WE are all one step closer to getting our dogs digitised in games. Traditional motion capture requires multiple cameras, specially designed sets, and bulky suits. Researchers based at the University of Bath are changing the game. A new motion capture technology they have developed uses only one camera and no marker suit.
The Centre for the Analysis of Motion, Entertainment Research and Applications (CAMERA), located on campus at the University of Bath, researches new motion capture technologies. The applications for their research include athletic training, assistive technologies, and for the entertainment industry. In June, the researchers shared their new research at the Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition conference.
This project began by forming an enormous data set of dog movements from 14 different dog breeds – using traditional motion capture methods. These data collected were used to generate a 3D model of any dog, including movement, with only one RGB-D camera and no markers. RGB-D cameras detect depth, and have been used in gaming peripherals like the XBOX Kinect.
“For the entertainment industry, our research can help produce more authentic movement of virtual animals in films and video games. Dog owners could also use it to make a 3D digital representation of their pet on their computer, which is a lot of fun!” shared PhD researcher Sinéad Kearney.
Professor Darren Cosker, Director of CAMERA shared, “Our research is a step towards building accurate 3D models of animal motion along with technologies that allow us to very easily measure their movement. This has many exciting applications across a range of areas – from veterinary science to video games.”
In 2018, we all fell in love with Uuno, the mocap dog. In 2018 Remedy Games (makers of Control) shared videos of Uuno getting used to his motion-capture marker suit. Hopefully, with this technology, animals will no longer need to be trained to adapt to the suits, and will able to jump straight into action for game devs.
