History Main / MotionCapture

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Foodfight}}'' was among the first, production wise, animation films to use the tech. However, it wasn't exactly the best. It was noted in by the WebVideo/NostalgiaCritic that it seemed as if the characters' expressed themselves mostly through awkwardly waving their arms, and it's more akin to watching [[Franchise/StarWars C-3PO]] suffer a seizure. Spending ten years in DevelopmentHell meant that it looked kind of dated compared to later films that used motion capture successfully.

* One cannot even mention Motion Capture without Creator/AndySerkis, who played Gollum with much acclaim in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' and ''Film/TheHobbit'' film adaptations, as well as King Kong in ''Film/KingKong2005'' and Caesar in the ''[[Film/RiseOfThePlanetOfTheApes Rise]]'', ''[[Film/DawnOfThePlanetOfTheApes Dawn]]'' and ''Film/WarForThePlanetOfTheApes''. In all cases, the detailed motion capture performance was completed with the help of hand animation for the face and fingers, based on footage of Andy's performance.

* ''WesternAnimation/FoodFight!'' was among the first, production wise, animation films to use the tech. However, it wasn't exactly the best. It was noted in by the WebVideo/NostalgiaCritic that it seemed as if the characters' expressed themselves mostly through awkwardly waving their arms, and it's more akin to watching [[Franchise/StarWars C-3PO]] suffer a seizure. Spending ten years in DevelopmentHell meant that it looked kind of dated compared to later films that used motion capture successfully.

** The one from 2006, [[https://ia601009.us.archive.org/14/items/bigdog2stupid_gmail/web%20friendly%20reel.mp4 in particular,]] has a female character with unnatural Jigglepsychics with her BoobsofSteel; which explains why the animator tried so far to use her expressions. But the next half which shows the models have the same girl except different [[BoobsandButtPose boob and butt size]]; albeit the latter much larger than her breast themselves; plus the posture and color schemes. Even the [[http://web.archive.org/web/20120315222227if_/http://www.gradshow.com/gallery/2006/digital/ChristouVangelis.jpg profile picture is different from the demo reel itself]] in which her boobs much bigger; probably resembling more of [[VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia The Prince]] and [[Franchise/TombRaider Lara Croft]].

* "Cyber Lucy", the hostess for the short-lived 1997-98 [[YoungerAndHipper kids version]] of ''Series/WheelOfFortune'', ''[[Trope2000 Wheel 2000]]'', was a CGI creation portrayed via motion capture by actress Tanika Ray.

* "Cyber Lucy", the hostess for the short-lived 1997-98 [[YoungerAndHipper kids version" of ''Series/WheelOfFortune'', ''[[Trope2000 Wheel 2000]]'', was a CGI creation portrayed via motion capture by actress Tanika Ray.

[[folder:Commercials]]

[[folder:Film - Live-Action ]]
* One cannot even mention Motion Capture without Creator/AndySerkis, who played Gollum with much acclaim in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' and ''Film/TheHobbit'' film adaptations, as well as King Kong in ''Film/KingKong2005'' and Caesar in the ''[[Film/RiseOfThePlanetOfTheApes Rise]]'', ''[[Film/DawnOfThePlanetOfTheApes Dawn]]'' and ''Film/WarForThePlanetOfTheApes''. In all cases, the detailed motion capture performance was completed with the help of hand animation for the face and fingers, based on footage of Andy's performance.
* Everything in ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' is mocaped, or like Creator/JamesCameron likes to call it, "performance captured", which means full body movement including facial muscles and the eyes without any additional animation.
* ''Film/JurassicPark'' did this for some of the dinosaur shots after they decided to go with CGI instead of stop-motion. The puppeteer crew was kept on and essentially did motion capture puppeteering: they made dinosaur armatures connected to servos, which animated the dinosaurs on the computers. This was done to ease the jarringness of transferring to CG for mostly stop motion animators.
* The Martians in ''Film/JohnCarter''. Interestingly enough, the film was directed by Andrew Stanton (whose old company, Creator/{{Pixar}}, wasn't very big on the process).
* Pictured above, Bill Nighy in ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' movies, playing ruthless and [[YourSoulIsMine devilish]] captain Davy Jones.
* In ''Film/{{Hulk}}'' director Ang Lee himself "played" the Hulk via motion capture.
* Used InUniverse in ''Film/GrudgeMatch'', where Razor and Kid both get motion captured for a boxing video game.
* Creator/RosaSalazar portrays the titular character using this technique in ''Film/AlitaBattleAngel''.
* Creator/AhmedBest as Jar-Jar Binks in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' Prequel Trilogy was the TropeMaker. The technology and the program coding was created almost from the ground-up for him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Film - Animated]]

* The Ballet Dancing in the Barbie movies is this.

* ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}: The Legend Reborn'', produced by the same guys as ''Foodfight'', contains a few scenes of this. But are pulled off much more effectively than that film.
* A few background characters in WesternAnimation/{{Barnyard}} were done this way.

[[folder: Music Videos]]
* Kraftwerk's Musique Non Stop video was mocaped.

[[folder:Theatre]]
* In the original Broadway production of ''Theatre/ShrekTheMusical'', this was how the Magic Mirror's face was portrayed on the stage.
[[/folder]]

Motion and Performance Capture have several advantages over traditional animation, namely that it's less time-consuming to give characters incredibly lifelike movement that would take an animator weeks to do. Its limitations are the sheer amount of animation data created (if you need to adjust an arm, you may have to completely redo its animation), and [[UncannyValley it doesn't quite look right in more cartoony art styles]].

* Creator/RobertZemeckis is fond of this: he used it to create ''WesternAnimation/MonsterHouse'', ''WesternAnimation/ThePolarExpress'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Beowulf 2007}}'', ''WesternAnimation/AChristmasCarol2009'', and ''WesternAnimation/MarsNeedsMoms''. For some viewers, the results dwell deep in the UncannyValley.

** The one from 2006, [[https://ia601009.us.archive.org/14/items/bigdog2stupid_gmail/web%20friendly%20reel.mp4 in particular,]] has a female character with unnatural Jigglepsychics with her BoobsofSteel; which explains why the animator tried so far to use her expressions (which isn't really a [[UncannyValley good idea]]. But the next half which shows the models have the same girl except different [[BoobsandButtPose boob and butt size]]; albeit the latter much larger than her breast themselves; plus the posture and color schemes. Even the [[http://web.archive.org/web/20120315222227if_/http://www.gradshow.com/gallery/2006/digital/ChristouVangelis.jpg profile picture is different from the demo reel itself]] in which her boobs much bigger; probably resembling more of [[VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia The Prince]] and [[Franchise/TombRaider Lara Croft]].

For it to work, a performer wears a skin-tight suit with tracking points on it: initially this was done with reflective balls, but technology is now advanced enough that high-contrast black-and-white circles can be tracked with a camera array[[labelnote:*]]in the picture above, compare the ball on Creator/BillNighy's shoulder with the black-and-white headband[[/labelnote]], although folks tend to talk about [[CommonKnowledge the nylon-suit-with-golf-balls imagery]] since that's a much funnier thing to imagine Creator/GeorgeClooney doing. The dots are placed on articulation and movement points (elbows, feet, knees, head, chest, etc), and an array of cameras track their position and movement. This data can then be applied to one or more CG characters (for example, in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' entire armies were animated this way).

* ''VideoGame/MidnightFightExpress'' (Summer 2022), an indie beat-em-up brawler that uses motion capture for a large majority of the attacks/skills/counters. Creator/EricJacobus and his company were [[https://youtu.be/89ZSOi8Tt9M the ink suit actors]].

** The one from 2006, [[https://ia601009.us.archive.org/14/items/bigdog2stupid_gmail/web%20friendly%20reel.mp4 in particular]], has a female character with unnatural Jigglepsychics with her BoobsofSteel; which explains why the animator tried so far to use her expressions (which isn't really a [[UncannyValley good idea]]. But the next half which shows the models have the same girl except different [[BoobsandButtPose boob and butt size]]; albeit the latter much larger than her breast themselves; plus the posture and color schemes. Even the [[http://web.archive.org/web/20120315222227if_/http://www.gradshow.com/gallery/2006/digital/ChristouVangelis.jpg profile picture is different from the demo reel itself]] in which her boobs much bigger; probably resembling more of [[VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia The Prince]] and [[Franchise/TombRaider Lara Croft]].

* Advertising/{{Orangina}} used Motion Capture in their various, strange CGI commercials. See [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnodhLxo0zA here]] for the "making of" vid.

* WebAnimation/RedVsBlue: starting in Season 8, battle sequences started being done using motion capture (including most of the insanely awesome Episode 10). Seasons 9 and 10 furthered the motion capture work with all of the Freelancer scenes being entirely motion capture.

* Used in in the ''WesternAnimation/DonkeyKongCountry'' cartoon, part of the reason why it looks so strange by today's standards.

* The planes' faces in ''WesternAnimation/JayJayTheJetPlane'' were animated this way, so that's why it looks so creepy to parents and older viewers.

[[folder:Web Original]]
* Machinima/RedVsBlue: starting in Season 8, battle sequences started being done using motion capture (including most of the insanely awesome Episode 10). Seasons 9 and 10 furthered the motion capture work with all of the Freelancer scenes being entirely motion capture.
[[/folder]]

** Nearly caused problems when, during the development of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'' (2001), Kojima's son (who had been taken into the studio by his father so he could have company) toddled onto the set, picked up a prop sword and started poking the reflective dots on the motion capture actors' suits with it.
** During development of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'' (2008), the additional time needed to render the cutscenes meant the voice actors had to sync along with camera-recorded motion capture footage instead - weirdly enough, it improved performance. Facial motion capture was also used for the first time, and to great effect.
** ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolidV'' had the voice actors perform their own facial and motion capture, blending in some InkSuitActor elements to make the characters feel more plausible.

* One cannot mention Motion Capture without Creator/AndySerkis, who played Gollum in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' and ''Film/TheHobbit'' film adaptations, King Kong in ''Film/KingKong2005'' and Caesar in the ''[[Film/RiseOfThePlanetOfTheApes Rise]]'', ''[[Film/DawnOfThePlanetOfTheApes Dawn]]'' and ''Film/WarForThePlanetOfTheApes''. In all cases, the detailed motion capture performance was completed with the help of hand animation for the face and fingers, based on footage of Andy's performance.
* Everything in ''Film/{{Avatar}}'' is mocaped, or like Creator/JamesCameron likes to call it, performance captured, which means full body movement including facial muscles and the eyes without any additional animation.

* Ahmed Best as Jar-Jar Binks in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' Prequel Trilogy was the TropeMaker. The technology and the program coding was created almost from the ground-up for him.

* The [[WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfTintin film adaptation of]] ''Franchise/{{Tintin}}'' is also based on these.

* Experimented with in the ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid VR Missions'' add-on (2000), brought into all later games in the series, with Creator/HideoKojima directing the actors as if it were a movie.
** Nearly caused problems when, during the development of ''Metal Gear Solid 2'' (2001), Kojima's son (who had been taken into the studio by his father so he could have company) toddled onto the set, picked up a prop sword and started poking the reflective dots on the motion capture actors' suits with it.
** During development of ''Metal Gear Solid 4'' (2008), the additional time needed to render the cutscenes meant the voice actors had to sync along with camera-recorded motion capture footage instead - weirdly enough, it improved performance. Facial motion capture was also used for the first time, and to great effect.
** ''Metal Gear Solid V'' had the voice actors perform their own facial and motion capture, blending in some InkSuitActor elements to make the characters feel more plausible.

* ''VideoGame/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2021 used Motion Capture for pretty much everything. This included Cosmo and his pups, meaning they put dogs in a mocap suits.

* ''VideoGame/MidnightFightExpress'' (Summer 2022), an indie beat-em-up brawler that uses motion capture for a large majority of the attacks/skills/counters. [[Creator/EricJacobus]] and his company were [[https://youtu.be/89ZSOi8Tt9M the ink suit actors]].

* One cannot mention Motion Capture without Creator/AndySerkis, who played Gollum in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' and ''Film/TheHobbit'' film adaptations, King Kong in ''Film/KingKong2005'' and Caesar in the ''[[Film/RiseOfThePlanetOfTheApes Rise]]'', ''[[Film/DawnOfThePlanetOfTheApes Dawn]]'' and ''[[Film/WarForThePlanetOfTheApes War for the]] [[Franchise/PlanetOfTheApes]]''. In all cases, the detailed motion capture performance was completed with the help of hand animation for the face and fingers, based on footage of Andy's performance.

Motion Capture is a relatively new procedure that removes the need for traditional animation of characters, at least in 3D. Or so they say; depending on the goal, anywhere from trivial to massive re-animating over top of the mocap data can be required.

Basically, a performer wears a skin-tight nylon suit with reflective little balls on their joints (elbows, feet, knees, head, chest etc). A scanner scans the position of the joints in, and the actor's movements are digitized for use on one or more computer-animated characters.

It has a few advantages over traditionally animating something: namely, it is less time-consuming and makes giving them lifelike movement much easier (though this can be a [[UncannyValley bad thing]]).

* One cannot mention Motion Capture without Andy Serkis, who played Gollum in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' and ''Film/TheHobbit'' film adaptations and Kong in ''Film/KingKong2005''. Though it was a mix between mocap and computer animation.

* ''Film/JurassicPark'' did this for some of the dinosaur shots after they decided to go with CGI instead of puppets. The puppeteer crew was kept on and essentially did motion capture puppeteering.
** This was a strange case, as they were once supposed to be stop motion. They decided to ditch that, but made dinosaur armatures connected to servos, which animated the dinosaurs on the computers. This was done to ease the jarringness of transferring to CG for mostly stop motion animators.

-->-- '''Andy Serkis'''

* Videogame/BeyondTwoSouls (2013), another David Cage game just like VideoGame/HeavyRain, also used full motion capture and starred Creator/EllenPage and Willem Dafoe as ink suit actors.

* The Interplay adaption of ''[[LordOfTheRings The Lord of the Rings]]'' was motion captured in the cheapest, most primitive way imaginable. For example, Gandalf was 'played' by one of the developers wearing a bathrobe, sombrero, and Santa Claus beard.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheMoxyShow'' was ''very'' early AllCGICartoon by Creator/CartoonNetwork. Moxy himself had his first appearance was in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmrDVqu85gg this]] Creator/{{TBS}} cartoon special, which he was rendered in real time, making it among the first TV shows to use mo-cap.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheMoxyShow'' was ''very'' early AllCGICartoon by Creator/CartoonNetwork. Moxie himself had his first appearance was in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmrDVqu85gg this]] Creator/{{TBS}} cartoon special, which he was rendered in real time, making it among the first TV shows to use mo-cap.

* ''The Moxie Show'' was ''very'' early AllCGICartoon by Creator/CartoonNetwork. Moxie himself had his first appearance was in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmrDVqu85gg this]] Creator/{{TBS}} cartoon special, which he was rendered in real time, making it among the first TV shows to use mo-cap.

* The original version of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' used motion capture, including the player character's attack animations. One of the major criticisms of the game was battles felt clunky and slow due to the "weight" thedf animations had behind them plus their animation locks (though this was just one of many problems the game had). After the game was rebooted, animations were completely redone by using standard animation without motion capture. However, an NPC in the Ninja job quests does use motion capture to emphasize the quirkiness of his character.