Rhythm & Hues has made its first investment in motion capture technology -- a dedicated facial capture system from Vicon. Rhythm & Hues plans to use a multiple camera Vicon configuration to develop a facial capture pipeline that will support the creation and animation of CG characters for forthcoming projects. "We have already installed and used our new Vicon system for full-body capture tests with very good results," said Rhythm & Hues visual effects supervisor Bill Westenhofer. "Facial animation is key to so many of our projects and we are happy to be evolving our capabilities with Vicon." Although Rhythm & Hues has predominantly completed character animation by hand, new advancements in technology make motion capture a complementary addition to the studio. "Capture data now provides such a range of subtlety that we can really capitalize on the performance of, say, a talented stunt person to help drive our CG characters," Westenhofer added. "In fact, we expect to use motion capture extensively in our pipeline for the upcoming movie DAREDEVIL, a live-action film that will rely heavily on creation and animation of CG stunt doubles." Also in progress at Rhythm & Hues are STUART LITTLE 2, MEN IN BLACK 2 and THE SUM OF ALL FEARS, all due in theaters in summer 2002.