Icarus, Motion Analysis Debuting Talon Mo-Cap Viewer At SIGGRAPH

Technology firm Icarus Studios, which specializes in assisting clients develop virtual worlds, MMOGs, simulators, and 3D educational products, together with Motion Analysis Corporation will demonstrate their new real-time streaming motion capture viewer, the Talon Viewer, next month at SIGGRAPH 2007. According to the companies, the Talon Viewer will “greatly reduce” post production time and costs by allowing motion capture studios, game developers, virtual world developers, and movie and television production companies to see multiple actors, cameras, and virtual props collectively in real time. The tool, which is scheduled to be released in fourth quarter 2007, is built using the Icarus Engine, a 3D engine that supports normal mapping and dynamic lighting for production quality visual graphics. It can stream HTR and TRC data from Motion Analysis’ EVaRT tracking software either directly from the host computer or from a hierarchical solving Sonic XML Server directly onto a camera, a single character, multiple characters, or even specific parts of a character like hands, arms, legs, and face. Other input devices such as a game or midi controller can also be used with the Talon Viewer. ”The Talon Viewer combines the strengths and advantages of the Motion Analysis Realtime capabilities with the power of the Icarus Engine to provide on-set pre-vis of production independent of your animation package,” commented Tom Whitaker, CEO and president of Motion Analysis. He added: “The ability to view live characters, environments, and camera positions will save time and money by ensuring the capture that the director wants. By using the Talon Viewer you will see the actual captured data and not the data as interpreted through third party software.”