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An
Animated Affair
Page 3
Motion system animates local video project
Orlando Business Journal Cover Story - December 07, 2001
by Cindy Barth Managing Editor
ORLANDO - Using a motion-capture system is nothing new to Hollywood, which has had great success with it in films such as Final Fantasy and The Matrix.
In Central Florida, however, use of the technology has been rare.
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| New air bag safety spokesman Delta V, as designed by A&S Animation |
A&S Animation used motion capture for a recent video project for The Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety.
And if A&S Animation President Mark Simon has his way, using motion capture will become a more common production tool for the local film and TV industry.
"The final results are going to be spectacular," Simon says. "Hopefully this will be the first of many projects here to use the technology."Many of those future projects could be ones in which Simon is involved. He does, after all, have an extensive history of developing animated characters, and "motion capture lets you do all the kinds of neat things with animation," he notes.
For this latest project, Simon, whose most recent productions include the Timmy's Lessons in Nature and A Message From God animated shorts, was hired to produce the lead animated character for the video.
The concept for the video is markedly less entertaining that either of those projects: Air Bags: Today and Tomorrow, was created by Susan Stolov of Washington Independent Productions. She also wrote the script and created fun characters called Delta V to help demonstrate the forces that cause air bags to go off.
Simon designed a character with a turbine barrel chest, a large chin made out of a speaker, different size headlight eyes and sparkplug wire hair.
"Mark nailed the perfect look on his first try," says Stolov.
One challenge in doing the animated character was developing it in such a way as to incorporate it easily into a video that also included live-action segments.
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Mark
Simon performing as Delta V
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"While I was acting out how I wanted the character to move, it became clear pretty fast that I was going to be the one hooked up to the machine," says Simon, whose past included giving energetic lectures on animation and storyboards while leaping on furniture to get his point across.
The motion capture was done at the DAVE (Digital, Animation and Visual Effects) School located at Universal Studios.
With the help of DAVE school owner and production effects supervisor Jeff Scheetz, Simon was hooked up to a suit consisting of 11 sensors that tracked his every movement.
The movements then were captured and customized using the Kaydara Filmbox software. The final animation is being rendered using Lightwave 3D.
Scheetz was a good choice to help with this project. After all his own past career path included being an effects supervisor at Foundation Imaging in Valencia, Calif., where he worked on such well-known sci-fi shows as Babylon V and Star Trek Voyager.
The animation is expected to be completed this month. Stolov then will edit the animation into the live action segment of the video.
"We're thrilled with the way the production is turning out," say Christine Jennings, director of programs for the Automotive Coalition for Traffic Safety, for whom the video is being done.
"Not only will the tape be educational, but it will be great fun to watch."
Animatics & Storyboards, Inc.
407-370-BORD (2673)
marksimon (at) storyboards-east.com