Vicon has released Vicon iQ 2.5, the most recent installment of the company's industry-leading Vicon iQ software. Vicon iQ has consistently streamlined and automated motion capture workflows by providing intuitive controls and a user interface that simplifies the tasks associated with recording and managing even the most complex motion capture data. Vicon iQ 2.5 adds features designed specifically for professional production, including a new realtime engine, improved kinematic fitting, lightning-fast labeling, frame-synced SMPTE and EBU timecode video and capture and control of multiple reference video streams in sync with motion capture data.
Using multithreading, Vicon iQ 2.5 scales to production requirements and is optimized to take advantage of multiple CPUs as well as today's high-performance dual-core processors, providing users with highly accurate multiple character realtime previs and capture.
Vicon iQ 2.5 can now embed SMPTE and EBU timecode into 2D and 3D data. Whether the project calls for VITC or LTC, Vicon iQ 2.5 offers complete genlock at NTSC and PAL frame rates and multiples thereof, with timecode triggered via Vicon MX hardware guaranteeing data that is always in sync with other studio tools.
In a motion-capture industry first, users can capture reference video in perfect synchronization (even frame-by-frame) with multiple reference video cameras simultaneously. Up to six streams of D-Cam or DVCam reference video can be played back in sync with 2D and 3D motion capture data directly inside Vicon iQ 2.5, and users can even select their own codec for compression. Motion editors and animators can now see more than one angle for reference without trying to use analog hardware to mix cameras together.
Vicon iQ 2.5 includes improved data reconstruction and introduces 3D marker modeling to meet the new demands of full performance capture. 3D marker modeling provides an efficient way to differentiate and process data sets generated via simultaneous facial, hand and full-body motion capture sessions by specifying the size range of the markers.
Vicon iQ 2.5 has evolved to provide a host of newly requested features, including a new scrub time function, new file save functions and the ability to save and remember camera and hardware setups. Beta tests have shown that the new workflow tools coupled with the high quality of Vicon MX data can reduce processing times by as much as 60%.
"Vicon is constantly working with a vast installed base of professionals in film, television and games to address their most pressing needs for today's production," said Tom Tolles, entertainment product marketing, Vicon. "As we identify and implement new and challenging requirements, we are rolling them out on a regular basis in products like Vicon iQ to benefit the entire Vicon user community."
With Vicon iQ, customers have a complete realtime environment for setup, calibration and capture with Vicon's ultra high-resolution Vicon MX systems. New features in Vicon iQ 2.5 provide tight integration between motion capture and other production requirements, such as hardware-scalable realtime and live reference video on set. Vicon iQ 2.5 support for frame-synced video and embedded timecode speeds the transport of 2D and 3D motion capture data to applications such as Vicon's Diva and Autodesk's MotionBuilder software for the character animation pipeline. And new capabilities in Vicon iQ 2.5 also make it easier for customers with high camera-count Vicon MX systems to save and manage and customize their system setups.
Vicon Motion Systems (www.vicon.com) is a subsidiary of OMG plc with global headquarters in Oxford, U.K., and U.S. headquarters in Lake Forest, California. OMG subsidiary 2d3 Ltd. produces innovative visual geometry software deriving 3D data from moving images. Since 1984, Vicon has been providing professionals with the latest tools to accurately capture the subtleties of three-dimensional human motion for research, medicine, sport, engineering, game development, broadcast and film.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
