VICON DELIVERS RENAISSANCE IN ANIMATION

New movie heralded as technical jewel

8th May 2006, Oxford: Vicon, a leading developer of motion capture systems and part of the OMG Group, has revealed that its technology has enabled French movie director Christian Volckman to bring to life his edgy, futuristic vision of Paris in the animated feature film Renaissance. The Vicon system was used by a team of CG artists and technicians at Attitude Studio to produce a movie that is as technically advanced as it is visually dynamic.

Renaissance is set in Paris in the year 2054, with the police and powerful figures from the business world in pursuit of a kidnapped researcher who holds a secret to the future of mankind. The movie was rendered in flat black and white, but animated in 3D using a cast of 30+ live actors in conjunction with motion capture technology from Vicon. Although the filming itself took just nine weeks, Renaissance has been a work in progress since 1998, when Marc Miance took the original idea for the film to Volckman and producer Aton Soumache. Miance, already an established effects specialist, founded Attitude Studio in 2000 to handle the technical side of the project.

The Vicon cameras, which are used extensively throughout the entertainment, life sciences and engineering sectors, allowed Miance to incorporate a level of detail from the actors’ performances that goes beyond previous motion capture-based movies. The Vicon system captures the subtleties of each actor’s movement and the way they interact with their clothing and adds a layer of art realism not yet seen before in animation.

Released last month to an enraptured French public, Renaissance hits the UK box offices on the 4th August 2006, with Daniel Craig providing the voice of the film’s lead character – renegade cop, Karas. An animated film noir with a nihilistic vision of the world in less than 50 years’ time, Renaissance been called an aesthetic and technical jewel and one of the most exciting chapters in the history of animation. Reviewers have raved about the films dazzling intensity and its captivating and powerful intrigue.

The creators of the film at Attitude Studio have combined technical excellence with ground-breaking new ideas. Unlike most motion-captured films, Renaissance was created using an entire cast of more than 30 real actors. The film’s creators have successfully managed to blend real acting with animation in a way never seen until now. This is the first movie of its kind to place so much importance on the actor, picking up the subtleties of each character’s individual movements and body traits. For example, a 78 year old actor was cast in the role of an older character, allowing all the subtleties of the way an older body moves to be captured.

Motion capture requires actors to wear Lycra catsuits covered in dozens of tiny, light reflective dots. The Renaissance team did not want the actors to be restricted in their movements because of this and felt the clothing should be allowed to become part of the performance - the ability to put one’s hands in pockets or shake off a coat mid scene etc, can really make a difference to the finished portrayal. Because of this, the team embarked on the technical landmark of producing transparent costumes that worked in harmony with both the camera equipment and the performance. For example, one scene in the film sees Karas slide up a coat sleeve in order to attach handcuffs to the character’s wrist more freely. Subtleties such as this really give the film an extra dimension.

Similarly, making eye movement realistic has, in the past, been a pain point for animators. The Renaissance team felt it was important to extend the use of motion capture to the actors’ eyes. Eye movement is as intrinsically linked to the body’s movement as it is to speech – when you jump or turn, the eyes will react to these movements in different ways. To capture these subtleties of motion, the actors were shot wearing spectacles developed in-house by Attitude Studio.

Rémi Brun, Motion Capture Supervisor at Attitude Studio said: “We’ve created something we’re really proud of and we couldn’t have done it without the power of the Vicon technology. We have tried to free the actors from any restrictions of technology and the Vicon system enabled this perfectly. The strength of the system comes from its precision in capture. We were comfortable enough with the cameras to really allow the actors to let loose; speedy and complicated interactions with multiple characters were captured with ease. The technical team at Vicon was of great support throughout the project.”

Nick Bolton, Chief Executive of OMG Group, said: “Renaissance is a breathtaking film and was a very exciting project for us to work on. We’ve been involved from the very beginning in 1998 and are thrilled to see the film unveiled to cinema-going audiences. Knowing that our technology enabled the film makers to bring their ideas to fruition is yet more evidence that Vicon is the preferred choice for motion capture.”

To find out more about the film, view a trailer and see examples of how the movie was made (provided your French is up to scratch!), visit the film’s official website at: http://www.renaissance-lefilm.com/accueil.htm

About Attitude Studio
Six years after its creation, Attitude Studio has positioned itself as an international 3D animation studio producing films, TV series and video game cinematics.
Attitude Studio is located in Paris and Luxembourg and consists of 85 full-time employees and 300 artists and technicians.

The strength of Attitude studio is in its constant investment in technical research and development which allows it to serve any type of artistic style or approach. The continued work in optimising tools and improving them allows the team to retain a technical edge as well as enhancing their already extremely extensive portfolio of production tools.

About VICON
VICON Motion Systems is a subsidiary of OMG plc (LSE: OMG) with global headquarters in Oxford, UK, and US headquarters in Lake Forest, CA. OMG subsidiary 2d3 Ltd. produces innovative visual geometry software deriving 3D data from moving images. Since 1984, VICON has been providing professionals with the latest tools to accurately capture the subtleties of three-dimensional human motion for research, medicine, sport, engineering, game development, broadcast and film. For more information about VICON, or to view a comprehensive list of worldwide distributors, visit www.vicon.com or contact +44 (0) 1865-261800 in the UK or (949) 472-9140 in the US.

About VICON MX
VICON MX40 cameras are the top of the line in professional motion capture hardware today. With VICON MX40 systems, studios can capture larger-sized volumes and a wider scope of action while gathering unprecedented facial, hand and full-body detail. VICON iQ software streamlines the setup, calibration and general wrangling of motion capture data, making it so easy and fool-proof that a single animator can control the process from beginning to end.

About OMG
OMG plc (LSE: OMG) is a group of technology companies which make ‘image understanding’ solutions for the entertainment, defence, life science and engineering industries. Be it for capturing actors (for the movie industry), sportsmen (for video games or improving team performance), children with Cerebral Palsy, rehab patients and animals (for medical, life science and research industries) or virtual reality displays (for engineering and development), the group has a dominant market share and reputation for precision instruments.

The group’s global headquarters are based in Oxford UK, where it was founded back in 1984 as Oxford Metrics, and has offices in California and Colorado USA. It has customers in over 35 countries and is listed on AIM, a market operated by the London Stock Exchange. The group trades under two core operating subsidiaries – Vicon, the world’s biggest motion capture and movement analysis company and 2d3, a manufacturer of specialised visual effects software.

OMG today serves global markets in science, medicine, sport, engineering, gaming, film and broadcast. Clients include major hospitals and research facilities such as Guy's Hospital, Nuffield Orthopedic and Loughborough University, engineering industry leaders including Ford Motor Company, BMW, Airbus, Caterpillar, and Toyota, and in the entertainment sector, Sony, Industrial Light and Magic, The Moving Picture Company (MPC), Sega, Nintendo, UbiSoft, EA, Square Unix and many others.

For more information about OMG, or its subsidiaries, visit www.omg3d.com, www.vicon.com, or www.2d3.com