Tustin, CA --(May 9, 2000)-- Vicon 8, from leading optical motion capture developer Vicon Motion Systems, was used to animate hundreds of characters to recreate ancient Rome for the film "Gladiator." Mill Film, UK who produced hundreds of effects for this epic feature tapped into motion capture service bureau AudioMotion to capture motion for thousands of computer generated characters to fill large crowd scenes in the Roman Empire.

"When faced with creating realistic animation for thousands of people in ancient Rome, we realized motion capture was the ideal tool for the job," commented Ben Morris, Mill Film. "Using a Vicon 8 system we captured up to five performers at a time, allowing us to choreograph detailed set-pieces. Over a period of two days we captured hundreds of moves to populate the streets of ancient Rome and the Colosseum."

"We applaud Mill Film for their groundbreaking effects work on "Gladiator". Thanks to the talents of the AudioMotion capture team, combined with their 17 camera Vicon 8 system, they achieved the monumental task of capturing groups of actors simultaneously in the same capture volume. Vicon 8 was developed to handle complex capture projects like this one for feature film, game development and television, and we are thrilled to have such talented effects artists using our solution." Said Brian Nilles, CEO, Vicon USA.

When planning the post effects for Ridley Scott's 'The Gladiator', Mill Film, who were given the job, had a variety of options available to them. 3D models were made to recreate sections of buildings that no longer existed (for example, the Colosseum), and the traditional way to populate these would be to film 2D plates and 'paste' these into the 3D sections using more traditional compositing techniques. However, this limits freedom with respect to how the characters can be placed when considering camera angles etc., this limitation is eliminated with fully three dimensional figures that can be placed and viewed from any angle. In order to create 3D figures that move with any degree of realism, motion capture is a natural choice.

"For The Gladiator, around 180 minutes of multi-character motion data were captured, and much of this found its way into the film. The capture itself took around three days to complete, using a 17 camera Vicon 8 system from Oxford Metrics owned and operated by AudioMotion Ltd. Six actors were used, wearing lycra suits, each of which had 36 markers attached. Many of the sequences captured used multiple actors, in order to ensure that the interaction between characters on-screen was maintained," commented Richard Hince, Motion Capture Manager, AudioMotion.

"The choice of capture equipment, and the Vicon 8 in particular, was chosen almost immediately because of its unparalleled capability for large-scale, uninhibited multi-actor recording. Data quality was ensured by using the 17 camera system, even when the actors were in close proximity to each other - not an easy thing to achieve with alternative equipment." Continued Hince, "At AudioMotion, the normal capture volume is 8m x 8m x 4m, which was used for the majority of the capture without the need to reconfigure - this was only done at the end of the capture session, when a little extra height was required."

Mill Film, who had previously worked with AudioMotion, took the data from AudioMotion in the Vicon-native binary data format, and mapped this to characters in SoftImage 3D 3.8 using its internal constraint mechanisms. The constraints were developed by Ben Morris, who was also responsible for the direction of the actors at AudioMotion's Banbury-based studio.

"The final result is highly integrated, A1 quality motion capture, which will be unnoticeable in the movie; the viewer will be convinced that all of the characters in the film are real, and certainly will never guess that they originated in a computer. This is the aim of the technology - to provide seamless integration into reality, which has been achieved," said Hince.

About Vicon

Vicon Motion Systems is a wholly owned subsidiary of Oxford Metrics, Ltd. For over 15 years Oxford Metrics, Ltd. has been providing professionals with the latest tools to accurately capture the subtleties of motion. Vicon 8 is the production-proven motion capture system used in top feature films including "Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace", "The Mummy", "Titanic" and many more. For more information on Vicon browse to www.vicon.com or call (714) 259-1232.

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