Following an introduction of its markerless prototype offerings at Siggraph 2023, Vicon has officially launched its Markerless motion-capture solution, adding to its mocap line. Vicon Markerless reduces time to visualization by offering rapid iteration, making it effective for previsualization, prototyping, and real-time animation.
Vicon has been a leader in motion-capture technology for over four decades, with optical, inertia, and VR systems. Now, Vicon has also added markerless mocap to its lineup, which the company officially introduced at this week’s Game Developers Conference (GDC).
Vicon first showed off a prototype at Siggraph 2023; the technology was then beta-tested by industry heavyweights through the Vicon Visual Effects Pioneer Program prior to its recent release.
Vicon Markerless transforms rapid creative iteration by enabling users to instantly visualize ideas for more comprehensive creativity early on. With seamless pipeline and ecosystem integration, Vicon Markerless reduces time to visualization, Vicon says, enabling rapid iteration from prototyping and previsualization to real-time animation—whether for living subject or props. As a result, artists can experiment with new ideas in a fraction of the time spent using previous methods.
Creative teams also can quickly explore ideas marker-free and transition efficiently to full optical motion capture when required. That’s because Vicon Markerless integrates seamlessly into existing Vicon optical motion-capture pipelines and increases team efficiency with a single ecosystem across calibration, capture, and data cleaning pipelines.
“Vicon Markerless, developed over several years, sets a new standard for motion capture across games, film, episodic TV, and immersive experiences,” said Vicon CEO Imogen O’Connor. “It enables VFX teams to rapidly refine early creative ideas and iterations marker-free, and offers a seamless transition to optical motion capture as needed.”
Vicon’s markerless system comprises a new markerless motion-tracking camera, called Vanguard, and new software incorporating advanced computer vision, machine learning, and algorithms to capture human performance without markers. Rather than words and language, the company uses image-based datasets to train machine learning and AI models that sit at the core of its markerless solution.
O’Connor notes that markerless motion capture opens up a world of possibilities for the VFX industry and delivers greater efficiency in creating innovative entertainment.
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