Opening of our new offices

Opening of our new offices

Artanim has just moved its offices in Meyrin located only minutes away from the city center and with easy access to the highway, the train station and the International Airport of Geneva. Artanim is now housed within a facility of 273 m2 with a capture stage twice bigger than before. The facility includes offices and a conference room, a sound/post-production studio and a wardrobe/make-up room with shower.

On December 15th, we inaugurated our new offices with our friends, colleagues and partners. For the occasion, we organized a real time dance performance using our Xsens suit in collaboration with the Cie Gilles Jobin (dancer: Susana Panadés Diaz).

Artanim opening 2015

Visit at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

Visit at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

Last week, we were invited at the Winter Enrichment Program (WEP) 2014, a three weeks of compelling educational, cultural and recreational events organized by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia). There, we did a 3 half day workshop on Motion Capture and 3D animation for the students of KAUST. Participants had the chance to test our Xsens MVN system and to follow a course on the challenges related to Mocap and 3D character modeling/animation through case studies and practical examples. According to students feedback, they really enjoyed the workshop!

Motion capture workshop with students of KAUST

Also, we participated to the Science Fun Fair, an opportunity for the community and schools from Saudi Arabia to come and learn about the science at KAUST. At this occasion, we did motion capture demos and showed several videos about our latest projects.

Motion capture showcase Motion capture showcase

Full body virtual reality with Oculus Rift and Xsens

Yesterday, we tested with Tobias Baumann, game designer and freelancer, the Oculus Rift with our Xsens MVN in Unity 3D. The goal was to virtually hit columns of cubes and balloons. Some simple applications to start with, but resulting in a nice full-body immersive VR experience. The first tests were convincing. We will definitely continue working on this topic with Tobias. Stay tuned!

 

Winter sports motion capture

Winter sports motion capture

Sochi 2014 – the next Winter Olympic Games – is coming soon… For us, it was the opportunity to motion capture several winter sports! Indeed, we were contacted by Kenzan Technologies for the making of a 3D animation requiring different short captures of professional athletes. We spent a weekend in Zermatt to acquire the necessary data. The weather conditions were not on our side, -15° at the top, snow falls, zero visibility, not really the best conditions to go skiing with our Xsens system and a computer on the slopes! After experiencing a lot of issues, especially because of the cold, we were finally able to obtain good animation data during the weekend. We captured four athletes in the following disciplines: Nordic skiing, alpine skiing, freestyle skiing and snowboard.

Back in Geneva, we captured three additional people to complete our sample of winter sports: ice hockey, speed skating and bobsleigh. Now you are wondering… Is there a bobsleigh slope in Geneva? Well of course, there isn’t! But with some tricks, a good carpenter and a little practice, it is possible to produce the illusion… Note that for this last capture, it was not necessary to have a professional athlete!

Hockey Mocap SnowBoard Mocap Ski Mocap

Upcoming workshop on motion capture

Upcoming workshop on motion capture

Are you interested in learning more about motion capture or simply curious to discover the magic of mocap? On May 7th and 8th 2012, we will organize a workshop at artanim in collaboration with Focal.

The goal of this two-day workshop will be to put hands on our two motion capture systems: our 24 cameras MXT40s Vicon system and our Xsens MVN motion capture suit. From system calibration to final rendering, the whole pipeline will be covered.

Motion Capture with Vicon Mocap with Xsens Motion capture studio

Program:

  • The first day will be dedicated to capture data. After a brief theoretical presentation on motion capture, participants will be able to try each system and assess their advantages and drawbacks.
  • The second day will focus on data post-processing and their integration in a 3D authoring software. This will allow the participants to get a clearer view of what is involved when using motion capture for 3D animation.

Registration to this workshop is open until April 4th on Focal’s website.

Motion capture demo reel

Here is artanim’s new motion capture demo reel. Discover our facilities and motion capture systems!

Taekwondo and tango movements were captured using our 24 cameras Vicon system. Rock climbing and mountain bike were tracked with our Xsens MVN suit.

Special thanks to Valerie, Sina, Etienne and Houmi for their participation.