A VISU AL CO MPARISON BETWEEN MODERN MOTIO N C APTURE AND

TRADITIONAL KEY-FRAME ANIMATION IN COMPUTER GAMES.

Overview
For my games practical project I am going to be researching and comparing modern motion capture
techniques with traditional key-frame animation in various aspects of computer games. I will be doing this to
determine the differences and similarities of both methods and what the future may hold for them.
To help my research I will be animating a short cut-scene for a computer game around 30-45 seconds long.
This animation will be an interrogation scene involving 2 characters, the detective and the criminal.
Inspiration for the scene will be taken from an existing interrogation scene from current media e.g. film, TV,
or video games. One character will be fully motion captured, including facial motion capture and the other
will be entirely animated by hand. This will allow myself and the viewers to discover the common and more
intricate differences between the two methods of 3D animation in games.

Rationale
I have chosen this idea for the project as I really enjoy working with both forms of animation I have stated
and I feel it would help me display my capabilities in both areas. It is also strongly relatable to my career
aspirations, as I would like to get a job as a character animator whom excels in both motion capture and hand
animation. Being able to delve into facial animation is also a very exciting prospect to me, and this is the area
I want to focus on for my entire final year, and I believe doing so would make me a very good, well-rounded
animator. I am also basing my other final year modules around facial animation, so I can learn and assist
myself as much as possible throughout the year.

Research
To aid in my research towards this project, I will be using a variety of media, including: books, films, TV
shows, conference papers, journals, and other sources. I will be watching interrogation scenes from film and
TV to give me a great idea of what I am hoping to achieve, and will give me the aspect of tension and/or
excitement you feel whilst watching them. There is also games that utilize interrogations as a mechanic
throughout them such as L.A Noire (Video Game, 2011) from RockStar Games. Paying attention to these
scenes will also help me with the cinematography and timing of each cut, to make it as realistic as possible.

Thomas Luck

Games Practical Project Proposal

M2014024

Film and Games

Scenes from film and games I have been looking into so far and that I particularly like, which I could use
shortened versions of to base my final project on are:

Atlass Interrogation in Now You See Me [1], specifically from the time 0:00 0:44 seconds. I feel
like this is a great scene which shows you what both characters are about and creates tension and
even a bit of humour. YouTube Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJs-kC6vWUs.

Supermans/Lois Lanes Interrogation in Man of Steel [2] from 0:09 0:48 seconds. This scene uses
subtle humour more than trying to remain a tense affair. The actors use some good facial
expressions and the timing of each little movement from the actors and the cuts would be really
good to try and emulate. YouTube Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BSUGgdhcFsE

In The Dark Knight [3], the Batman and the Joker have a long interrogation scene that in my
opinion, is one of the best in modern film. I think there is a lot of shorter segments that could be
taken from it that would be good to possibly use as inspiration towards this project.
YouTube Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxRYgUlIDpY

The Last of Us [4] has a fantastic cut-scene involving the male lead character, Joel, violently
interrogating enemies in the game. The game was praised unanimously for its story, characters, and
the raw, gritty emotion it portrays, and this cut-scene really proves it all.
YouTube Link - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnaSetqmnZw

I could also look into the various interrogation scenes in Inglorious Basterds [5] or L.A. Noire [6] as
inspiration towards my project.

Literature Review
I have also been looking into written work that could help me with my project. One such book that I feel will
really help me is Stop Staring [7], which is a great book about facial animation, modelling, and rigging, and is
invaluable to an animator learning about facial animation. The Animators Survival Kit [8] is a book I own
which will also help me produce the best work I can, by making sure I include all of the essential techniques a
professional animator should be using. Other books I will be using are Body Language: Advanced 3D
Character Rigging [9] and MoCap for Artists [10]. Although I will be finding these books useful I will still be
looking into more recent conference papers and journals in order to get more recent methods and
techniques to contribute towards my work.
I will also be using the librarys Discovery system regularly to make sure I am finding the best sources
available for myself.

Ethical Concerns
I dont think that there should be any ethical concerns against what I am planning to do for my project, as
there is no content that will offend anybody that I am aware of, however I will keep track of ethical issues as I
am carrying out my project and if any arise I will be changing it immediately, so as to not offend anybody.

Thomas Luck

Games Practical Project Proposal

M2014024

Methodology
To start my project I will be doing adequate research into certain fields to help me with areas I feel I may
struggle on otherwise, such as facial animation. I will also be using this research to assist me with my other
modules this year, mainly contemporary studies in games and also advanced animation techniques.

Pre-Production
I will then be moving onto my pre-production stage. This involves creating storyboards, scripts, finding and
choosing suitable character models, rigging and skinning of characters, finding talent for motion capture and
animation references, creating animatics from my storyboards, planning out the motion capture shoot(s),
and modelling out my scene as well.
I am thinking of using Autodesks Character Generation suite to create my character models for the scene,
this application is entirely free for students and allows you to use the characters in games, animations and
more without any copyright issues. You can obtain these characters already fully rigged and skinned for
immediate use, but depending on the quality of the rigs and skinning, I may still do this myself. I will have to
rig and skin my own facial rig so that the motion capture works correctly, as I believe the already rigged
characters have sub-standard facial rigs on them.
Creating all the storyboards and animatics will ensure that I have got the timing of the scene correct and will
make sure the cinematography is spot on in the final product. I will still be creating these as I may be
changing some cuts, timings, or camera angles from the initial interrogation scene I am basing this project on.

Production
To start of my main production process, I will be capturing the required motion capture in the lab. I will be
using two actors for this so they can act off each other and know when to respond. One of the actors will be
in the motion capture suit and the other one will be video recorded so I can use them for reference towards
my hand animated character. Once the main motion is captured, I will be performing facial motion capture
on the motion captured actor as it has to be done separately to the body motion capture, which makes it
slightly trickier. I will be repeating each process a few times in order to capture the best motion I can and to
hopefully give me multiple options to choose from. The software used for this is Motion Analysis Cortex.
I will then be cleaning up my motion capture in Cortex and determining the best data to use for my project.
As I will be cleaning an extended portion of motion capture instead of a short movement, this could prove
difficult, but if Im patient I should be able to complete it fine.
The data will then be transferred over to an actor in Autodesk Motionbuilder. In this program further
corrections will be made to the data if there is any visible errors in it, usually there is, but nothing too drastic.
If any major errors do happen, Ill try to fix it, but probably go back a step to fix in Cortex again. After this step
I will transfer it over to 3DS Max.
I will be doing most of the work in 3DS Max for my project. I will have to apply the finished MoCap to one of
my characters in the scene. I will then be using layers to make sure it works with the scene I created in preproduction. I can then make sure the lip sync is accurate and that the facial motion capture looks right or if it

Thomas Luck

Games Practical Project Proposal

M2014024

needs changing at all. When the motion capture side is finished, I will then be hand animating the other
character using the references I took at the previous motion capture shoot. This might take a while as I will
be animating it all from scratch, but I will be able to get it done on time. The facial animation and lip sync will
take the longest time to animate by hand, but using my references, and if my face rig is good, it shouldnt be
too difficult.

Post-Production
I will have set up my scene already during pre-production so the cameras, lights and timings should already
be completed by this stage, however this is phase where I will be making any possible corrections if I have to.
I will render it out at low quality to make sure it works and looks good, I will at that point render it out using
high quality settings. I will be using Adobe Premiere to edit the whole scene together and to apply any postproduction effects, such as titles, credits etc. It will then be ready to export out.

Project Deliverables
For my final product I intend to deliver a 1080p HD, QuickTime movie format video file using the H264 codec.
This video will be of my finished interrogation scene and will hopefully help show how motion capture and
hand animation differ from one another at a visual level in a short time frame.
I will also be handing in my finished .Max scene file I did the final product in and any other production work
that needs to be included. My pre-production work will also be handed in.

Project Plan
I have created a brief project plan of my year to help my schedule all my work. I have separated my modules
into different days depending on workload. My games practical project is scheduled for Mondays,
Wednesdays, and Fridays. My animation techniques module is scheduled for Tuesdays, and my contemporary
studies is scheduled for Saturdays. I have Thursdays left over for my advanced games development, which I
am still awaiting my deadlines for to implement into my project plan, and Sundays are going to be taken off,
unless extra work needs to be put in.

Thomas Luck

Games Practical Project Proposal

M2014024

Task Name

Duration

Start

Finish

Final Year Project

Start
Initial Research
Proposal Hand In
Pre-Production Work
Progress Review
Finalize Pre-Production
Motion Capture Session
Motion Capture Clean Up
Finish Motion Capture in Max
Do Hand Animation
Render Finished Product
Product Submission
Write Report
Report Submission
Finish
Animation Techniques
Start
Initial Research
Create First Presentation
Initial Presentation
Further Research
Do Pre-Production
Finish Presentation
Final Presentation
Work on Final Product

111.63 days
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13 days
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27 days
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25 days
1 day
10 days
15 days
26 days
2 days
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8 days
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0 days
48.75 days
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10 days
7 days
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26 days

Mon 06/10/14
Mon 06/10/14
Mon 06/10/14
Wed 22/10/14
Fri 24/10/14
Mon 01/12/14
Mon 01/12/14
Wed 07/01/15
Wed 07/01/15
Wed 21/01/15
Wed 21/01/15
Fri 27/02/15
Fri 06/03/15
Fri 27/02/15
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Mon 06/10/14
Mon 06/10/14
Tue 07/10/14
Tue 07/10/14
Tue 21/10/14
Tue 28/10/14
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Tue 09/12/14
Tue 06/01/15
Tue 06/01/15

Fri 13/03/15
Mon 06/10/14
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Mon 02/03/15
Fri 06/03/15
Wed 11/03/15
Fri 13/03/15
Fri 13/03/15
Fri 01/05/15
Mon 06/10/14
Tue 14/10/14
Tue 21/10/14
Tue 21/10/14
Tue 18/11/14
Tue 09/12/14
Tue 06/01/15
Tue 06/01/15
Tue 28/04/15

Thomas Luck

Games Practical Project Proposal

M2014024

Product Submission
Finish
Contemporary Studies
Start
Begin Initial Research
Create Presentation and Proposal
Initial Proposal Presentation
Further Research
Write Word Report
Final Word Report Hand In
Finish

0 days
0 days
23.13 days
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Fri 01/05/15
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Mon 06/10/14
Mon 06/10/14
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Fri 07/11/14
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Fri 09/01/15
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Fri 01/05/15
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Mon 06/10/14
Sat 01/11/14
Sat 01/11/14
Fri 07/11/14
Sat 29/11/14
Sat 03/01/15
Fri 09/01/15
Fri 09/01/15

References
1. Now You See Me (2013) Directed by Louis Leterrier [Film]. Lionsgate/Summit.
2. Man of Steel (2013) Directed by Zack Snyder [Film]. Warner Bros. Entertainment.
3. The Dark Knight (2008) Directed by Christopher Nolan [Film]. Warner Bros. Entertainment.
4. Naughty Dog (2013) The Last of Us [Computer Game]. Sony Computer Entertainment.
5. Inglorious Basterds (2009) Directed by Quentin Tarantino [Film]. The Weinstein Company/Universal
Pictures.
6. Team Bondi (2011) L.A. Noire [Computer Game]. Rockstar Games.
7. Osipa, J. (2010) Stop Staring. 3rd edn. SyBex Inc.
8. Williams, R. (2009) The Animators Survival Kit. Expanded edn. London: Faber and Faber.
9. Allen, E., Sidwell, A., Murdock, K. and Fong, Jared. (2008) Body Language: Advanced 3D Character
Rigging. Indianapolis, IN.: Wiley.
10. Kitagawa, M. and Windsor, B. (2009) MoCap for Artists: Workflow and Techniques for Motion
Capture. Focal Press: Elsevier Books.

Thomas Luck

Games Practical Project Proposal

M2014024