The games industry strives progression. Motion picture took a timely century to move from the lumbering limitations of early animation to the more commodious performances of digitally enchanced actors. Videogames have been forced to make that same transition in just 30 years.
Motion capture, a technique of digitally recording movement, invites a plethora of opportunities for game developers to create a new level of immersion thought only attainable through countless hours tinkering with animation software. Moving into the next generation of games, motion capture leads the field as the most popular solution chosen by developers to create intrinsic movements that would otherwise take up precious development time through programs which take time to harness any reward. Mick Morris, of motion capture studio Audiomotion, highlights how motion capture technology has come a long way in only a few years. He said: “When we first started in 1997, the cameras were very limited in resolution and could only capture at 30 frames per second. “Now we have four-mega pixel cameras shooting up to 1,000 frames per second and the sheer number of them you load onto a system is unlimited really. “There’s only a minority of studios now that use keyframe animation. “It seems a bit silly to have these highly talented animators trying to replicate the human body when you can use technology to capture every nuance in a fraction of the time.” With motion capture techniques gaining in prominence, the need for motion animators is greatly reduced, potentially leaving them surplus to requirements. Many could argue it’s simply the nature of an industry striving progression, where new technologies are embraced in hope of delivering fresh experiences. Andy Serkis commonly referred to as the wee guy who played Gollum and Kong in Lord of the Rings and King Kong respectively, voiced his concerns in a recent interview about the lack of involvement seen in most videogames today. He said: “There seemed to be no engagement between the player and the characters in most videogame stories. “There were rather perfunctory bits of storytelling to sellotape together gameplay, and I just thought that was a rather crazy approach. “The new generation of games for me is about making the drama ultra compelling and believable and emotionally connective.”
All isn’t lost for animators. The loudest bell ringer for procedural animation is LucasArts, who have teamed up with Oxford’s NaturalMotion to use its Euphoria engine which enables digital avatars to react realistically to their surroundings instantaneously. Currently implemented in at least two upcoming titles, LucasArts are so vocal at the potential of Euphoria that it was the focus of their recent Indiana Jones trailer, in which Euphoria animated bad guys are punched around and fly into buildings and parked cars in a highly spectacular fashion.
Mike Morris feels that under certain circumstances these two entirely different methods of capturing movement can co-exist. He said: “A lot of procedural animation systems are driven by motion capture,” says Morris. “When we first saw the technology in about 2000 we thought it was a bit of a threat but while working with it up to the present day, we realised the two methods actually go hand in hand. “We’re going to see an awful lot more –whether they’re in-game cutscenes or not- of dialogue driven performances.”
In an industry that strives progression, gamers are the ones placed in the middle of this tug of war. Ultimately, it is them who decide which will triumph.
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