Putting the man in the machine – an overview of performance capture at the Imaginarium

Rich Holleworth – CTO, The Imaginarium

 

Performance Capture is the technique and technology of transferring an Actor’s dramatic interpretation of a role into that of a Digital Character. In this talk Rich Holleworth will present an overview of the history and rationale of performance capture throughout the ages- touching on rotoscoping, the late Ray Harryhausen (and dynamation), Motion Capture, Video Games, and of course the Imaginarium’s own Andy Serkis. Next we will address the practicalities and principles of modern performance capture and its growing adoption and integration into film processes. Finally we will examine the future directions opening at both large scale “Industrial” Performance Capture facilities such as the Imaginarium or WETA, and off-the-shelf “Domestic” systems such as the Kinect and even your own mobile phone.