Animation Techniques: Motion Capture

Motion capture is the process of recording the movement of objects of people and then rendering them into computer generated images into the film. It is an amazing break through in technology as it recognises faces and changes in expressions and once the character has been transformed into the computer animation the actors facial features can still be recognised. This can be seen most effectively in the film Avengers Assemble when The Hulk transforms as the actors features can still be seen in The Hulk's face to show the audience that it is still him inside.

Probably the most well known motion capture is seen in the Lord of the Rings film, and now The Hobbit as well, in the form of the character Gollum, which had actor Andy Serkis dressed in a motion capture suit for the whole of the filming. But again like with The Hulk, the actors facial features can still be seen and an example of this is below showing the scene where Gollum talks to himself.