13 April, Oxford, UK: Vicon, developer of Academy Award-winning motion capture systems, announced today the launch of its new MX-F40 and MX-F20 cameras, which are ideally suited to the life sciences sector. The new cameras include the world’s first camera sensors designed exclusively for motion capture. The new shuttered Vicon Vegas sensors enable performance data to be captured at higher speeds than ever before.

Vicon motion measurement systems have been used in hundreds of clinical and research laboratories, sports performance centres, universities and other institutions in more than 50 countries worldwide. Vicon is a subsidiary of Oxford Metrics Group, and has won numerous awards – including a technical Oscar – for the strength of its cameras and systems.

“The F40 and F20 represent the world’s first, and only, optical cameras to include proprietary sensors that were custom-designed for motion measurement applications,” said Nick Bolton, chief executive at Oxford Metrics Group. “The release of the Vicon Vegas sensor is evidence of our continuing dedication to innovation and investment in research and development. Due to our incredible customers and overwhelming market support, you can guarantee Vicon will always be first to market.”

The new cameras are part of the award-winning MX platform from Vicon, with the F standing for ‘Faster Full Frame’. The F40 and F20 will replace Vicon’s industry leading MX40+, MX20+ and MX13+ cameras; MX3+ cameras will still be available as the great value precision solution.

The Vicon F40 camera is capable of capturing 370 frames-per-second at 4 million pixels and the Vicon F20 camera captures up to 500 frames-per-second at 2 million pixel resolutions. These significant increases in speed are matched by an improvement in the cameras’ marker throughput capacity, allowing for the capture of more subjects per trial. In addition to these speed increases, the Vicon Vegas sensor offers a true “freeze frame” shutter, so the F-series cameras are tolerant of laboratory ambient light.

Bolton commented: “The performance increases of the F-series cameras allow for more accurate capture where high-speed action is par for the course, such as golf swing analysis and capturing sport movements for enhancement or injury prevention. While other systems may hit their marker limits when attempting to capture full body and detailed segments in the same volume, F-series cameras excel at such levels of detail. Vicon is the only motion capture provider to custom build a sensor for motion capture allowing complete control over all aspects of future camera technology development”.

About VICON
Academy Award®-winning Vicon is the world’s largest supplier of precision motion tracking systems, serving customers and CG animation applications in film, visual effects, computer games, and broadcast television, as well as engineering and life science industries. Vicon operates in four offices worldwide, including its Los Angeles-based Entertainment headquarters, a 26,000 square-foot facility equipped with three performance capture stages for Vicon’s service company House of Moves as well as 125 Vicon MX40 cameras.

Vicon is the largest holding of OMG (Oxford Metrics Group - LSE: OMG), plc., a group of technology companies that produces image understanding solutions for the entertainment, defense, life science and engineering markets. Other holdings include Emmy Award®-winning 2d3 and newly founded Geospatial Vision Ltd.

Vicon’s and OMG’s global clients include: life science leaders University of Pennsylvania, the VA Hospitals, Shriners Hospitals for Children, Titleist Golf, National Pitching Association; engineering industry leaders Ford, BMW, Airbus, Lockheed, Pratt-Whitney, NASA, Caterpillar, International Truck, and Toyota; and entertainment companies Sony Pictures Imageworks, Sony Computer Entertainment, Industrial Light and Magic, Sega, Nintendo, UbiSoft, Vivendi, Electronic Arts, Square Enix and many others. For more information about OMG and its subsidiaries, visit www.omg3d.com, www.vicon.com, or www.2d3.com.