Award-winning VFX house Framestore adopts IKinema Action for Autodesk MotionBuilder.
GUILDFORD, U.K -- IKinema, the leader in real-time inverse kinematics, has announced the launch of IKinema Action for MotionBuilder, the first third party solver for Autodesk’s veteran 3D character animation software package. Based on the same core technology as Action for Maya, Action for MotionBuilder provides superior retargeting, marker solving and rigging capabilities, enabling animators to achieve realism with motion capture data directly within MotionBuilder.
“When customers approached us with mocap pipeline challenges, we saw an immediate opportunity for our solver,” said IKinema CEO Alexandre Pechev. “Thanks to IKinema Action for MotionBuilder, users can now create perfect shoulder, spine and neck movement directly within MotionBuilder in real time, eliminating the need to pass data from one software package to another.”
Framestore is currently working on a major project with significant crowd scenes in which realism is key. “We did an entire day of motion capture then looked at the data – instantly the feedback was great,” said Framestore technical supervisor Gary Marshall. “For the supervisors, it made a world of difference – the shoulders, the spines, the motion in general was looking more natural – validating the reason to use mocap in the first place. As a result, we now plan to use IKinema Action for MotionBuilder for all our post production work.”
Action for MotionBuilder improves the quality of animation and simplifies pipelines:
- Consistent results from the motion capture shoot through to post processing and animation ensure the shoot is not reinterpreted as it passes through the pipeline, preserving the actor's performance and the director’s creative intent.
- Post-capture data editing is minimized and raw motion capture data can be passed directly from the shoot to animation and visual effects, with direct interchange between Maya, MotionBuilder and LiveAction for Unreal Engine 4.
IKinema also announced a new version of Action for Autodesk Maya. Key new features include:
- New rig editor and advanced user interface for games, retargeting and motion capture solving
- New interface to IKinema LiveAction for Unreal Engine 4
- Improved speed and optimization for Maya 2016
Action for MotionBuilder and Action for Maya 4 are available immediately via a network of resellers.
Source: IKinema
Formerly Editor-in-Chief of Animation World Network, Jennifer Wolfe has worked in the Media & Entertainment industry as a writer and PR professional since 2003.
