Texas-based company Locomotion Studios recently pushed Vicon Motion
Systems' Vicon 8 to the limit, by capturing motion data of riders on
horseback for THE NIGHT OF THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN, a TV movie being produced
by Computed Animation Technology (CAT) which will air on Fox on October 28
at 8 pm. The company merged their Vicon 8 with CAT's Vicon 8 to accomplish
the feat, which was no easy task. The crew had several concerns, the most
challenging being finding a way to place markers on an animal that would be
moving quickly and violently. After several failed attempts, the crew came
up with the idea of making a marker suit for the horse. But that wasn't the
end of the problems. More innovation was required as the crew set up the 18
cameras and Vicon datastation 30 feet from the floor -- this distance was
needed to cover the vastness of the capture area. This creative use of
motion capture has once again pushed the industry over the fence, widening
the threshold of what can be done with a little technology, and a lot of
imagination!