Why motion capture is harder than it looks

The suits are just the beginning of the motion capture process.

Motion capture has taken over a lot of computer animation for movies, video games, and TV. Coverage typically focuses on actors wearing funny suits and performing feats of imagination. But is it really that easy?

The above video shows that it’s a lot more complex than that. Motion capture requires heavy editing, tweaking, and processing after the actual capture to create animations that look real. That part of the process is key to understanding the images on your screen.

Watch the above video to learn more.

Further Reading:

Mixamo is one of many resources for motion capture artists, and it’s fun to just browse the animations and see how they work.

As in most things related to visual effects, the site Befores and Afters has countless relevant nuggets of behind-the-scenes footage and deep dives into motion capture history.

Note: The headline on this piece has been updated.
Previous headline: Why motion capture is more than actors in funny suits

[Camad]

That little part at the end really shows how little even people in the industry care about VFX artists. Intentionally making it harder for them for no reason.

[Gurani]

I have worked as a VFX Coordinator on movie sets for years, and that last part he mentioned, happens all the time with directors who know little about VFX workflow, but are too arrogant to be taught by a young artist like me. One of the producers literally kicked me out of the set because I kept warning them about what kind of information the software and artists needs. We ended up losing the job and they ended up paying twice the money to another studio for the extra rotos and clean-ups, . But I was so happy that my Supervisor backed me up and comforted me saying I was just doing my job. God I hated to work with arrogant directors and producers.

[realmountainman]

Interesting topic there at the end - I feel like we need a part 2 on how they overcame the issue with the mist scattering the light everywhere

[Profie]

dude this felt like a gift from god i was literally thinking about this an hour ago

[SolRise_yt]

YES! As an animator both in 2D and 3D its nice to have someone explain in a simple way that the mocap stage is just the basline for the work that the animators do. To be able to animate on this realistically, you need impeccable skill and eye for details. Many things in todays media also looks like its mocapped but in fact animated fully by hand. The dedication we have in this media is awesome

[fittony]

at this point Phil Edwards is just doing "VFX artists React for dummies", and I love it :D

[mulqueen]

Mocap is literally like magic. Every little feature of the actor is captured, the small gestures and twitches are all captured. And a lot of these things are imbued to the actual characters giving them more personality. Animators and VFX artists are incredible.

[nickzardiashvili]

Another great video by Phil! I love that he's trying to explain the basics and give the due credit to VFX artists, who are a very underappreciated bunch. I've always found it annoying how all the credit is usually given to the actor, where in reality any motion capture is always a joint effort (pun intended) of the actor and the animator(s).

[helloemma]

Super interesting!

I often see people using motion capture as a way to explain for why an animation is good, while also undercutting the animation that was done and all the hard work to get to the final result.

So I enjoyed learning about this and all the hard work that goes into into motion capture.

[HansTristanAndersen]

I audibly gasped when he said they pumped fog into the room. Those poor animators.

[PSeverROCKS]

The final segment is something worth thinking about. I hope Vox makes a video on how truly overworked VFX artists are!

[CannabisTechLife]

This was a great explanation of this part of the industry. As a technical artist, I appreciated your descriptions about the bones. Very clear and easy to understand for non tech people.

[BsERoss]

That little snippet at the end is the story of most VFX artists. Directors have little to no experience of how the post production happens, so they do whatever they want on set..

[kevinrosso]

Thanks Vox. It's time for people to understand that the animators are as responsible as the actors (if not more sometimes) for a character performance.

[Sinaeb]

"Why motion capture is more than actors in furry suits"

[kiukle]

Do you have a link to just the full interview uncut? I understand you are using only the parts to tell this story in your edit, but I'd like to watch the whole interview as he is engaging as well as very detailed in his answers.

[filmmaker]

The Space Jam 2 story at the end is a mocap nightmare

[justincabrera]

I like how technology just evolves faster than your dad buying milk.

[Xfrimz]

I've done characters as big as the hulk and as small as rocket, alot of work is put into making the motion fit the size and personality of the character, good to see some love and explanation for the animators that have to clean up the mocap data.

[BuildinWings]

MoCap/SFX performance deserves its own award category. It's its own separate skill - Imagine LOTR with a bad Gollum or Guardians of the Galaxy with a janky Rocket.