Maya® Studio Projects:

Motion Capture

Even the best animated characters still fall short of captured motion. You just can't beat the real thing. There are reasons why, but current hand-keyed animation isn't as convincing. Movie producers like to say it's because animators make characters do things that aren't natural. Animators say they needed more time or better direction. The truth is, the problem lies in the intricacies of the human body and the inadequacies of the current tools. To put it another way, it's bad timing.

When people and animals move, each bone is influenced by the one before it. This of course is inverse kinematics (IK). However, when one bone moves, the others counteract. Imagine typing on a keyboard. Your palms are resting on the desk, and it seems ...