Suites at StudioSIAT include a Motion Effects Studio (MES), a Sound Motion Hub control room, animation and video effects suites, and a future sound recording studio.
Like Trisha, Long and Zak, many SIAT students have begun using these spaces for projects that incorporate design, illustration, animation, sound and effects elements.
Cappu is one of the first student projects created in the editing suites and began as part of a one-semester, self-directed IAT 387 course where students learned how to use the PhaseSpace motion capture system and its use within the Unity animation and gaming software.
The objectives of the course, which was taught by Professor Halil Erhan in the spring semester of 2024, were for students to create a digital character using motion capture and develop the associated algorithms and animation techniques.
“We wanted to create an original anthropomorphic animal character and allow someone to transform into it, at least virtually,” says Trisha. “Our goal was not only to learn how to use mocap, but also to gain more experience with the pipeline from character design to rigged mocap models.”
This pipeline refers to the entire process of creating a usable mocap avatar – designing the character, drawing the concept and reference artwork, creating the 3D model, rigging (adding a 3D skeleton) the character, and using that fully rigged model with mocap.
While production studios often have separate departments for each of these steps, Trisha, Long and Zak conducted all phases of the project themselves to gain experience and practice – a significant undertaking and a notable accomplishment for the trio.
After students designed the character graphics, they tracked the motion using marker points on a mocap suit. This data was fed into Autodesk MotionBuilder, a 3D character animation software that processes the raw position data and maps it to an avatar. All data was then fed into a model in Unity, where custom animations were triggered using the gesture recognition data.
A key technical focus of this project was for Trisha, Long, and Zak to learn how to use PhaseSpace for Unity and develop documentation for future students.
“This turned out to be one of the most difficult parts of the project,” says Trisha, but the students hope their work will pave the way for future students using this mocap system in Unity.
Cappu is equipped for use with motion capture and is always available to other SIAT students. By allowing students to explore motion capture without having to start from scratch with character design, creating a 3D model and equipping it for motion capture, Cappu enables future SIAT students of all experience levels to explore motion capture in StudioSIAT.
The MES and editing spaces can be booked by students. For more information about the studio spaces and booking, see the SIAT Spaces & Equipment page.
