The project will develop two major connected strands of innovation: firstly, a real-time system for accurately tracking the profile curves of the lips and eyes of an actor, advancing the state of the art in real-time digital characters, and offering new creative options to filmmakers and entertainment experiences for audiences; and secondly, a ground-breaking process and device control hub, enabling visual effects engineers, researchers and producers to use the optimal equipment for their studies and experiments when creating visual effects shots - the use of such a system will lead to massive time and cost savings in the use of motion capture in life science research, virtual reality, engineering and visual effects markets in both the public and private sectors.

Productivity Optimised Pipeline for digital production (ProDip) is an 18 month collaborative project addressing key needs in the digital production industry (including CGI for films, games, augmented & virtual reality) of rapid motion capture (including detailed facial expression and body movements) with improved and more efficient production pipeline processing – reduction of cost and faster creation of content. ProDip will leverage an increased quality of output and reduce manual input, lowering costs of production and removing barriers to enter new markets for cross platform digital assets. This project therefore seeks to realise a novel suite of integrated modular software tools to automate key pipeline processes with increased efficiency, flexibility and analytic capability for face and body MoCAP, opening a new digital production route. Project lead, Framestore, are a well-respected traditional and digital film, TV post UK production company (inc. CGI for Gravity, Avengers). Vicon are an established motion capture equipment company providing integrated hardware & software solutions to AAA studios & SME developers.

In the coming decade there will be a revolution in digital acting across the entertainment industry, from feature films to games and theme parks. Real-time digital performances will reach previously unattainable levels of fidelity and adaptability. This project will be a vanguard in this revolution. Real-time Digital Acting for Transmedia Production is a two-year project to create an extensible framework for new levels of synchronised face and body capture systems that will unlock the ability for multiple actors to deliver compelling, collaborative performances of never-before-seen digital characters in real and virtual environments. The project establishes a long-term partnership between the UK studio of globally renowned creator of digital VFX, Industrial Light & Magic, Disney Research (UK) and Vicon, an Oxford-based SME who is in the forefront of motion capture and who will commercialise the results.

An innovative use of existing motion capture technology to track steady and unsteady time-dependant airflow in large volumes. By allowing the capture of unsteady airflow over full size aerodynamic objects in a single data collection, a complete picture of the aerodynamic properties of an object, including the wake can be determined. As motion capture systems have developed they are now able to collect marker location data to the accuracy, resolution and frequency required to provide meaningful information on airflow patterns. The first objective of this project is to develop markers that have the physical properties required, (low mass, small size, appropriate drag) to still be detectable, but also to follow the airflow faithfully. The second objective is to develop appropriate camera mounting to ensure that vibrations within the wind tunnel cannot affect the accuracy of motion capture system.