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NYU Motion Capture Lab Looks To Expand
Technology Beyond Entertainment Field
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AUGUST 13TH, 2003
If you've
seen “The Hulk” or “The Matrix,” you've seen how computers can
generate characters that move and act just like their real
world counterparts. As NY1 Tech Beat reporter Adam Balkin
explains in the following report, NYU is now doing it, but not
just for your entertainment.
Although these
outfits may look cool and futuristic, they are not the latest
in fashion for dancers. They're part of the daily uniform at
New York University's brand new Motion Capture Lab, a
high-tech lab that does what it sounds like it does - captures
motion.
“This is probably the only motion capture lab
in the New York area,” says Chris Bregler, Director of the NYU
Motion Capture Lab. “What you see around here, those are
high-speed cameras. They run up to 1,000 frames per seconds,
which is five times faster than standard video cameras. These
can be used to record, in very high quality, 3-D points in
space. They have infrared and shine infrared on the
performers, and those little reflective markers that are on
the suit, they reflect back, and then the cameras just see
those dots. We have the software so we can reconstruct those
3-D dots.”
Those reconstructions are then used to
create computer-generated images that move exactly like humans
do. The technique is often used these days in video games and
Hollywood. Remember Gollum from “The Lord of the Rings: The
Two Towers?” He's the product of a motion capture lab.
What is exciting about NYU's lab, though, is projects
outside the entertainment world. NYU says it’s looking to take
the technology beyond just movies and computer games into
other fields, like the medical community, for example. In
fact, it's already working with the medical school.
“We apply this technique to movement disorders,” says
Bregler. “We can capture it before some treatment and after
some treatment, and then actually measure how those specific
medical treatments can improve that condition.”
NYU
also says it's working on taking motion capture to the next,
even more realistic level.
“We just want to improve
the accuracy of the system here at NYU, and ultimately, we
don't want to use markers anymore,” says Bregler. “At some
point we want to track every pixel and have a very, very high
resolution capture.”
That could someday lead to
computer generated characters that are virtually
indistinguishable from humans, and possibly without the funky
looking costumes.
- Adam Balkin
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 Adam Balkin
Adam
Balkin covers the technology beat for NY1 News. He is the
champion of NY1's "Hat Trick" hockey video arcade
game. |
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