http://www.mova.com/
are they using here make up?
what i like with image metrics is that their software also tracks the eyes,teeth and tounge. i odnt know how they do this but they do. plus with IM its cheaper and faster. they dont use special cameras or not even more then 1 camera. IM can do their work in a living room with a normal HD camera.
i really dont think that Countour reality capture is tracing the face better. i think that both are doing in a way the same amount of tracking. but with IM you get eyes which is very complicated.
but i think we all agree that dots on the face are not enough. i still dont get why beouwulf had to have 100 of markers on the face. why not wait for Countour and IM.
Beowulf was made before IM and Contour was available.
With Contour you get an accurate copy of your facial expressions, with Image Matrics you don't, look at how the girls face in the comparison video on the officiqal IM site doesn't have the broad expressions, just like in Beowulf, the angry expression isn't as angry as with the real person. With Contour you get an exact copy of the performers face.
Contour has
100,000 polygons captured, 10,00 point tracked. Standard capture is 100 polygons captured, 100 points tracked. (Beowulf)
The Green Paint
"By applying phosphorescent makeup to a performer's face or to special glow-in-the-dark dyes to costumes and rapidly strobing blacklights just beyond the threshold of human perception, multiple cameras record facial movements during the tiny interval when the lights are off."
"Contour is almost to the point where we can show the faces live as they're being captured," says founder Steve Perlman. But the system does have its limits: "We need a situation in a room where we can control the lighting."
http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=festivals&jump=features&id=3152&articleid=vr1117986669
“Instead of grabbing points on a face, you will be able to capture the entire skin,” Mr. Fincher said. “You’re going to get all of the enormous detail and the quirks of human expression that you can’t plan for.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/31/t...82d98f187&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss
MOVA is actually financed and research is funded by Robert Zemeckis who directed Beowulf, he invented a software to track eyes, and in his new film, A Christmas Carol, you'll see Contour at work, where it wasn't there for Beowulf.
http://www.awntv.com/videos/image-metrics-emily-project
“The subtlety and detail of Contour is way beyond anything I've ever seen. Contour is the most advanced technology I know of for creating photorealistic human facial animation.”
—Stephen Regelous, founder, Massive Software and creator of the Academy Award®-winning crowd animation software used in The Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Image Metrics’ revolutionary technologies for performance-driven character animation require neither complex motion-capture hardware, nor specialist technical knowledge. Their animation solutions put the performer at the heart of the process, dramatically enhancing the creativity and reducing post-production time. "It is this type of innovation that will again allow us to present to the consumer, stories that could not otherwise be told."
John Landau, Academy Award Winning Producer (James Cameron’s Lightstorm Entertainment)
