Organic Motion on Monday announced commercial availability of Stage, its markerless motion capture (mocap) system that works with Macs and PCs running Autodesk’s MotionBuilder software.
Stage was first introduced publicly at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco this past March. The system works differently than other motion capture systems as it does not require users to wear a body suit or tracking device in order to capture their motion. At $80,000 or so to start, Stage costs about half of what traditional motion capture systems typically run, according to Organic Motion.
Stage works using a series of FireWire-connected cameras that are plugged into a processing box of Organic Motion’s own design; the system is capable of recording body motion without generating occlusion errors or requiring long set-up times. Once the motion capture is recorded, users can begin manipulating the information almost immediately in MotionBuilder using plug-in software.
Beyond special effects for movies and character motion recording for video games, Organic Motion anticipates strong interest in the medical and research fields — the system has already been road-tested by Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital to adapt the medical version for use with children suffering from cerebral palsy.
To that end, Organic Motion has designed three different versions of the system for different applications — Stage is the motion-capture system aimed at content creation and 3D animation; gaming, special effects, virtual reality and more. BioStage is the company’s version engineered for the Life Sciences market; and OpenStage is a version customized for each individual client depending on their needs.