Animatrik selects AJA video capture

Michelle Clancy
| 09 August 2016

Animatrik Film Design has selected AJA’s Ki Pro family of digital recorders to grab video for both on-stage and remote location motion capture (mo-cap) shoots.

chappieThe firm specialises in motion capture, pre-visualisation and virtual cinematography services for clients in film, television and gaming. Based in Vancouver since 2001, Animatrik has worked with various studios and developers, most recently on Warcraft, Chappie, Elysium, Gears of War, Heroes Reborn and American Sniper. As part of its motion capture (mocap) and virtual camera workflow, Animatrik relies on AJA. “We have a collection of Ki Pro products that we use to record video from an average of five cameras per mo-cap shoot,” said Brett Ineson, founder, Animatrik. “They're easy to set up if we need to go on location, and in-studio the Ki Pros output files over the network and are ingested directly onto our servers.”

In a mo-cap shoot, performance data is derived from a live actor outfitted with reflective markers that are tracked by a series of cameras positioned around a stage. This process often involves the use of a virtual camera, a system that maps performance data onto CG characters within a scene so that a director can frame shots and preview camera passes as they would appear once various creative assets have been composited together. The mo-cap process relies heavily on reliable video captured from multiple angles of shoot so that digital artists have accurate reference footage when mapping and refining performance data onto digital characters.

Ki Pro Racks and Ki Pro Minis are used anytime Animatrik needs to capture video, and they’re set up as slaves to their OptiTrack and Vicon motion capture systems set up on stage or on location.