Archive notice: This article was originally published on November 29, 2012. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
Real-Time Capturing
Blade release 2.0 is said to be the first motion capture software to deliver genuine real-time results. After two years of development, according to Vicon, Blade has been completely revised for this purpose with a live engine called Axiom.
The Axiom engine is intended to make it possible to transfer capture data from the shoot accurately and in real time to the digital models. Blade 2.0 is likewise said to be able to manage multiple characters, complex production scenarios and difficult shooting conditions. Even complex movements are intended to be capturable without losing credibility.
Features
Further features of Blade 2.0 are said to include automatic occlusion fixing for flawless visuals during real-time shooting. The final feature added during the development process is Quick Post. This is intended to provide access to the real-time processing algorithm, allowing the post-process workflow to be automated. Reconstructions, labelling and solving are said to be achievable with one click.
According to Vicon, the workflow and user interface layout have also been revised. In addition, support for Vicon Active Wand is said to have been added for improved system calibration.
Ben Guthrie is Motion Capture Supervisor at Framestore and says of Blade 2.0: "What we can achieve with Blade 2.0 is ideal for previs. More and more clients are no longer interested in a post process because it is so easy to obtain the RAW MoCap data."
In our forthcoming issue DP 01/13, available from December 20, you will find an extensive article on "Performance Capture for Games". We were able to visit Ubisoft in Toronto, Ontario—the newly built Performance Capture Studio also uses Blade.
You can find more information about all the features here: http://www.vicon.com/products/bladefeatures.html
A look at working with Blade 2.0:
