Tools of the trade: commercial mocap offerings track movements for a range of applications.(Buyers guide)

A number of studios recently have broken new ground in terms of motion capture, as detailed in the feature "Big Moves" on pg. 18. In those instances, studios are advancing the state of the art in motion capture through R&D involving the use of both proprietary and commercial solutions. Sometimes, though, a film studio, game developer, medical team, or industrial design group simply is looking to get a job done--acquire accurate movements and apply the data to digital models, whether it's a human, a prop, an animal, a creature, or something that's difficult to categorize. To accomplish this, they turn to commercial hardware and software. Some of these tools are available ...