Draft:IMocap
{{Short description|Motion capture system history of cinema science}}
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IMocap (Image Based Motion Capture Technology) is Industrial Light and Magic's image based performance capture system developed in 2006 by Steve Sullivan, Colin Davidson, Michael Sanders, Kevin Wooley{{Cite patent|number=US7848564B2|title=Three-dimensional motion capture|gdate=2010-12-07|invent1=Sullivan|invent2=Davidson|invent3=Sanders|invent4=Wooley|inventor1-first=Steve|inventor2-first=Colin|inventor3-first=Michael|inventor4-first=Kevin|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US7848564B2/en}} and Brett Allen.{{Cite web |date=2014-09-24 |title=The 82nd Sci-Tech Awards Memorable Moments {{!}} Oscars.org {{!}} Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences |url=https://www.oscars.org/sci-tech-awards/ceremonies/82nd-sci-tech-awards-memorable-moments |access-date=2025-05-04 |website=www.oscars.org |language=en}}
History
IMocap was created in 2006 by the ILM R&D department for the movie Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest to overcome the shortcomings of traditional optical mocap needing a controlled environment (stage) with a lot of witness cameras to work.
" The goal was to get close to optical motion capture quality, but with a small footprint on set, and able to handle difficult location shooting conditions."{{Cite web |last=Failes |first=Ian |date=2019-09-09 |title='Computer pajamas': the history of ILM's IMocap |url=https://beforesandafters.com/2019/09/10/computer-pajamas-the-history-of-ilms-imocap/ |access-date=2025-05-04 |website=befores & afters |language=en-US}}IMocap went on to be used in later ILM productions notably involving the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Pirates of the Caribbean, or Star Wars franchise.John Knoll, VFX supervisor
Its newest version labeled the Delta Suit made its debut in 2012 for the movie The Avengers. It introduced a triagular fractal pattern on the fabric based on the Sierpiński triangle used for more accurate geometry deformation.
System
Unlike traditional mocap that triangulates points from multiple cameras, IMocap relies on object solvers to track rigid bands attached to the actor's limbs.
The system was designed to be able to work with a single onset camera, and increases in accuracy with additional witness cameras that were filming in global shutter and higher framerates.
The later upgrades of the suit allowed geometry deformation tracking using the Sierpiński triangle pattern introduced in the Delta version of the system. It uses high-resolution deformable geometry tracker and solver made and patented in 2011 by Ronald Mallet and Christoph Bregler{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0NwB1w43Ds |title=2016 Sci-Tech Awards: Ronald Mallet and Christoph Bregler |date=2016-02-14 |last=Oscars |access-date=2025-05-04 |via=YouTube}}
Cultural Impact
In addition to the numerous performances captured by the IMocap suit (Thanos, the Hulk, Davy Jones), the triangle pattern of the IMocap Delta suit is referenced in several media to represent VFX :
- In Spider Man: Far From Home the villain Mysterio wears the pattern implying he is a visual effects artist.
- In the videogame Boneworks
Awards
Steve Sullivan, Kevin Wooley, Brett Allen and Colin Davidson won the Scientific & Engineering Technical Achievement Academy Award in 2010 for the development of the IMocap on-set performance capture system.
Ronald Mallet and Christoph Bregler won the Scientific & Engineering Technical Achievement Academy Award in 2016 for the development and implementation of their deformable geometry tracker to the IMocap technology.{{Cite web |last=Giardina |first=Carolyn |date=2016-01-08 |title=Oscars: Sci-Tech Winners Unveiled by Academy |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/oscars-sci-tech-winners-unveiled-853503/ |access-date=2025-05-04 |website=The Hollywood Reporter |language=en-US}}
References
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