that is valuable in a learning environment as well.