Vicon reported record sales of new and upgraded motion capture systems at the close of the first half of fiscal year 2003. The impressive sales figures included new system installs at customer sites worldwide in biomechanics, medicine, film, VFX, game development, broadcast, education, engineering and government market sectors. The sales period, tallied through March 2003, represents the best six months in the U.K.-based company's history.
What immediately stands out was the high number of new customers in Europe, the U.S. and Asia who came to Vicon as previous owners or operators of other brands of motion capture equipment. This was sparked by robust offerings such as Vicon's expanded line of cameras and Vicon iQ, the company's powerful new motion capture data processing software. Many existing Vicon users, as well as users of alternate systems, additionally upgraded to the latest in Vicon technology.
" We recorded a growth in excess of 40% in the North American market where we typically face the strongest competition," explained ceo Julian Morris.
In entertainment markets, new and existing Vicon clients such as Artem Digital, Gearbox Software, Hypnotix, International Game Technology, Rearden Studios, Rhythm & Hues and Sony Pictures ImageWorks are upping the ante of production for feature films, gaming and animation by installing and updating their Vicon motion capture toolsets. The latest Vicon innovations include the Vicon 6 system with new, low-cost Vicon VCam cameras. Coupled with Vicon iQ, an intelligent, automated realtime software application for editing and processing captured data, Vicon 6 with VCams makes motion capture practical and accessible for smaller studios and independent developers by offering a motion capture setup that can be run by a single operator in a space as small as an office or conference room.
Vicon further solidified its position as the principal provider of motion capture systems for clinical, research and sports applications. Looking for lower-cost, user-friendly systems, hospitals and universities upgraded or bought Vicon systems for a variety of biomechanics applications, including gait analysis, orthopedics, rehabilitation and neurology.
New customer sites in these fields include Georgia Tech, NYU, University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign, Oregon State University, University of Tennessee/Knoxville, University of Florida/Jacksonville, Virginia Tech, University of Virginia, Boise State University, University of Pittsburgh, Cornell University, Washington University, University of Tokyo, Sungkyunkwan University (South Korea), University of Bologna (Italy) and Wichita State University. Hospitals upgrading their Vicon systems include Veterans Hospitals in Seattle and Long Beach, Shriners Children's Hospitals in Philadelphia, Salt Lake City, Spokane and Erie, National Institutes of Health, Children's Memorial Hospital Chicago, Musgrave Park, Belfast (U.K.), and Guys Hospital London. Internationally, numerous medical facilities installed new Vicon solutions, including Yokohama City Hospital (Japan), China Medical College Hospital (Taiwan) and UMR Luminy Marseille (France).
Expanding its support for scientific and engineering applications, Vicon introduced systems specifically tailored to track motion within immersive virtual reality and other environments. These systems, which can be configured to include Vicon's new super-compact SVCam cameras to track data even in tight confines, have been adopted as a cost-effective solution for virtual prototyping and design at a number of leading automotive companies, including John Deere Dubuque Works, Kawasaki, Nissan and Toyota.
Vicon Motion Systems is a subsidiary of OMG with global headquarters in Oxford, U.K. and U.S. headquarters in Lake Forest, California. For more information about Vicon, or to view a comprehensive list of worldwide distributors, visit www.vicon.com, or contact +44 (0) 1865-261800 in the U.K. or (949) 472-9140 in the U.S.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
