Facial Motion Capture Test With JB Blanc

Last month, the whole team at Resnick Interactive ventured over to the studio for a Motion Capture (MOCAP) test for a video game we’ll be working with in the near future. With the help of the always charming JB Blanc [1], we all had a great day in the studio filled with new technology and lots of eyeliner. Eyeliner? Yep, eyeliner. The MOCAP camera uses dots (in this case, provided by liquid eyeliner) to pick up on and track facial movements. Phillip from MOCAP Design [2] was the lucky gentleman that got to dot eyeliner all over JB’s face. For those of us not getting outfitted with little black dots across our faces, the entire process was pretty hilarious.

Once made-up with tiny black dots all over his face, JB and Phillip geared up to put on the first of two MOCAP cameras- but not before Todd tested it out first. That’s his right as the director, of course! After Todd was done testing out the helmets, JB put on the infrared camera and got down to business running lines for the video game. As always, his lovely British accent left everyone in the studio totally floored. Our script for the day allowed him to really get into some passionate yelling, which was highly entertaining to both hear and watch.

Next up, Phillip set up JB with the second MOCAP camera. Sensing a great photo opportunity, JB was kind enough to ham it up for the camera. This begs the question- is there anything better than a mustached man with eyeliner dots on his face, wearing a goofy helmet, making crazy faces? We think not.

Our entire experience with this MOCAP test was a lot of fun. Time spent the studio playing with MOCAP is time well spent. At Resnick Interactive, we’re all looking forward to doing a lot more MOCAP work and, as always, continuing to work with JB Blanc.