Animatica Marionette: Pull Less, Pose More
Animatica brings offline posing and motion editing to Blender. We examine its Platige pedigree, practical limits and the Cascadeur connection.
Browsing Tag
mocap
169 posts
PFTrack Solo: One Artist, All the Nodes
PFTrack Solo adds 37 previously restricted nodes, opening photogrammetry, stereo and depth workflows to individual artists.
SyncKey Reducer Keeps Poses Together
Amir Porat’s reducer aligns surviving pose frames in Max and Maya, with error controls, rig exclusions and a few cleanup buttons worth reading twice.
Autodesk Flow Studio adds 3D Editor and Canvas
Autodesk adds 3D scene direction and a node-based Canvas to Flow Studio for more controllable AI-assisted filmmaking.
SideFX Teaches KineFX in Houdini 22
SideFX’s Max Rose presents two free Houdini 22 sessions on KineFX animation, Motion Mixer, secondary motion and retargeting.
Free Crowd Reaction Mocap Pack
A free crowd reaction mocap pack brings 22 clips, about six minutes of claps, cheers, selfies and phone fiddling.
Houdini Rigging: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Start Loving APEX
For anyone tired of character setups held together by hope, version notes and one dangerous checkbox, Houdini 21 promises a paradigm shift. By decoupling mesh, rig logic, animation and execution through KineFX and APEX, SideFX is taking another run at the holy grail of procedural rigging. But can it deliver a fast and intuitive workflow?
Reallusion Unlocks Limitless Creation: iClone Personal Debuts Alongside AI Studio Official Launch
iClone Personal replaces the trial with free access, AI Studio goes public, and 500 AI Points sweeten the 3D-to-AI rabbit hole.
MetaHuman gets markerless mocap
Free markerless body capture lands for MetaHumans, using standard video, local processing, and Unreal Engine 5.8.
KZ_Tracker turns video into Maya curves
KZ_Tracker tracks 2D points in footage inside Maya and bakes curves to locators, aimed at quick blocking, timing, and rough spacing, not final mocap.
VirtuCamera 2: The Weird Byte goes Android
VirtuCamera 2 lands with Android support, refreshed UI, updated DCC plug-ins, and a Python API. Yes, your phone is still the camera now.
Reallusion ships Headshot 3 for CC5
Headshot 3 arrives for Character Creator 5 with single photo heads, mesh wrapping, texture tools, and an early bird bundle through May 31.
Animcraft 5.5: Stability, ribbons, and MetaHumans
Animcraft 5.5 improves mocap stability, rewrites the Dragon Breath Ribbon System, and expands MetaHuman and Maya tools.
Godot ARKit: Facial Mocap Without the Detour
Open-source plug-in GodotARKit links Apple’s ARKit and Godot 4 for real-time facial mocap using the Live Link Face app—no extra tools needed.
Xsens Rebuilds Its Link Mocap Suit With 4D Stretch
Xsens reinvents its Link suit: 4D stretch fabric, Wi-Fi 6E, one-click sensors, and fewer cables. mocap setups just got a lot less sweaty, or at least easier to keep (reasonably) clean.
Video Mocap: Reallusion’s AI Gets Moving
Reallusion adds online AI motion capture to iClone: Video Mocap turns footage into editable animation for $2.50 per clip.
Basefount Animcraft: One-Stop 3D Animation Library & Bridge
Animcraft is a collaborative 3D animation library/editor with re‑targeting, facial rigging, mocap, and DCC/engine connections across Standard and Advanced editions.
Xsens Animate 2025: Now With 100% More Spine
Xsens Animate 2025 introduces native male and female anatomy models, a refined spine model, and experimental Auto Sensor Mapping for streamlined mocap workflows.
MotionBuilder 2026: A little Leap
Autodesk's MotionBuilder 2026 enhances USD workflows, introduces animation retention, and adds new selection shortcuts for improved motion capture editing.
Ready, Set, Animate: 120+ Game Animations Up for Grabs
120+ ready-to-use animations, compatible with Unreal Engine and Unity, available now—created using Xsens motion capture tech and Studio Recode’s rig.
Wonder Studio Rebrands: Now Flowing with Autodesk
Autodesk rebrands Wonder Studio as Autodesk Flow Studio, integrating AI-driven VFX automation into its Flow cloud platform.
HandCraft Pro: Giving Animators a Hand – Literally
Animator Tal Minks introduces HandCraft Pro, a Maya plugin that captures hand movements via webcam, offering an alternative to traditional motion capture methods.
Syntheyes 2025: ML-powered masks, batch processing and more…
Boris FX has just releases the latest version of its 3D Tracking and Matchmoving software, Syntheyes. Boris FX traditionally tries to utilize technology from its other software solutions in its various products, and Syntheyes is no exception, including Mask ML in the 2025 release.
OnPoint Studios Hosts Virtual Production Event in Berlin
OnPoint Studios is hosting a virtual production event in Berlin, featuring industry experts and showcasing advancements in motion capture and real-time graphics.
Sony’s mocopi Pro Kit: Elevating Full-Body Motion Capture
Sony introduces the mocopi Pro Kit, featuring a 12-sensor setup, real-time Bluetooth connectivity, and integration with the XYN Motion Studio app for enhanced motion capture.
iClone 8.52: A Major Leap for Animation Editing
iClone 8.52 delivers a highly anticipated update for professional animation editing, packed with groundbreaking features driven by user feedback. Despite its numerical step from 8.51, this release introduces transformative tools to elevate animation workflows.
Through the Woodlands
Creatures made of tree branches and roots seem to have a firm place in the history ofVFX. Just…
WRetargetTool: Free Animation Retargeting Tool for Maya
Discover WRetargetTool, a free and adaptable animation retargeting solution for Maya, focused on simplifying character animation and mocap transfer.
Wonder Dynamics Brings Real-Time Animation to VFX
Wonder Dynamics releases Wonder Studio, an AI tool promising real-time animation for 3D characters in VFX pipelines. Production-ready? Time will tell.
Motion Capture for Video Games w/ Adrian Perdjon | 21 Artist Show 031
Let's take a look at motion capture for video games. From The Witcher 1 & 2, The Medium to The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, all these game animations were (partially) created using motion capture. In the middle of it all is the Polish motion capture studio BONES, founded by actor and motion capture artist Adrian Perdjo in the wave of CG Projekt Red's smash hit The Witcher 1, 2 and 3.
Fritzi & Sophie
The cinema film of the story was produced in classic 2D. For the series, we opted for the "third dimension". This presented us with new challenges, but also opened up completely new doors. Blender was our main tool.
Mech vs. Giant Slugfest mit iClone & Character Creator
Below is an interview with Cesar Turturro, a successful film director who was honoured with the coveted Epic MegaGrant 2022 for his outstanding work on "Invasion 2040".
Look into my Syntheyes, Boris!
Something‘s always happening in the Boris FX- Ecosystem – and just before this year’s IBC they announced that Syntheyes is now part of the family! So we cornered Boris Yamnitzki and John-Paul Smith and asked them what the plans are for one of our favourite tracking Tools.
Behind the FMX..
... are Mario Müller and his team. And we wanted to ask what they see as trends.
Planet B
"There is no Planet B". A slogan
from various climate protection campaigns, which refers to our current situation of not having a second planet on which to live
on which the inhabitants of Earth could live. The film Planet B shows
a scenario in which exactly that is attempted. On a planet afflicted by drought and toxic gases, a young woman sits in her underground bunker and controls the construction process of a new planet in space.
Trash, Dance & Robots
In winter 2021, we decided to make a film as a group of three under the guidance of our professor Jürgen Schopper about a robot whose purpose in life is to pick up rubbish. A lot has happened in the meantime: the robot is now controlled by an old lady and can - surprise! - dance very well. We have spent many enjoyable, stressful and also funny days at the HFF with our robot and the old lady. The original idea resulted in a four-minute animated film. We - three visual effects students (Valentin Dittlmann, Hannes Werner, Felix Zachau) at the University of Television and Film in Munich - developed, realised and completed this film in the course of our first year of study.
Star for Stuttgart | Retro article
Review: In DP 06 : 2014, we went into conversation with performance capturing pioneer Andy Serkis - chatting about Planet of the Apes. An encounter at FMX 2014.
Motion capturing with Rokoko Video?
Still kicking (and performing MoCap): Technology company Rokoko releases its AI-powered web browser solution that allows users to transfer movements into 3D software.
Reallusion releases Cartoon Animator 5
Optimise your 2D animation with feather physics, FFD overdrawing and vector graphics
What can iClone 8 from Reallusion do that the competition can’t?
Plask, Radical, DeepMotion, Pixcap and iClone 8 - these are the names of the mocap tools! Blender expert Russell Midfield pits the motion capture programmes against each other.
Adobe’s Character Animator now includes a Motion Library!
There are over 350 full-body mocap movements in the library - these have now been added with the release of Character Animator 23.0.
Club culture, techno music and character animation combined with iClone & Character Creator
Music video par excellence: Relative.berlin makes DJ Taube dance and utilises all the new features of iClone!
Computer scientists research human-scene contact
Important for motion capturing: how do people interact with the environment? With the Rich project, researchers want to decisively develop the HSC further.
Adobe releases Character Animator 22.5!
The convenient software for anyone who wants to enhance their content with animated cartoon characters. The latest version of the real-time tool for motion capturing and character animation.
Bandai Namco Releases 2,900 MoCap Clips
Bandai Namco Research released more than 2,900 free BVH motion-capture clips plus a Blender visualisation script.
Capturing Reality in Houdini
Review: In DP 02 : 2019, we take a closer look at photogrammetry in Houdini. Our Houdini expert clarifies whether this has resulted in a production boost for game developers.
Kinetix 1.4 Adds Browser-Based Hand MoCap
Kinetix 1.4 adds hand capture, XR export, Mixamo assets and partial-body input to its browser-based video-to-animation workflow.
Building a Digital Human in Unreal Engine
A 20-minute behind-the-scenes film traces Renderpeople's digital-double workflow through photogrammetry, motion capture and Unreal Engine.
Motion capturing without annoying markers
Blender users with hot hands: Technical artist Denys Hsu shows you that Mocap can also be comfortable.
Plask | Great tool
With this free tool you can animate in the web browser - including motion capturing function.
Finch | Featurette
Robots in the post-apocalypse: this sci-fi film on Apple TV uses state-of-the-art MoCap!
Moves Adds Object Capture
Maxon's Moves update adds guided photo capture for textured 3D objects and transfer into Cinema 4D on supported Macs.
KalidoKit Released for Avatar Tracking
KalidoKit combines open-source face, pose and hand tracking with blendshape and kinematics solvers for VRM and Live2D avatars.
Rokoko Releases Smartsuit Pro II
Rokoko's Smartsuit Pro II updates its inertial motion-capture suit with multi-level tracking, Smartgloves integration and DCC export.
Renderpeople Adds Rigged 3D People
A detailed look at Renderpeople's expansion from ready-to-render scanned people to rigged 3D characters, including topology, skeletons, facial controls and workflow trade-offs.
Digital Domain’s Masquerade 2.0 Advances Facial Capture
Digital Domain's Masquerade 2.0 facial-capture system supported performances such as Thanos and the recreation of Martin Luther King Jr. for TIME.
TensorFlow.js Brings Real-Time 3D Pose Detection to the Browser
TensorFlow introduced a free browser API for real-time pose detection using TensorFlow.js, MediaPipe BlazePose and the GHUM model.
OptiTrack Motive 3.0 Adds Finger Tracking and New Solver
Motive 3.0 introduced a new performance-capture solver, tracking for more than 300 rigid bodies and precise finger tracking.
FreeMoCap Project Targets Low-Cost Markerless Motion Capture
Jonathan Matthis presented FreeMoCap, an open-source framework designed to generate full-body motion capture from two USB webcams.
AI Voice Actor Plugin Connects Replica Studios with iClone
The free AI Voice Actor plugin integrated Replica Studios voice generation with iClone facial animation and AccuLips.
Weta Digital Breaks Down Rise of the Planet of the Apes VFX
A Weta Digital breakdown revisits the performance-capture and visual-effects work behind Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes.
ArtEngine 2021.5 Adds Project Sharing and AI Feature Selection
Unity’s ArtEngine 2021.5 added project export and Feature Selector, an AI-assisted tool for segmenting images into maskable regions.
ZDF Digital Uses Real-Time Animation Tools for Television Production
ZDF Digital explains how Character Creator, iClone and motion capture helped its teams produce animated television, documentary and augmented-reality projects efficiently.
Photoshop 22.4 Adds Save a Copy and Native Windows ARM Support
Adobe Photoshop 22.4 introduced Save a Copy, reorganised Neural Filters and native support for 64-bit ARM devices running Windows 10.
FMX 2021 Adds Digital Humans and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla Sessions
FMX 2021 announced sessions on AI-driven digital humans, voice synthesis and Goodbye Kansas’s Assassin’s Creed Valhalla commercial.
VR Deep Diving | Retro-Article
Review: In DP 06 : 2017, our author Mirja Fürst immersed herself in a VR experience for the "Ghost in the Shell" film adaptation.
Cascadeur Enters Early Access
Cascadeur moved into early access with AutoPhysics and improved AutoPosing for physically informed keyframe character animation.
Autodesk Flame Update Expands ML Tracking
Autodesk Flame adds machine-learning camera tracking, stronger colour workflows, external LUT support and NDI preview streaming.
Cinema 4D S24 Adds Placement and Asset Tools
Cinema 4D S24 introduces placement tools, a new Asset Browser, animation workflow updates, Scene Manager previews and Moves connectivity.
Faceware Studio Targets MetaHuman Facial Capture
An fxguide feature examines Faceware Studio, its Mark IV head-mounted camera and planned compatibility with Epic MetaHuman assets.
Animcraft 1.1 Brings Reusable Animation Workflows to DCCs and Game Engines
Animcraft builds reusable animation libraries and transfers keyframe or motion-capture data between major DCC applications and game engines.
DragonFly 2.0 Improves Virtual Camera Tracking and Live Motion Capture
Glassbox Technologies’ DragonFly 2.0 adds better camera tracking, live motion-capture support and more flexible licensing.
Sleep Tight – A modern horror tale
"From the edge of a forest, the werewolf steps into the moonlight; in front of him lies a small settlement by a forest lake."
This sentence comes from an early version of our script. A lot happened from there to the final film. The old-fashioned settlement became a big city, the forest lake became a hill with modern flats and the werewolf became a werewolf.
Simon Says Adds AI Transcription to DaVinci Resolve on macOS
Simon Says integrated AI transcription, captioning and translation with DaVinci Resolve for macOS, including frame-accurate subtitle editing.
Connected Ink 2020 Runs as a 24-Hour Hybrid Education Event
Wacom’s Connected Ink 2020 brought educators, students and creators together for 24 hours of talks on creativity and education technology.
Rokoko Smartgloves Bring Finger Tracking to MoCap
Rokoko’s Smartgloves capture hand and finger motion for digital characters and integrate with the company’s wider motion-capture ecosystem.
Digital Domain Introduces Masquerade 2.0
Digital Domain’s Masquerade 2.0 facial-capture system targets detailed eye, lip and wrinkle animation for film and game characters.
Maya 2020.1 Released: Rokoko
Maya 2020.1 brings a new motion-capture asset plug-in plus Bifrost, 3D Painting and Time Slider updates.
Free NPC Animations for Unreal
The Unreal Marketplace is sounding the alarm again: This time, a bunch of NPCs with free animations will run you over!
DP 19:02 – More plug-ins than your hard drive can handle!
In 19:02 we unpack the toolbox - plug-ins for video, audio, 3D, comp, animation and pipeline - because if you have a task, there's a good chance that someone else has already solved it.
MoCap, Characters, Reallusion
Reallusion has released three new tools for MoCap and character creation.
Double Head for Free!
EISKO is making a new rig available free of charge. As an insight into its previous work.
Motion Capture: MVN Animate 2018
Motion capture in any environment from now on: Xsens releases the new 2018 version of its MVN Animate software for MoCap data.
Third Ape Round for Weta
The final part of the "Planet of the Apes" trilogy opens in German cinemas on August 3. This video shows some of the technology behind the epic VFX work for which Weta was responsible.
Faceware Live 2.5
Real-time transfer of live performance to 3D modelled faces: Faceware Tech releases a new update for improved tracking and more!
FMX Trailer “Elemental” Making-of
The Filmakademie team behind the 2017 FMX trailer "Elemental" has released a making-of video with footage from the shoot and numerous breakdown shots.
CG Characters for “Rogue One”
Spoiler alert: one of the most impressive CG achievements for “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story” was the digital re-creation of two human actors. In this video, ILM shows how this demanding task was accomplished.
Behind the Magic: ILM and Warcraft
Hair, performance capture, and orc crowds. Industrial Light and Magic shows three new featurettes about its work on Warcraft.
Watch “Jagon” in Full
Last year, the impressive Filmakademie production "Jagon" was the only student project nominated alongside the big names – Trixter, Scanline and ILP – for an animago AWARD in the "Best Postproduction" category. Here is the 20-minute short film in full.
Manipulate Objects Directly in Video
Using a conventional camera and an algorithm, MIT manages to allow objects to be interacted with directly in video based on the tiniest vibrations, which are extrapolated.
Dance Reel by Method Studio
Method Studios NY has dancers in all colours and shapes cut a hot rug for an advertising-industry event.
3DF Zephyr 2.5 Preview
3DF Zephyr makes it easy to reconstruct detailed 3D models from images and videos—more than a hundred within one pipeline.
IKinema Brings Rig Editor to LiveAction v2
Simplified VR production and an easier live mocap workflow in Unreal Engine 4 that works without third-party tools.
Major Faceware Upgrade
Faceware Technologies has announced upgrades across its product range and a new free Learning Edition for personal projects.
Gollum Becomes Rumpelstiltskin
Today I bake, tomorrow I brew, and the day after tomorrow I’ll turn Grimm’s “Rumpelstiltskin” into a Hollywood blockbuster and call it “Steelskin” for marketing reasons.
FaceDirector for the Right Mood
The new Disney Research Labs software allows facial expressions to be adjusted in postpoduction without having to reshoot scenes.
Apple Bought Faceshift
What exactly the Cupertino company intends to do with the faceware technologies for facial animaton is still unclear. What is clear, however, is that many game and film studios must now look for alternatives.