The Motion Capture Process of Boogie Beyond

UW-Stout Dance Team Members in Motion Capture Suits

Boogie Beyond’s characters are meant to live and breathe dance. As such, it only felt right to find some suitable dancers to help on the project, not to mention that the process of motion capture can be tiring if you don’t have much practice. Before the dancers can get started though, they must wear these black suits with grey trackers on them.

Each tracker is placed in a specific location at a major joint on the body, such as the knee or elbow, as well as in places like the top of the head to determine height. These trackers are what the cameras record to gather the motion capture data.

UW-Stout Dance Team Members Rewatching A Recorded Dance

Within the motion capture area, a ring of cameras is set up to get as many angles as possible. It is important that as many nodes are visible to as many cameras as possible to keep clean footage. Once a dancer is suited up, they can enter the area and perform calibration, which is made up of a small number of stretches to help the computer identify the person and orient them correctly in the space.

Animation Professor and Boogie Beyond Developer Recording A Dance

Once the computer can identify the dancers, they will appear on the computer screens to be recorded. This is when the magic can begin. Every dance we recorded was split into 4 parts, which gave an opportunity for the dancers to practice each section separately, as well as give them a breather. Dancing in motion capture suits can be exhausting, so always be sure to keep your actors well hydrated and offer them frequent breaks.

Live Motion Capture Footage

UW-Stout Dance Team Members in MoCap Suits