VICON - 2018 EDITION

Biomechanics and Sport. Clinical Sciences. Film. Gaming. Object Tracking. . Broadcast. 1 Vicon Standard

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Oxford

Welcome to the 2018 edition of The Standard

Welcome to the 2018 edition of The Standard, featuring customer stories and case studies from around the world, and covering applications from all parts of the Vicon family. In this edition of The Standard, we have collected stories from the stage to the ice rink, hospitals to VFX studios, and from customers both old and new.

This magazine is about you and your work, celebrating and educating others in what you do, how and why. We are proud – proud of how you use the equipment and the way that it touches people’s lives all over the world, from improving the way that a patient is treated, to the blockbuster films that we see on the big (and small) screen.

Before we dive in, if you would like to have your story or case study featured in the next edition of The Standard, please drop us a line at [email protected].

We hope you enjoy reading this as much as we enjoyed putting it together.

Phil & Elicia

2 Biomechanics and Sport Vicon Standard

their baseline scans – along with the non-contact movements, like suddenly Dr. Zabala’s study will require several years’ movements of those that played their changing speeds and coming down from a worth of data before it can begin to move entire collegiate career without an ACL jump at just the wrong angle. These injuries on to offer a true risk assessment, but there injury – the team hopes to be able to predict can happen in a game, in practice, or even may soon come a day when one of the most future injuries in incoming athletes based walking down the stairs. There is very little common and devastating injuries that an on the way they move and how their knee margin between an athlete cutting left athlete can face becomes a minor concern. is naturally aligned. To do this, the team to right and going on to score a goal, and at Auburn needed cameras capable of someone cutting right to left and spending “The reality is that there are Auburn Uses Vicon Mocap to capturing the most intricate and exacting the next six months to a year recovering. details of athletic movement. This led Dr. Precision matters, which is why the lab probably a lot of different Stop ACL Tears Before Zabala to Vicon. selected Vicon. factors that put someone at risk, but if we can understand “We’re trying to do this all “We’re trying to do this all-inclusive analysis They Happen inclusive analysis for multiple for multiple avenues to try and really wrap as many of those as possible, our minds around why this is happening, and then ultimately relate avenues to try and really wrap why someone’s at risk,” said Dr. Zabala. “The our minds around why this is reality is that there are probably a lot of those back to the actual happening, why someone’s different factors that put someone at risk, injury, then we can start to but if we can understand as many of those look at determining who is at at risk.” as possible, and then ultimately relate those For competitive athletes, an injury is almost a given at some point. back to the actual injury, then we can start greater risk. From there we To gather the data, Dr. Zabala and the AUBE to look at determining who is at greater risk. can look at how to prevent it If the athlete is lucky, the injury will be minor and the recovery time lab created an enclosed test area measuring From there we can look at how to prevent it will be short. But for some, serious injuries are the beginning of a 30 feet by 32 feet, lined with 10 Vantage happening in the first place.” happening in the first place.” V5 cameras surrounding the interior of lengthy rehabilitation cycle, or even the end of a promising career. the enclosure. Seven of the cameras are But what if it didn’t have to be like that? What if athletes were able anchored at a height of eight feet, while the other three are positioned at waist to test themselves in order to better understand their individual level, giving a complete field of coverage risks, and prevent injuries from happening in the first place? and multiple angles for each movement. At the start of their season, athletes enter and engage in around 30 exercises that require An ambitious new study at Auburn athlete to avoid making certain movements. In order to create a risk assessment for them to run, cut, do box jumps, engage in University hopes to turn this idea into From Auburn’s point of view, the more athletes, Dr. Zabala and his team first need balance tests and more, while the cameras reality by identifying the root causes of ACL predisposed you are, the more you need to to isolate and identify the warning signs. track each knee and record the most exact tears, one of the most common and serious train away the risks. The study currently involves 15 female details possible. injuries that athletes face. soccer and basketball players, and that Working out of the Auburn University number is expected to grow over time. As One of the reasons Dr. Zabala selected From there, it hopes to create a training Biomechanical Engineering Lab (AUBE), part of the study, each athlete annually Vicon cameras was that the high-speed routine that will specifically act to lower Dr. Michael Zabala, an assistant professor records a series of movements using high- cameras helped to cut down those risks. By tracking current collegiate in mechanical engineering, started this speed optical cameras designed for motion any drift associated with the movement athletes throughout their college careers, process by looking at the root causes capture. The goal is to be able to record calculations, a problem familiar to most Auburn is working to create a method that involved with ACL injuries, specifically in them while healthy, to create a baseline. If sports researchers who frequently use more offers healthy, incoming athletes an ACL risk female athletes involved with soccer and they happen to suffer an ACL tear, they’ll portable, but less exact inertial sensors. assessment before they even step on the basketball. Each year as many as 200,000 undergo a second set of motion capture The lab also uses two force plates as well, court or field. With this information, trainers athletes at all levels from recreational to recordings after they have recovered and to record impact data along with could prepare supplemental workout professional suffer ACL tears. Statistically, returned to their sport. the movements. regimens tailored to individual athletes. female athletes are far more likely to have This might include additional weight and ACL problems – in soccer, three to five times By comparing the movements of those Although ACL tears do occur when contact flexibility training, or even retraining the as likely; in basketball, two to seven times. athletes that went through rehab alongside is involved, the majority happen through

4 5 Object Tracking Entertainment Georgia Tech Helps to Bring Robotics to the Masses 5 minutes with Brian Mitchell

Despite seeping into nearly every industry around the world, the field of robotics has a major problem: accessibility.

There are countless theories on how The Robotarium is the brainchild of purpose of the test is legitimate and won’t robots might be used to benefit humanity, roboticist Magnus Egerstedt, a professor harm the robots), users enter a queue and but robotics is an expensive field, mostly at Georgia Tech’s School of Electrical and wait their turn. During their turn, users controlled by private organizations and well Computer Science, who realized that have around 10 minutes to control the established academic labs with the funds advances in swarm robotics were being robotic swarm within a 12 feet by 14 feet to indulge their experimentation. It’s simply stunted by a lack of accessibility. Swarm arena. Once the experiment is complete, inaccessible to most. That’s where Georgia robotics testbeds are and almost always the robots deactivate just long enough to Tech’s Robotarium comes in. private, so Egerstedt set about creating a recharge their 20-minute batteries through communal platform with funding from the inductive charging coils in the floor, before National Science Foundation and the Office they are reassigned to a new user. of Naval Research. The Robotarium currently has around 300 The prototype Robotarium used up to 20 users from all walks of life, including groups custom-built robots in an area roughly from Stanford, Arizona State and even Managing director at Audiomotion Studios. 4.2 feet by 3 feet, with a standard camera the Girl Scouts of America, who are using tracking system overhead. Over the last year, the Robotarium to get girls interested in the project has grown in size and scope, science, technology, engineering and math Tell us a little about Audiomotion saw the potential of the technology. Little as the CG character in real time. Actors can and now features up to 50 robots in the (STEM) programs. As user numbers grow, so Audiomotion is a VFX facility that did they know how it would evolve into see themselves as the CG character within swarm. Ongoing improvements will expand too does the demand on the Robotarium’s specializes in motion capture and provides what we see today. the virtual environment like a mirror, which that number even further to 100 robots – equipment. But rather than seeing that as a character animation for video games, VR, enables them to develop their performance including fast-moving quadcopters. This led limitation, the team at the Robotarium take film and TV. The company was established Vicon cameras have been installed at and truly bring the character to life. to an upgrade to Vicon’s IR-based motion it as a challenge. in 1997 and is based just outside of Oxford Audiomotion since its very beginning. What What upcoming Audiomotion projects are Housed in the Van Leer Building in Atlanta’s tracking system. in the U.K. Our facility is equipped with sets them apart from other motion capture you most excited about? Georgia Tech campus, the Robotarium is “We are excited because as our user base three stages, which are all kitted out with systems on the market? We have two major feature films coming out an attempt to democratize the study of Vicon’s IR-based motion tracking system continues to grow and we introduce more the latest Vicon Vantage V16 motion We have worked with several generations in the next six months, but as always, we’re robotics, specifically swarm robotics. It was designed to work with high numbers and more robots, I think we’re going to push capture cameras. Audiomotion has worked of Vicon cameras and software over the not able to talk about them just yet. Both offers a platform where academics and of objects, fast moving and otherwise. On the limits of Vicon,” said Dr. Wilson. “This is on many AAA game titles and feature films, years, and have seen the progression and will be a high point for the company and amateurs, students and hobbyists, or anyone top of a live stream for users to watch, new ground for us, and we intend to push such as Gladiator, World War Z, Maleficent innovation delivered by Vicon. We review crew. We’ll have the popcorn at the ready! that wants to move beyond simulations in the cameras provide precise position and the Vicon system to the limit to see just and Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar the market and test other suppliers when order to test theories using physical robots, orientation data information. With dozens how many objects the software can track at Children. For film series like Narnia and we upgrade the studio, and we have always can do so at no cost. It’s able to offer this of small robots moving at once, standard once. It’s going to be exciting.” Harry Potter, we’ve provided the movement found Vicon to be the most accurate and thanks to generous grants, dozens of small, cameras cannot accurately track each for the centaurs, minotaurs, fauns and elves reliable product available on the market at remotely controlled robots and a series of movement, making the data less useful to you see on screen. the time. eight high-speed Vicon Vantage cameras, high-end research. capable of tracking several fast-moving We’ve had the good fortune to work with This year marks 20 years of Audiomotion – objects at once with precision. “We’re sending data back for world class some brilliant clients, directors, actors and congrats! What’s the key to your success? research. We can’t send our users back stuff sports stars over the years. Some of the The key to our success is down to Swarm robotics is particularly appealing to that is not precise,” said Dr. Sean Wilson, more well-known being Steven Spielberg, the knowledge, experience and the researchers, as it turns a group of robots director of operations at the Robotarium. John Boyega, and Liam Neeson. understanding we have gained over time, into a collective entity that obeys simple “The sub-millimeter precision of Vicon is along with our skilled team. Our relaxed, yet instructions while performing multiple tasks imperative. The ability to separate different We’ve also worked with musicians like the professional approach allows us to integrate in parallel. Its very nature allows for an robots from one another just by the patterns Black Eyed Peas, will.i.am and Take That, creative arts and performance with some inherent redundancy, as single (or several) of balls that we basically just stuck onto the as well as travelling to various locations to very precise technology. Our focus is to individual robots can fail and the group can robots is incredibly useful. It makes tracking capture sportsmen like Cristiano Ronaldo, provide actors the freedom they need, still complete the task. Multiple robots can so much more streamlined.” Lionel Messi, Harry Kane and Rory McIlroy. while we capture every nuance of their also search an area more quickly and with We’ve even managed to squeeze a full F1 pit performance. higher resolution than a single robot. The Robotarium is open to anyone who crew into the studio. Although not every day wants to use it for academic or hobby includes a star-studded cast, we’ve also had How has motion capture changed over the One day, this capability could aid in diverse purposes – the team is considering ways to some more unusual requests, and chariots last decade and how have you responded to situations, from disaster relief and personal allow commercial research without those pulled by horses, dogs and cats have all those changes? defense to construction in inhospitable groups dominating all the available time. been captured too. One of the biggest changes has been the locations: basically, in any situation where Users can design an algorithm to control ability to live stream actors’ performances robots would be more effective than the robotic swarm, using the Robotarium’s What made you set up Audiomotion? directly into game engines. This means we humans. But unfortunately, there has been software, or they can import their own. Audiomotion was originally set up to supply can broadcast the performance in real time a fundamental bottleneck when it comes to After a project has been approved (which both audio and motion captured animation for the directors, allowing them to walk resources and accessibility. involves a simple check to ensure the to a small group of game developers who around the virtual world, seeing the actor

6 7 Gaming Vicon Standard

“We had to convince people internally try things out. We would shoot something in “There’s absolutely no compromise there,” that we could use it for two purposes,” the morning, and it would be in game by the he says. “The shooting volume that we’ve said Matthews. “We could shoot all of our afternoon.” got is certainly comparable to any of our cinematic scenes there, but still use it as other games – we’ve not had to make a meeting room. But honestly, over time Even the actress used for Senua was any compromises, but we’ve saved a lot it’s just turned into a full-on mocap space! in-house – found that video of money. With the help of Vicon, we’ve been able to editor, Melina Juergens, was excellent at not only save a lot on costs, but also give playing the role. “Our noble aim when we set out was, if we ourselves the flexibility to be able to go into can make Hellblade work as an independent our own boardroom and shoot whenever “So not only did we have the studio on hand AAA model, it could prove something to we like.” 24/7, but we also had our actress in five the industry. Not only can we continue to days a week,” laughs Matthews. “She could make the games we want to make, that Vicon helps Ninja Theory battle No frills, but plenty of thrills take a break from making our trailers and our fans want us to make, and make them Once it was up and running, the development diaries, to try out different successful, but other developers who find development team – 20 people rather than movements or scenes. We might say to themselves in a similar situation to us for independence with Hellblade: the hundreds usually found on a typical AAA Melina ‘in this scene, there are flames all can also do so. And players will get more game – were able to explore the potential around you, and you need to be coughing diversity and creativity in their games too.” Senua’s Sacrifice of on-site performance capture. “Normally because of the smoke’. We had that we would have a four-week shoot, and we’d ultimate flexibility to capture whenever we Behind the Scenes: Hellblade Shoot Setup need to do everything in that time,” says wanted, and to try things out.” https://youtu.be/lkgcIsSGmgc Matthews. “But we dotted shooting both the cinematic and in-game animations There is a section in the game where Senua throughout the entire project.” is moving through waist-high water, and she’s having to move hanging bodies out of Vicon’s Blade software was used for the way. “We ended up hanging all of our As the developer of triple AAA games such as , DmC: capturing the motion, as well as initial shoes from the ceiling so we could capture and Enslaved: Odyssey to the West, Ninja Theory has tidying up and processing, relabelling and her wading through moving objects,” says filling the data where needed. The pipeline Matthews. “You wouldn’t be able to do been a pioneer of performance capture from the beginning. moved into Autodesk MotionBuilder to that easily in a mocap suit, and if you did, it construct the scenes, get them in the right would be very expensive.” location and do a first pass on polishing. After 15 successful years of working with capture performances and then process all Vicon worked with Ninja Theory to create a Following that, Autodesk Maya was used to Other very subtle animations were created – big publishers like , Bandai Namco and of that data into game. But doing that is studio using a dozen Bonita cameras. “The bring in the facial animation and carry out things like Senua’s breathing, or having just , the company made the creative incredibly expensive. Vicon guys helped us set up and were on a final polishing. Audio also got involved at a little bit of a limp, or tiredness in her walk. and business decision that its next game hand to support us,” explains Matthews. this stage, with Maya renders as reference. would be their first independent, self- “The aim was always to create a Ninja “But it was relatively straightforward: just This was all exported into to “The whole game is a battle and a struggle, published title. Theory game, a game that really embodies get the cameras out of the box, get them get it triggered in-game, followed by adding and we wanted it to feel like that,” what we’re all about,” Matthews continued. set up, calibrate them, and take it for a spin.” lighting and effects. Matthews explains. “The aim was to make The result was Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, “Included in that is bringing characters to players relate to and engage with Senua a gripping action drama that takes life, with performance capture underpinning “In the spirit of our DIY nature of putting The game is full of customized animations at a deep level, so the more realistic and performance capture and the single player it. But our budget just simply wouldn’t this together, the cameras are attached of specific situations and character motions, nuanced we could be, the more likely a action-adventure genre to a new level, allow us to go abroad to shoot these things, to wardrobe poles from IKEA, while all the developed to replace the typical in-game relationship would develop between player without the budget of a major publisher or even to shoot it in a UK studio. It just lighting that we have in our mocap space is HUD that shows health indicators. and character. A big chunk of that is down behind it. wouldn’t have been possible.” actually ceiling tile lights from Amazon,” he to the bespoke animation that we were able adds. “We’ve managed to put together an “When Senua is injured, we wanted the to capture.” “The ethos of Hellblade is that we wanted Custom-built capture entire mocap space for an absolute fraction players to understand that through the to make a game with creative freedom, but High-quality performance capture was of the cost of flying out somewhere – or the way she looks and moves,” said Matthews. Independent thinking obviously to create a game independently, incredibly important to Ninja Theory’s plans equivalent of what it would cost for four or “So we captured all of that. Our animators Matthews claims that the quality of the we had to self-fund it,” said Dominic for Hellblade. “That’s when we reached out five days in a UK studio.” were able to use the Vicon rig to capture data captured in the boardroom studio has Matthews, commercial director of Ninja to Vicon,” says Matthews. “We explained our different movements, for instance one day been as good as, if not better than, anything Theory. “Previously we’ve had teams of 80 situation and said, it’s a small budget and Ninja Theory’s headquarters in Cambridge, we concentrated on an injured walk and that Ninja Theory has used on any of its to 100 people working on our games. We’ve we want to try to create an in-house mocap England can’t draw upon a resource like got an actress to try out some walk cycles. previous projects. had the budget to fly out to LA or New studio. The response from Vicon was ‘great, a studio space. Instead it has one large That just wouldn’t have been possible if we Zealand and do a big shoot in a big studio, we would love to help you in doing that.’” boardroom. weren’t in house. We had the flexibility to

8 9 Object Tracking Vicon & IMU Vicon helps the Royal Shakespeare Company bring The Tempest to life The last 12 months have been transformational for Auckland, New Zealand, headquartered IMeasureU (IMU). by Matt Clarke, former IMeasureU CEO & now Business Development Director, Vicon Based in Stratford-upon-Avon, the Royal Shakespeare Company is one of the world’s most renowned theater companies.

After a successful capital raising in late acquisition is Vicon and IMU’s combined Besier, IMU Chief Scientist and founder of 2016, we started looking for distribution ability to bridge the gap between the Human Performance Lab at Stanford partners in the biomechanics research, biomechanics researchers and athletes. University. “Putting these data into the clinical and sports science markets who It has never ceased to amaze me that context of bone tissue adaptation then could leverage our technology into their universities with some of the smartest provides the athlete, coach, trainer and existing customer base and help us execute scientists and greatest young athletes in support staff with the information they on our ambitions to build a global sensor the world do not connect the dots between need to make an informed decision to and software business. those two cohorts. optimize training workload and return-to- play scenarios. “Being able to measure and IMU Step will bring about new monitor the impact loads of understanding of injury biomechanics as we every step during training move outside the lab and obtain accurate measurements in the real world. As my Known for performing the works of included technology which had never been the PosiStageNet protocol – an industry and competition provides colleague, Irene Davis at Harvard University Shakespeare and his contemporaries, used on stage. By bringing in the expertise standard that is used to drive interactive an unprecedented ability to says, ’This is biomechanics in the wild!’.” the organization puts on around 20 of Vicon and the use of their motion effects and lighting on stage. understand and act upon an productions a year, regularly tours the UK capture cameras, the performance was The d3 system with Vicon integration Dr. Besier, along with IMU co-founder and and internationally, and has produced the further enhanced and greatly added to “performed robustly and reliably for the individual players load profile.” head of development, Mark Finch, leads multi-award-winning Matilda: The Musical. the audiences’ experience.’ said Ben whole run in Stratford – 82 performances, Vicon’s inertial research and development Lumsden, then Head of Studio at The which although expected from my point of Coaches have long recognized the high function in Auckland. Thor and Mark, Ever eager to push boundaries and bring the Imaginarium Studio. view, is still pretty impressive, given performance and injury prevention value who met at the Auckland Bioengineering works of William Shakespeare to a younger how hard we were pushing the tech, “ in movement efficiency and training load Institute and Auckland University, retain audience, the theater company set about Opening in Stratford-upon-Avon Griffin reports. It was during these exploratory distribution optimization, but have been constrained strong links with academia. creating a ground-breaking production of Using Vicon’s cameras and object-tracking conversations that acquisition of IMeasureU by the limitations of technology in getting The Tempest in collaboration with Intel software, Tracker, members of the Royal Taking a final bow at the Barbican became a possible outcome. Many of accurate, actionable insights from the It’s via these links that Vicon and IMU and in association with the Imaginarium Shakespeare Company were able to capture With a long-standing relationship with one IMU’s clients (all early adopters of inertial field that still allow athletes to move in will stay on the leading edge of wearable Studios, to mark the 400th anniversary and track various objects, such as the of London’s most iconic theaters, it was only sensors for field-based biomechanics their natural unencumbered environment. biotechnology, for example, the machine of Shakespeare’s death in 2016. Evoking tambours, on stage. It also allowed them right that the cast of The Tempest took their research) were and are motion capture Conversely, biomechanics researchers have learning work we are doing with the U.S. the same magic as that of the masques to monitor the position of screens used to final bow at the Barbican. As the Barbican users, and use their Vicon systems as the long known that their expertise could add and Australian military to automatically of Shakespeare’s day, the production stars project virtual characters like Ariel. This stage is larger and wider (proscenium arch ground truth from which to compare their value to athletics programs. IMU, backed by identify and characterize different activities Simon Russell Beale as Prospero and Mark meant that the production team could format) than that of the thrust stage of IMU data. This, coupled with Vicon CEO Vicon and powered by research, will deliver and movements in military, sport, and Quartley as the sprite Ariel. Premiering on automate the projection of animated visual the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, this final Imogen Moorhouse’s vision to bridge the sport coaches, physical therapists, strength clinical settings. stage at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre elements onto the moving objects on stage performance required a slightly different gap between the lab and the field, plus her and conditioning coaches and athletes in November 2016 before transferring to provide the audience with a Pepper’s technical set-up in order to utilize the long-standing relationship with IMeasureU precise, applied, actionable insights that With IMU Step and IMU/Vicon data sync due into London in summer 2017 and being ghost effect. With precision tracking acclaimed cutting-edge technology. Chief Scientist and Co-founder Dr Thor improve performance and reduce the risk for release early 2018, and a whole bunch broadcast live into cinemas, the innovative capabilities, the Vicon system maximized Besier, quickly enabled trusted and open of injury. of other research, sport science and clinical production has gone down in history as the the impact of this illusory experience. Typically, cameras would be placed farther lines of communications between our two applications in the pipeline, I’m genuinely first major stage production to feature live Tracker data also enabled the augmented away in order to extend the tracking area of organizations. The first example of this is IMU Step, excited about what lies ahead for Vicon and motion capture. reality aspects of the production and a space. However, with limited auditorium which consists of two high frequency, IMU customers in 2018 and beyond. allowed imagery to be projected onto space at the Barbican, this wasn’t an option The IMU and Vicon teams were excited synchronized sensors on each ankle, which Alongside their collaboration with Intel, screens in real time. for the production team, who instead and proud to announce Vicon’s acquisition collect data on each step that an athlete “IMU Step will bring about the RSC worked closely with leading utilized Vicon’s Vero cameras. As the Vero of IMeasureU in July 2017. The respective takes. That step data is then analyzed via production company and Vicon customer “Certainly, the RSC haven’t done anything cameras have a wider field of view, it was company synergies in the biomechanics scientifically validated algorithms in the new understanding of injury The Imaginarium Studios, as motion capture like this before and to my knowledge it easy for technicians to place the cameras research market, both Vicon and IMU’s cloud and presented back to athletes and biomechanics as we move technology featured heavily throughout the has never been done to this scale or this around the stage and continue to capture traditional core businesses, are clear. coaches as actionable insights via mobile/ performance, allowing the production team ambition on the stage,” says Pete Griffin, the movements as they happened on stage. Customers will save huge amounts of desktop/web apps. The IMU Step solution outside the lab and obtain to create digital characters live on stage. production manager at the RSC. “I think for This afforded the team a greater level of time and money when conducting their was built to help running-based sports like accurate measurements in In order to seamlessly combine classical me the most exciting bit was being able flexibility and the capacity to efficiently research, via simple and seamless data basketball, cross country, field hockey and the real world.” theater with contemporary technology, to apply cutting-edge technology to a live track movements at a very low latency. synchronization of their indoor motion American football to better manage lower Vicon’s optical camera system was used to environment.” The Vicon cameras and Tracker software capture system and outdoor inertial system. limb load and reduce injury risk. track the whereabouts of moving objects ensured that the performance finished Vicon has the enviable reputation as the on stage – some of which were held by the The set-up was complex and required a its successful run and set the stage for gold standard in motion capture globally, “Being able to measure and monitor the actors themselves. bespoke software solution, which saw future use of motion capture technology in and native integration of indoor and outdoor impact loads of every step during training a collaboration between Vicon and d3 theatrical performances. data capture will serve only to enhance this. and competition provides an unprecedented ‘The biggest challenge for us was making technologies to develop a new pipeline. Besides bridging the gap between the ability to understand and act upon an sure that the worlds integrated correctly, as Using the data generated by Tracker, the The RSC production is now available to buy lab and the field, another key tenet of the individual player’s load profile,” said Dr. Thor this theatrical production of The Tempest team was able to drive d3’s software using on DVD (www.rsc.org.uk). 10 11 Motion Capture Society

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12 13 Gaming Object Tracking Vicon Helps Iran’s Largest UC Berkeley Uses Mocap to Help VFX Studio Shine Build a Pint-Sized Rescue Robot

As the largest producer of games, animation and visual effects in Iran, When search and rescue workers respond to a structure that has Raymon Media Company has a reputation for providing integrated, collapsed, one of the greatest threats they face is another cave-in high-quality services to game developers and filmmakers. while seeking out survivors.

Located in eastern Tehran, the studio sits recognized that it needed to take its Calibrating the Future movements and control strategies to The current version of the robot, known as in the creative capital of the country, an character animation to the next level. The studio is capable of full-performance, improve the capabilities and performance Salto-1P, features a durable, but lightweight area that is quickly becoming known for full-body capture of up to seven people of small robots. This led to the creation of carbon fiber shell. It has a takeoff velocity producing some of the most state-of-the- Powerful Insight simultaneously, giving Raymon Media a their new project, Saltatorial Locomotion on of over four meters per second, and spends art animation throughout the Middle East. Raymon Media set its sights on creating flexible and high-quality solution. The Terrain Obstacles, or Salto for short. around 70m/s on the ground during each And with the VFX industry in the region a large, 154-square-meter mocap volume. consultation process with Vicon’s sole stance. The team controls the battery- expanding at an exponential pace and But as the team had no prior mocap Iranian distributor ensured that the new Developed by roboticist Duncan Haldane, powered robot by setting its orientation bringing increased competition with it, experience, it was vital that they received studio fulfilled all of Raymon Media’s electrical engineering and computer in the air, based on its location, how Raymon Media needed to be ahead of the the right advice to help them to create requirements – from using the full potential sciences professor Ron Fearing, electrical fast it’s going, and where it will touch a curve to stay on top. and maximize the best capture volume for of the space to providing robust and reliable engineering PhD student and postdoctoral solid . Once it lands, the optical their requirements. After looking at all the data by integrating Vicon’s Blade data- scholar Justin Yim, and postdoctoral scholar system detects contact. The controllers options, Raymon turned to Vicon. processing and capture tool. Dr. Mark Plecnik, the group began work in then transmit a burst of energy to send it 2015. The result is Salto, a pint-sized robot airborne again, and repeat. “We looked at a couple of other systems as “For us, the challenge was guaranteeing a Over the years, there have been several roughly the size of a smartphone, which well as Vicon, but two factors really stood high-quality, full-performance capture rig for attempts to address this, from mobile is capable of jumping huge distances and Ultimately, it will be up to the end users to out to us when making that final decision,” our studio space,” Nemati adds “The Vicon cameras to audio sensors to drones and navigating obstacles. Although still very decide how best to use Salto, including the said Nemati. “First, there was a significant team used their knowledge and expertise more, but they all face severe limitations much a prototype, it can spring up, bounce type of controls and cameras or observation level of support offered to us by Vicon’s local to design the space and deliver a system when it comes to navigating unstable off walls, and – in theory – move through tools with which they want to equip the distributor ASG Co. Having a presence on that’s easy to use. They familiarized us with wreckage. small and unstable places quickly, with robot. There is still a lot of work to be done the ground was very important and certainly the whole motion capture process, teaching relative ease. before the little robot can be used in a Raymon Media occupies a 4,000-square- helped during the procurement process – us how to set up the system, position and Researchers at the University of California real-life rescue situation. For now, the team meter facility with capacity for around 250 especially the reassurance of support once calibrate the cameras, capture the data Berkeley’s Biomimetic Millisystems Lab are To help develop Salto, the researchers will continue to work on precision controls, animators. It prides itself on identifying the system was installed. The second factor using Vicon’s Blade software, and integrate currently working on a possible solution to turned to Vicon. The motion capture lab followed in the near future by onboard and supporting young creatives within was the superior quality of the Vicon system it to create a seamless pipeline with our this problem: a small, maneuverable robot at Berkeley now consists of two Vicon MX sensors, in the hope that one day, their little the industry, and to attract and retain the and software.” existing CG software. It’s been a great inspired by a species known as Galago Giganet boxes and 12 MX T40 cameras, robotic bushbaby will help save lives. rising talent throughout the area, it needed investment.” senegalensis - more commonly referred to operating alongside Nexus version 1.8.5 to stand out. Although animation is still Raymon Media chose Vicon Vantage cameras, as a “bushbaby.” software, all aimed at providing highly a relatively new industry in Iran, Raymon investing in a 24-camera Vantage 16 accurate pose tracking, which is necessary “Vicon is a very convenient Media elected to invest in up-to-date system. At 16 megapixels, the Vantage is the The bushbaby is a small nocturnal primate, for controlling Salto. way to take high-quality technology in order to ensure that it can world’s most powerful mocap camera, able typically no more than 30 cm long. Their offer high-quality content that rivals the to deliver the high-quality data and tracking powerful legs can propel them over two The Vicon system offers pose tracking at measurements of robot best studios around the world. capabilities that Raymon Media needed, meters high, due in part to the elastic 100Hz over an area of roughly two meters performance, and is along with speeds of up to 120 fps. Powerful energy storage found in the tendons of wide by four meters long. Recorded data sufficiently fast for good “It was important for us to broaden our analytics and intelligent system updates their lower legs. A bushbaby’s legs act in a is then sent to a laptop running the Robot offering and adopt new techniques also came as standard, ensuring optimum similar way to the way in which the gears Operating System (ROS), which estimates real-time control of our highly to create realistic, natural and lifelike performance during capture sessions. in a compound bow make it possible to Salto’s velocity based on the pose data. It dynamic terrestrial robots.” movements, especially as we look to take release an arrow with more power than arm then calculates control signals and sends on more high-profile projects in the future,” “After testing the Vantage system, it became “We looked at a couple of strength alone. necessary data back to the robot over an said Ali Nemati, Head of the Motion Capture clear just how accurate the tracking data other systems as well as XBee radio connection. The Vicon system Studio at Raymon Media. was. Additionally, Vicon’s Blade software Their motion in flight also allows them to replaced a set of high-speed cameras, which allows us to easily create and overlay Vicon, but two factors really remain compact and then extend their feet lacked Vicon’s detail and required a separate Before adopting a mocap system, the images onto CG environments,” explains stood out to us when making at the last possible second, which enables system to process the data. animators at Raymon Media created Nemati. “The system has provided us with that final decision.” them to chain huge jumps together, one characters using computerized 3D high-quality results within a reasonably after another, off multiple surfaces. “Vicon is a very convenient way to take animations. The process is effective and short amount of time.” high-quality measurements of robot common throughout the VFX industry, The jumping abilities of bushbabies have performance, and is sufficiently fast for but the team often found it challenging to Raymon Media’s newly installed Vantage been extensively recorded and documented good real-time control of our highly dynamic create human characters that looked and system is now the largest mocap studio by a host of researchers. That made the terrestrial robots,” said Yim. “The ease and moved with a high degree of realism. in the Middle East, enabling the studio to small creature ideal for the Biomimetic consistency of setup made it smoother to With the development of a game called enhance the realism of its animations and Millisystems team, as they considered run day-to-day robot experiments.” Javanmardan in the pipeline, the company shave hours off post production. new ways to harness features of animal

14 15 Biomechanics and Sport Vicon Standard

The Ice Hockey Research Group Braves the Ice with Vicon to Study Hitting the Ice Following Shell’s publication, the IHRG “...having the Vicon support The first on-ice study that the IHRG decided to incorporate some of her methods conducted compared the skating start and include female athletes in more of through the study was really the Effects of Hockey biomechanics of male ice hockey players its studies. invaluable. I can’t praise the with different levels of skill and experience. support team enough for Since then, the IHRG completed and Speeding Ahead published a second study, authored by Soon after Shell completed her study, IHRG what they did. I might still be Jaymee Shell, a masters graduate student at upgraded their system to include a Vantage labeling my data if it weren’t McGill University at the time. Shell studied and Vero optical camera, bringing the total the biomechanical differences between number of cameras to 18. Soon after the for them!” For Canadians, hockey is more than just a pastime – it’s a way of life. male and female players to identify potential upgrade, the IHRG expanded their studies From a young age, many Canadians learn to skate. It can become factors that may be implicated in lower to include puck shots, which brought with body injuries. it the added risk of a puck bouncing back as natural as walking to some, but the reality is that skating – and and hitting a camera. To compensate, target especially hockey – can take its toll. “As reported in prior running research, nets were placed far enough back out of frontal plane differences between genders the capture area to reduce the risk of any in hip and knee movements exist,” said collisions. Over the years, there have been several The problems with using sophisticated “The Vicon setup on the ice replicated Shell. “We wanted to look at male and attempts to document the physical effects tools to track skaters on ice are numerous. the in-lab configuration on a larger scale,” female ice hockey players and see if similar The team later added a Bonita camera that skating and hockey can have on the The cold temperatures and humidity can explains Philippe Renaud, IHRG Research lower body kinematic differences existed or alongside the Vantage to overlay the human body. But there has always been an wreak havoc on delicate equipment over Assistant. “This included extra safety were greater.” video with stick figure motions, making it obvious and prohibitive obstacle: how do time, and attempting to create a temporary, measures, such as added weights to tripods easier to communicate their findings with you conduct delicate, scientific research in portable solution typically involves placing for greater stability, and suspended cable The indoor ice rink’s cold temperatures others. EMG and force sensors were later the cold, on ice? hazardous wires and objects directly on bridging over the skating ice path, plus and high humidity were challenging for introduced, all synchronized through Vicon the ice. Previous studies have attempted to special gloves to type on the computer in the cameras. There was the fear that the software. The Ice Hockey Research Group (IHRG) recreate the movements of a hockey player the cold. It worked out really well.” reflection from the ice would obscure working out of McGill University in Montreal, using synthetic ice or a skating treadmill, marker tracking, but the equipment had “To date, we’ve achieved a 15-meter FOV Canada, found the answer to exactly that but these lacked the validation of what it The Vicon system initially consisted of no issues. The study represents a major over the ice surface,” Pearsall explains. “In question when it turned to Vicon. is actually like on the ice. It also limited the T-Series cameras running Nexus software, achievement in 3D mocap, as the team skating, when you’re at full speed, you can strides of people on skates, which on ice which were placed on and around a rink. was able to expand its range and calibrate do 15 meters in two strides. As well, the Mocap on Ice tend be around five meters. Once the team knew where everything was a large 15m × 3m × 2m capture volume increased pixel count and resolution of The IHRG was created to evaluate the going, they still needed to be able to get in on the ice to record skating kinetics, with the Vantage cameras helps maintain the ergonomic and mechanical function of In 2014, Dr. David J. Pearsall, IHRG Director and out quickly. According to Pearsall, the high intra-trial reliability. They did run into resolution needed to track the full-body skates, sticks and protective equipment and Associate Professor of Kinesiology and process was similar to a pit crew team in an issue, but the team was able to turn to marker set.” – in respect to performance and safety Physical Education at McGill University, motor racing. Vicon application engineer John Porter, who when used by people on the ice. A research decided to risk it and try Vicon’s motion Shell says, “saved her project.” The IHRG’s success has also led to studies partnership with Bauer Hockey Ltd. and the capture (mocap) cameras and software, “Ice time is costly,” said Pearsall. “We can’t in other fields beyond hockey, including Natural Science and Engineering Research equipment that carried a reputation for leave the cameras set up permanently, so “It wasn’t the cameras’ fault at all – the working with groups to better understand Council of Canada (NSERC) provides both durability. The IHRG team began by creating we have to set up, test and take everything cameras did exactly what they had to do,” how footwear performs on snow and ice. financial and testing materials, which a synthetic ice rink in order to get a sense down within three to four hours. Everyone she says. “But having the Vicon support With the help of the Vicon cameras, the team has led to the development of a unique of where the cameras needed to be placed knows their jobs. We’ve got it down to a through the study was really invaluable. I is able to collect more data than ever before, graduate biomechanics program focused on and positioned. Once they were confident fine art.” can’t praise the support team enough for which could prove to be invaluable to people how people use and react with ice hockey of their configuration, they prepared for the what they did. I might still be labeling my that consider the ice a second home. equipment. real thing. data if it weren’t for them!”

16 17 Entertainment Clinical Science Hip Hop Heritage Expanding Possibilities: Vicon creates a digital afterlife Brings New Options to Brazil’s for British breakdancers Nove de Julho University

Arts charity uses Vicon motion capture to preserve the signature The use of motion capture in the medical field is moves of a pioneering generation of UK B-boys long after their becoming more and more common, especially when it originators have stopped spinning. comes to issues related to movement.

Video can show you a great move, like a To maintain fidelity, Darkin stuck closely to Could you tell us a little about the project the effect of load progression on muscle slam or a head spin, but you can’t analyze it the processed data. “I was surprised at how you are using Vicon on? strengthening in patients with shoulder pain. clinically, as you can with mocap.” sharp it was,” he says. “What people call Using Vicon high-speed mocap cameras clean-up is often you as an artist making and Nexus software, the team specializes The third and largest of the focuses involves Recreating a dance revolution your guess at how the movement works. in clinical and investigative practices in the analysis of different clinical tests and On top of that, there simply isn’t a lot of But this project wasn’t just about getting movement analysis for musculoskeletal different functional tasks of patients with video. Aside from lone 1985 documentary something that looked good: it was about disorder, methods of application and patellofemoral pain. This project uses the Electro Rock, very little contemporary cataloguing what someone does with their analysis and clinical research. The focus associated Plug-in Gait and OFM models footage exists of 1980s British B-boy arms and legs when they do a certain move.” of the research is on motion analysis, to quantify major clinical tests involving technique, with its unique fusion of then biomechanics, functional assessment and motor control and biomechanical changes cutting-edge New York style and older To test the data, Darkin imported it to 3ds musculoskeletal disorders. The project in patients with patellofemoral pain, and is British genres such as Northern soul and Max via MotionBuilder, assigning it to a began in 2013, with some of the results also being used to identify which functional These days, some of the popping and fusion. basic CATRig. For the final animation, the having been released as published papers, task is most sensitive to differentiate locking may be due to ageing joints, but data was retargeted to a stock Poser figure. Clinics and research groups around the but patient care and research are ongoing. patients from healthy women. thanks to arts charity Hip Hop Heritage, a To rectify the situation, Jones turned to one Darkin adjusted the figure’s face to match world are using the technology to help pivotal moment in British urban dance has of the stars of Electro Rock: former London that of Dolby D, making further adjustments patients and test subjects lead better lives, What were the main benefits What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced? been motion-captured for posterity. All Star Breakers member – and in Jones’s within ZBrush, before exporting the rigged but it requires sophisticated equipment and of using Vicon? The main challenges of the projects were to estimation, “probably the best-known character to 3ds Max. The facial textures expertise, which means that each group Besides the quality of the cameras and validate the models showing that they are The data, recorded by Vicon’s mobile breakdancer of that era” – Dolby D (David are based on reference photos of the currently using mocap tends to focus on software, having the ability to integrate reproducible, and that they can be used to capture unit, and shown in the recent Bramothe). Along with former Kylie Minogue dancer, composited in Photoshop to create one specialty. The Nove de Julho University and study several areas all related to identify the movement dysfunctions, and ‘Afterlife’ exhibition at Wolverhampton Art rapper Jazzy P (Pauline Bennett) and a diffuse map. (UNINOVE), however, is an exception. rehabilitation. The laboratory does not focus to quantify the effects of the treatments Gallery, preserves the signature moves of Yorkshire-based dancers 10 Tonn (Shane only in one area of knowledge, and we are offered to the patients. These challenges pioneering 1980s UK breakdancers, if not Fenton) and Sammy (Sammy Palmer), Located in São Paulo, Brazil, the Nove de integrating different professionals into the were solved with exhaustive reproducibility at the peaks of their careers, then at least Dolby D was one of four UK breakdance Julho University is one of South America’s project. That allows us to provide assistance studies of the models. within head-spinning distance of them. pioneers recorded during a two-day shoot at largest private higher education institutions. to many more patients. We have been able Wolverhampton’s Newhampton Arts Centre The school features five campuses and to make the analysis of movement apply What is the project’s timeline? Going beyond photography theater in April 2015. a dedicated research center, including to different areas of knowledge using the All projects started in 2013 and are in The project was masterminded by Hip Hop the human movement analysis laboratory Vicon system. constant development. Some results have Heritage founder Martin Jones: a former The shoot, overseen by Vicon support (NAPAM). The lab is currently working on already been published, but patient care entertainment agent, organizer of the World manager Bob Dimmock, used an array of 10 a major project featuring a multidisciplinary What are the specific goals of the project? and research are ongoing. Street Art Championships, and manager of Bonita B10 cameras to record the dancers’ approach, with three groups each using The laboratory has three lines of research breakdance crew Wolverhampton B Boys, moves, resulting in over 25 usable takes mocap technology to improve the lives in full operation and constant development. whose members included future drum and per dancer, averaging 15 seconds in length. of patients. All lines of research are in collaboration with bass pioneer, Goldie. Vicon staff then processed the data in professors and researchers at the UNINOVE, Blade, Vicon’s motion-capture software, and Professor Paulo R.G. Lucareli, a full under Prof. Daniela A Biasotto-Gonzalez, In 2014, Jones’s photos of the 1980s later in Shōgun, Blade’s successor. researcher and professor in Masters and Prof. Fabiano Politti and Prof. João C F Correa. UK B-boy scene became the core of a Doctoral Programs in Rehabilitation Science national archive, currently held at Dudley “Using Shōgun gave us a big advantage and at the Nove de Julho University, discussed The first line of research uses motion Archives and Local History Service. But delivered clean, usable data automatically in the multidisciplinary approach to clinical capture to record the kinematic model in when Wolverhampton B Boys member one pass,” says Dimmock. research and the role Vicon played to make order to evaluate jaw movement in patients Keiado ‘Kiddo’ Anderson mentioned that Spinning and windmilling forever it a reality. with temporomandibular joint dysfunction his movement had been captured at Bringing data to life We’re commemorating what [the originators (TMD). That has led to a working model that Loughborough University, Jones began Meanwhile, in 2017, Martin Jones secured of those moves] achieved as dancers. How long have you been using Vicon? is currently being used to test the effects to explore mocap as an additional funding from Artsfest, the University of Through motion capture, we’ve captured I’ve been a Vicon customer since 2001. of TMD. recording medium. Wolverhampton’s arts festival, to take their essence, and through the archive, Vicon helped me to start my career in gait the cleaned data a step further. Working we’re giving them an afterlife so that they analysis. I continued to use Vicon cameras The second focus is to create a model to “Motion capture provides a much more through local producer Ben Field, Jones can carry on forever.” and software as I expanded into other fields, quantify the movements of the scapula, detailed analysis of dance technique than contracted CG artist Christian Darkin of including foot, upper limbs (scapula) and upper limbs and trunk for patients with video,” he argues. “It gives a 360-degree Anachronistic to turn the live recordings jaw movements. I chose Vicon because of shoulder dysfunction. The model is currently view of the dancer, at low, mid and high into an animated digital version of Dolby D the quality of products and an excellent being used to better understand the role levels, and it can be user-controlled. performing his signature moves. relationship with the Vicon support team. of scapular dyskinesis and to evaluate

18 19 Clinical Science Vicon Standard

“We know pain inhibits A full-body marker set includes a total short and long term. For surgical patients, of 41 markers. The TBI surgical team has one-year reports can be compared not only motion. Before treatment also developed a spine model, adding nine to pre-surgery reports, but also to healthy or surgery, patients tend to additional markers. After the cameras are control subjects. Part of Dr. Haddas’ goal calibrated, the team collects data on gait, is to educate the medical community – take shorter steps, and they speed and cadence, measuring every joint physicians, physical therapists and the From Hollywood to Hospitals: How the adopt a wider stance to angle – including the ankle, knee and hip medical insurance industry – about how accommodate loss – in three dimensions and at 300 frames mocap-aided human motion studies can be per second. Electromyography (EMG) data used to better diagnose, treat, rehabilitate Texas Back Institute is Using Mocap to of balance.” measuring electrical activity produced by and track spine conditions. the muscles is also fully-integrated within Revolutionize Spinal Care The sophisticated features of the Vantage the Vicon software platform. This provides But the ultimate objective, says Dr. Haddas, system, including the onboard sensors physicians with a full picture of how much “Is for every patient to be completely healthy within the cameras that detect excessive muscle energy a patient is expending in the and equal to someone who requires no heat or movement, have also made the gait cycle, the degree of swing in lumbar surgery at all.” A lofty goal, but one that entire process simpler and more efficient. balance tests, lifting and balance details everyone involved is extremely proud to This comes in handy when someone bumps and more. be a part of. a camera, which can happen frequently in The Texas Back Institute (TBI), a private multi-disciplinary spine care a lab environment. If this happened in the With height, weight and other Take a closer look at the TBI Lab: past, capture would need to stop and the measurements, the team can also https://youtu.be/BjNZ3n-Z2Zw center headquartered in Plano, Texas, is dedicated to improving the whole system would need to be manually calculate a patient’s exact center of mass lives of patients through research, knowledge and wide-ranging recalibrated. Now, recalibration is quick and and displacement. During a one-minute done with a single click. test, physicians can track the extent of treatment approaches. displacement of the center of mass of a Medicine in motion scoliosis patient, which averages almost For more than 40 years, the institute there is limited research on human motion in front – this particular camera is critical Due to its global reputation and proximity a full meter, while a non-affected person has integrated the best of science and and the spine - and what does exist focuses to assessing the pain scale. The camera to nationally renowned medical centers moves only 20–25 centimeters. education into innovative care for all types primarily on gait. With its new lab, TBI would records fine facial movements like an in Texas, the Texas Back Institute motion of spine conditions. Focusing on the head, be able to produce research that had a big eyebrow or lip twitch, which occur when lab is extremely busy. In the first year, 100 These advances are all made possible neck and lumbar regions, TBI’s team of impact on the analysis and treatment of a patient experiences pain. The camera is patients visited the lab, and that number for the first time thanks to the Vicon physicians can address everything from spine surgeries commonly performed at TBI used as a sort of psychological test, helping doubled in the second. Patients come to equipment and the TBI lab. Dr. Haddas chronic lower back pain to scoliosis in and beyond. to identify the correlation between pain obtain analysis for a wide range of issues, also recently developed a new method adults and children. But to do so, they need and motion. including degenerative disc disease, for quantifying dynamic balance testing as much information as possible. A dream setup osteoporosis, spinal stenosis, fractures and in spine disorder patients. After testing is With the support of his TBI colleagues, The pain that patients feel and how it’s sacroiliac joint pain. Candidates for surgical complete, all data is processed using an Data lies at the heart of good treatment Dr. Haddas was able to design and equip measured is a critical part of the assessment procedures generally undergo testing one auto-labeling technique. Reports are then decisions, whether it is surgical or non- his dream lab. As a research assistant and treatment process. It is regularly week before their operation for a baseline generated for physicians. surgical in nature. This led TBI to build an in college, Dr. Haddas became familiar measured by a highly subjective rating study, then return for a short-term follow advanced motion capture lab, supported with motion capture thanks to a Vicon system where patients rate discomfort on a up. They then finish with a final visit about “While there is almost unlimited data from by a generous grant from a New York system he encountered. The idea and its one-to-ten scale. However, everyone has a a year after surgery. Vicon, it needs to be distilled. We generally investment firm that specializes in potential for the medical field stuck with different perception of pain, depending on a provide five to ten highlights for the orthopedics, Viscogliosi Brothers. The him, and when the opportunity to create whole host of factors. Vicon and integrated Rather than focus on treadmill analysis, doctors.” As Dr. Haddas explains, the data genesis of the lab began two and a half the lab arose he explored several solutions, EMG data can help to quantify pain and patients walk freely in the lab, as it more summarizes walking speed, step length years ago at the hands of Dr. Ram Haddas, ultimately deciding that Vicon outshone the establish more objective criteria. accurately mimics real-world movement and width, and range of motion. “We know TBI’s Director of Research, and a PhD and competition. conditions. Surgery is traditionally based pain inhibits motion. Before treatment medical engineer. Physicians can compare, for example, what on static imaging, but as soon as patients or surgery, patients tend to take shorter The TBI system consists of ten 16-megapixel a patient says with how fast they’re walking start to move, things change. The Vicon steps, and they adopt a wider stance to Dr. Haddas saw the potential to create a Vantage cameras set up throughout a 900 or their range of motion. There is a proven system allows physicians to see precisely accommodate loss of balance.” research environment that not only met square foot lab. The setup features five relationship between physical and mental how patients enter their gait cycle, and TBI’s demanding specifications, but would cameras in the back and five in the front, states, and through Vicon data and analysis, it enables analysis of joint angles and Inspiring outcomes also incorporate the best technology that alongside two Bonita video cameras, one medical teams are able to scientifically movements. When the spine is engaged, Reports generated by the lab help with the industry had to offer. Even today with all in profile, so doctors can see a patient’s correlate the two. the lumbar, neck, thorax and head can all patients’ diagnoses and establishing the recent advances in medical technology, gait from the side, and the other positioned be affected. controls, pre- and post-surgery, for both the

20 21 Clinical Science Virtual Reality How Uruguay’s Leading Pediatric Development in Motion Capture: Rehabilitation Center Uses Mocap Are the Life Science and Entertainment To Help Children and Teens Markets Out of Sync?

In 2012, Teletón Rehabilitacion Infantil, one of Uruguay’s leading Out of Sync. Jealous. This is how I would describe the Life Sciences rehabilitation centers for children and teenagers, came up with an (LS) and Entertainment (ENT) markets for motion capture. idea to help better serve its patients. by Alex Muir, Asia Pacific Group Manager, Vicon and Managing Director, Logemas

Since its founding, we have managed Why did you choose Vicon? to solve their animation skeletons. One with your Enforcer Sub Machine Gun could to help more than 4,000 children and Because Vicon is a company with a long market’s advances have always driven the be driving advances in athlete performance teenagers. history in motion capture and life sciences. other, but just out of phase. The Vicon staff and rehabilitation. Ultimately, the software’s flexibility and I know best what all our customers What led you to gait analysis allows us to do what we need, and the are doing, and when we can leverage all of Clearly, I am breezing over some of the for your patients? hardware produces quality, precise data. this information it is truly one of the most challenges and we were able to stand As one of the leading rehabilitation centers The integration of third-party hardware has satisfying moments of my job (Peking Duck on the shoulders of giants. However, we in our country, we have to give the best also been helpful. Other leading hospitals at Da Dong in Beijing is a close second). reached a moment where the two main services to our patients, offering them frequently use Vicon as well, which is markets for Vicon were no longer out of the best possible solutions. Children with convenient. One of those moments for me was at the sync – they were actually perfectly aligned. cerebral palsy, for example, often need ISB conference in Brisbane earlier this year. I know examples of this are going to orthopedic surgery, and gait analysis has What have the biggest challenges been? We wanted to take the real world question become more and more frequent. shown that the outcome of surgeries We wanted to make the most out of Nexus, of, “What if we immersed an athlete into a Using a piece of proprietary software improves when understanding the so learning all of the features took a lot of Virtual Reality scenario to measure their and a handful of cameras, the medical biomechanics of how kids walk. That’s why time and energy – not because the software ability under changing game situations?” facility decided to record the gaits of its we started this entire project. is difficult to use, but because it is very Think that sounds pretty easy? Just an young patients in order to help them gain flexible and it lets you do almost whatever The Life Sciences market is peering over extension of Wii tennis? Not exactly. increased mobility. The team at Teletón How many people work in the lab? you want. The support team helped us a lot the partition at its flashy colleague, thinking The hard part was making sure we didn’t learned quite a bit about gait analysis in the The team includes two physical therapists, with this. how exciting their life must be, meeting change the game/athlete behavior, but kept process, but they soon hit a technical wall. one physiatrist, two orthopedic surgeons movie stars and attending premieres. the ability to measure at biomechanics and an engineer (me). It is a small team, What have the main benefits of lab levels. We were able to combine Life Tracking the movements of patients but one of our main strengths is the this system been? Meanwhile, the Entertainment market Science standards perfectly with an with a range of neuro-musculoskeletal teamwork. We do all of our data gathering It helped to create a more reliable struggles through their morning coffee Entertainment application and make it injuries ranging from cerebral palsy to in interdisciplinary teams. infrastructure and a superior technology wishing they had a regular 9–5 job like valid for both. myelomeningocele can significantly base. It has also been a big time saver and the more stable Life Science market. You increase the recovery time after an What role did Vicon play? helped us avoid repetitive work. Creating would think our customers from different We took third-party information from force operation and help with non-invasive In 2012, we developed our own software our own pipelines and the ability to adapt markets are poles apart. I think they are platforms and EMG via the Vicon Lock+, therapies, including various forms of for gait analysis with some small motion the user interface has been a huge help as just out of sync. What is important for the synced with the Vicon motion capture data physical therapy. But as with any medical capture cameras. From that moment on, we well. It is also nice to work with the world- Entertainment market right now is almost in Nexus, overlaid synced HD video from the science, it requires precise measurements. started to learn a lot about gait analysis and leading company of motion capture. the least important thing for the Life Science Vicon Vue, used the Vicon real time SDK to “Close enough” is not acceptable when it started studying more and more patients. market, but in the next period that changes. pipe the information to the Unreal Game comes to the health of a patient, so Teletón In 2013, we inaugurated our first Gait Lab, Engine, calibrated the game world to be decided to upgrade its system to include where we only had kinematics. At a certain I have always loved the line from the in the same world space as the real world, eight Vicon Vantage 5-megapixel motion point, the software limitations, the lack Simpsons, “Very few cartoons are broadcast displayed this in real time through the Vive tracking cameras and the Nexus software. of flexibility for biomechanical modeling live, it’s a terrible strain on the animator’s VR headset, and displayed force vectors and and the need for third-party hardware wrists.” And I have always thought that it biomechanical data in real time through Nicolas Peña is Teletón’s Gait Lab engineer, integration started to be an issue. sums up our LIFE SCIENCE customers… Very a , but most importantly, met and he explains how motion capture few papers are published in real time. the goal of immersing an athlete into the cameras are being used to help improve When it was time to upgrade, we purchased game situation while still maintaining the the lives of patients, and why Teletón an eight Vantage camera system Traditionally, the difference has always situation as ecologically valid. chose Vicon. (5-megapixels), two force plates and an been real time. Real time is/was of the EMG system. We also started using the utmost importance to the Entertainment The advantage of using a game engine Could you tell us a little about Teletón? Nexus software to calculate kinematics market and the Life Science market couldn’t is being able to change the athlete’s Teletón is a non-profit rehabilitation and kinetics through Plug-in Gait, and we care less. Now the advances in real time perspective, all at the press of a keyboard. center that treats children and teenagers also calculate the output angles using a requested by the Entertainment market are The Life Science community is able to with neuro-musculoskeletal diseases to functional model calibration. We’ve been really driving advances in the Life Science leverage advances in programming and promote their family, school, work and social working with the new system for a year now, market. Now that we have real time sorted tools created for games like The Killing Floor inclusion. We have two offices in Uruguay and we are very happy with the results and for the Entertainment market with or Batman Arkham City. – one in Montevideo that opened in 2006, the possibilities. Vicon Shōgun, the Entertainment market and another in Fray Bentos of the Rio Negro is really interested in the biomechanics It is truly mind-blowing that a game engine Department – which opened in 2012. advances from the Life Science market that was developed to kill virtual creatures

22 23 Innovation, Acquisition, Expansion Vicon 2017

by Imogen Moorhouse, CEO

In my article published in the 30th focused on the movement acquisition it was no longer suitable for our needs. Anniversary edition of “The Standard,” I technology itself. Throughout the late summer, Vicon UK took a look back at the achievements and moved to a ground up refitted, world class progress made over the 30 years Vicon had Vicon has always been an innovator in facility in Yarnton, close to Oxford. The been in business. motion capture technology and it is time facility has vastly improved and expanded for us to broaden not only our technological production facilities, with four motion The closing paragraph concluded, “for Vicon appeal, but also the accessibility of our capture volumes that can be combined in motion capture in whatever form it takes.” systems, meaning lowering barriers to several ways up to a single 14m 26m x 6m Given the recent events at Vicon, with an entry across all aspects of the system. This volume for large scale captures and testing. acquisition and a move for the head office change in philosophy cannot be applied after 32 years in our original location, this only to the technology itself. From the initial We continue to be inspired by you, our latest edition of “The Standard” provides and ongoing investment needed to acquire valued customer family, and are committed a good opportunity to update you on the and operate the motion capture technology, to bringing new technologies to enhance future for Vicon. to the training required to install and and complement the use of motion capture, use the systems and the presentation of whatever the requirement. Since the 30th Anniversary edition outcomes, all must change to truly make article in 2014, we have been very busy motion capture fully accessible. with new product launches in our core passive optical technology area. We have With the recent acquisition of IMeasureU, refreshed and grown our entire camera we have the opportunity to bring a non- range and launched a new game-changing optical capture modality into our offering. entertainment software, Vicon Shōgun, Inertial systems have the advantage of to very enthusiastic market response. being able to capture data unencumbered This included some fantastic social media by the laboratory, studio or the requirement commentary from customers, both old to have line of sight to cameras in the and new. We will continue to push the field. The power of using Vicon optical boundaries in our main market areas and technology coupled with native inertial to take care of our valued user base, but devices will bring many advantages to our believe that there should also be a focus customers. In addition, the IMeasureU on the future use of different motion technology has the capability of delivering capture modalities, not only from a outcomes to coaches who are helping technical standpoint but also, importantly, injured athletes return to play through the accessibility. implementation of cloud technology, tablet- only system control and user-specified We are now in an exciting period where the dashboards. I strongly believe that these form, function and use of motion capture is techniques will also benefit our Vicon changing for Vicon and the wider market. customers in the longer term. In the past, motion capture modalities (passive, active, inertial, etc.) were siloed And finally, a few words about our recent technologies with distinct and separate use move. Vicon HQ has been located in Botley, cases. As motion capture techniques have a suburb of Oxford, UK since the company’s become more widely used, users simply beginnings in the early 1980s. But over want to utilize the best technique for the recent years it was becoming obvious that analysis required, rather than being entirely we were outgrowing the facility and that

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