Abstract
This chapter provides an examination of the existing infrastructure(s) of Motion Capture (MoCap) facilities and technologies. It draws on established primary texts to begin a constructed historical perspective of MoCap and interrogates principles particular to animation that inevitably clash with performance. These texts focus on the principles and workflow of MoCap and are presented as ‘how to’ guides for animators. They are used here to demonstrate the ongoing privilege of tool over the form, so often found in commercial studios, where the MoCap system, workflow and captured movement data is a primary focus and the direction of performance is secondary.
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Notes
Most of this history including device types and associated dates have been sourced from Kitagawa and Windsor’s MoCap for Artists (2008).
A formally trained animator will be used to devising motion and movement from scratch, and, depending on their training, will work to what are known as the 12 Principles of Animation. Devised by Disney animators Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas, the principles are most often reproduced in the training and education of animators in MoCap from various sources. Here I draw them from Liverman’s Animator’s Motion Capture Guide (2004) though as mentioned before they were originally published in The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation (1981).
See Matt Liverman Animator’s motion capture Guide 2004, pages 2–14.
As mentioned previously, these principles are also laid out in Johnston and Thomas’ The Illusion of Life (1981) with a slight variation in the description and application of each principle.
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© 2015 Matt Delbridge
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Delbridge, M. (2015). Infrastructure. In: Motion Capture in Performance: An Introduction. Palgrave Pivot, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137505811_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137505811_2
Publisher Name: Palgrave Pivot, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-50588-3
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