Xsens Technologies has announced what it has termed a groundbreaking new motion capture system called "Moven." This comfortable suit with integrated inertial sensors, captures human motion in realtime with unprecedented life-like fluidity and ease-of-use.
Xsens will launch Moven to the international community on Aug. 7-9 at SIGGRAPH 2007 in San Diego, California (booth #109).
Moven can be used anywhere, whether indoors or outdoors, without the need for a fixed setup. "Motion capture in specially equipped expensive studios is now a thing of the past," asserts Per Slycke, cto of Xsens. "With Moven you can do MoCap on location, with the actor wearing clothing over the suit without ever needing to worry about occlusion or missing markers. What's more, the wireless system makes MoCap easy to use and the advanced biomechanical modeling used in Moven makes complicated, lengthy calibrations unnecessary."
Moven transmits the motion data wirelessly to a laptop, which calculates the position and orientation of all body segments in realtime. As specialist in inertial sensor technology and with a proven track record in supplying the biomechanics community, Xsens makes full use of the sensor data, enabling unprecedented freedom of movement, dynamic range and accuracy. No cameras, emitters, markers or a dedicated studio are needed to perform a motion capture session. Motion capture on location is a great advantage to the actor, creative director and animator. Being able to integrate the MoCap session with the actual filming on location, the creative director can focus on the actor performance while viewing the captured 3D data in realtime. The animator can work with the live footage and the MoCap data to optimize the integration of the 3D character in the scene.
Moven makes motion capture as simple as using any plug-and-play device: install the software, plug in the hardware, and the system is up and running. Setup time is less than 10 minutes. Moven can even be operated by the actor himself, no assistance is needed in the calibration procedure or in the recording session. The software (Moven Studio) gives a realtime view of the actor and offers the opportunity to evaluate recorded motions by playing it back in normal, fast and slow motion. Moven Studio provides a data format which is compatible with all major 3D content creation software such as 3ds Max, Maya, MotionBuilder, SOFTIMAGE|XSI or LightWave 3D.
Visual Effects studio Syndicate Ent. has selected Moven as its in-house motion capture system. Syndicate was looking for an affordable system that was flexible and easy to use. Gearbox Software Llc., a leading indie videogame developer, has selected Moven to optimize its game production pipeline.
Xsens Technologies B.V. (www.xsens.com or www.moven.com) is a leading supplier of products for measurement of motion, orientation and position, based upon miniature MEMS inertial sensor technology. Xsens' products are used in various markets such as 3D animation, movement science, robotics and unmanned systems. Xsens is based in Enschede, The Netherlands.
Bill Desowitz, former editor of VFXWorld, is currently the Crafts Editor of IndieWire.
