History of Motion Capture

Dr. Midori KitagawaArts and Technology ProgramUniversity of Texas at Dallas

Pioneers• Eadweard Muybridge (1830 - 1904)• Etienne-Jules Marray (1830 - 1904)• Max Fleischer (1883 – 1972)• Harold Edgerton (1903 - 1990)

Eadweard Muybridge• English photographer (1830 - 1904).• Pioneered photographic studies of motion and

motion-picture projection.

• In 1872 former governor of California Stanford hired Muybridge to prove all four feet of a horse were off the ground at the same time while trotting.

Muybridge

Muybridge

Used multiple cameras to capture motion of animals and humans.

Muybridge

Muybridge

Etienne-Jules Marray• French scientist, physiologist

and chronophotographer (1830 - 1904).

• Contributed to the development of cardiology, physical instrumentation, aviation, and cinematography.

• Developed a single camera method chronophotography.

• Objective and precise for scientific measurements.

Marray

Marray

Marray

• The photographs of a subject wearing Marrey's motion capture suit with markers show striking resemblance to motion capture data shown with a skeleton.

Marray

Max Fleischer

• Animator, film director and producer (1883 - 1972).

• Produced Betty Boop, Koko the Clown, Popeye and Superman animation.

• Invented rotoscope

Fleischer

• Affected greatly by the motion picture production code of 1930 (Hays Code).

• Lost competition with Disney.

Fleischer

Harold Edgerton

• Electrical engineer (1903 - 1990).• First to take high-speed color photographs.• Pioneered multi-flash and microsecond

imagery.

• Captured moments in time that were too fast to be seen by the naked with a stroboscope.

Edgerton

Edgerton

Early digital attempts• Brilliance (1984)• Total Recall (1990)

Brilliance (1984)• Produced by Robert Abel and

Associates. • Super Bowl commercial for

the Canned Food Information Council.

• “Sexy Robot” was the first 3D character with realistic human movement.

• Model was rotoscoped, not motion captured.

Total Recall (1990)• Based on Philip K. Dick’s short.• Airport security shots were supposed to be

motion capture animation.• Replaced with keyframe animation.• Won Academy Award for visual effects.

Dr. Midori Kitagawamidori@utdallas.eduATEC 1.909