Ubisoft Uses Vicon MX40 For In-House Motion Capture

Vicon, developer of motion capture technology, announced the installation of a 24-camera Vicon MX40 system at Ubisoft's Montreal studios. Ubisoft is the international producer, publisher and distributor of games franchises such as Myst, Prince of Persia, Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, and others. Ubisoft Montreal hosts a new purpose-built motion capture studio equipped with a 4500-square-foot stage designed primarily for full-body performance. The studio decided to bring motion capture in-house to develop pipelines that tie directly into its game engines and game designs, and to eliminate the logistical costs of traveling to American west coast-based motion capture service bureaus. The studio's motion capture pipeline takes Vicon iQ-generated performance data directly into Alias Motion Builder, then employs proprietary scripts to get motion files into either 3ds Max for game-play animation or Softimage XSI for cinematics. The types of capture produced at the studio include straight performance, combat and action moves along with multiple character interactions. Ubisoft is also investing extensive R&D into complete performance capture comprising full hands, face and body, and is currently evaluating different facial mapping solutions to make facial capture more practical for gaming applications. The company’s new Vicon system is being put to use on forthcoming titles Far Cry Instincts Next Chapter and Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Critical Hour.