Doonesbury's 3-D Duke is set into motion with Ascension's MotionStar tracker, which captures Newman's movements and instantly transmits the motion data to a host computer where the motions are mapped onto the character. The software is scalable to and from broadcast quality, so the animation can be produced for television and the web at the same time. At this point, the Duke 2000 transmedia campaign is scheduled to continue until the November elections, with the character appearing in a number of television broadcasts and live events. Magnetic motion tracking is building a broad repertoire of applications. Portable motion capture stages bring performance animation to just about any venue.
Automobile manufacturers rely on virtual reality technology to evaluate new car designs in realtime.
Multiple motion capture performers put on boxing matches for game developers. Surgeons practice suturing tiny simulated blood vessels. Nancy Anisfield is a freelance writer from Vermont who writes about animation, motion tracking and related fields. This article appears in the August 2000 issue of Sun Server magazine. All rights reserved.