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[masrscb9] 21/11/2007 10:12

Glowing comments from Activision Director below:



Vicor MX: CoD3's motion capture system
Posted Nov 20, 2006 at 02:26AM by Tim Y. Listed in: Off Topic, Call of Duty 3, Games Tags: Activision, WWII, Vicon


We love grenades. They're not just a terrific way to clear a room (with the exception of using week-old gym socks), there's this strange, maliciously gratifying feeling to watching your AI opponents fly into the air, arms flailing, the instant after your Potato Mmasher/Pineapple goes "BOOM" in their face. It's not just that we get kicks from blowing stuff up - it's also fun to see how realistic the rendered movements are, especially in a game like CoD 3, where authenticity plays a major role in this WWII FPS.

If you feel the same way we do about the game's body-realism (flying bodies and bullet flinching included), you can thank Activision's in-house motion-capture equipment. Vicon's MX motion capture system, a recent acquisition for this game developing bigwig, was responsible for the fluid and realistic movements we've been enjoying for the game.

The 48-camera motion capture system allowed Activision's development teams to record up to eight people simultaneously as they went about doing movements that were to be encoded for the game interface and also allowed for more complex props and water effects to be included in the recording sessions.

Activision's Director of Motion Capture, Matt Karnes mentions that he "likes the focus of Vicon; I like its hardware, its software and its people. I like the fact that they are production minded and have product development paired up with real-world production. The way data is captured with the Vicon MX cameras is flawless. In the five months since we've had the Vicon system, a team of two of us produced over 20,000 character animations – more than I've ever done in a year!"

So there you have it - Vicon. Activision. Motion capture. Grenades. Flailing arms. It all connects.

[masrscb9] 21/11/2007 00:24

(also at )

Oxford, UK (November 20, 2007) - Vicon, developer of Academy Award-winning motion capture systems, today announced that Quantic Dream has bought the latest Vicon F-Series system, which will help further increase the level of quality in its studio. The new system gives Quantic a real edge to create spectacularly realistic virtual actors.

The new F-Series from Vicon is today's most powerful, accurate and versatile system on the market. Its enhanced accuracy gives Quantic the ability to not only capture body movements with stunning realism, but also capture the facial expressions of actors. Blade, the software that comes with the new system, is more powerful and capable of much faster post-processing capture data, increasing studio productivity. It also allows Quantic to capture more characters, set elements and props than was possible with its previous systems.

Guillaume de Fondaumière, Co-CEO at Quantic Dream, described the importance of motion capture technology to the studio: "Our objective is to make this media a mainstream entertainment form with high creative expectations. To do so, we have invented our own format called "Interactive Cinema" in which realistic, believable characters play a central role. To us, the only way to reach the level of quality we were targeting for the animation of our characters was to use Vicon motion capture."

"We needed a system that could be used with ambient light, as it is less tiresome for the actors who sometimes spend days and days in our studio," he continued. "High speed for more accurate capture of fast movements and high resolution, in particular for the facial motion capture, were also very important. The F-Series cameras are the only cameras that offer all of these attributes within the same system. There is simply no alternative system out there today if your objective is to obtain the highest possible quality."

Quantic Dream purchased the Vicon system to work on a new internal project, which has yet to be named. It is currently in production, in partnership with Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3. This project alone will require some four months worth of capture.

Requests to use the new studio have been flooding in. "Demand has been immediate and we have actually already started to rent the system to high-profile video game and advertising clients. Our new studio is fully installed and is functioning almost every day either for complex full body or facial captures," Fondaumière explained.

"I'm delighted Quantic Dream has had such a great response to its new system from Vicon, " said Nick Bolton, Chief Executive at Oxford Metrics, parent company of Vicon. The F40 cameras are part of the award winning MX range, which emphasizes our continual commitment to improving quality and pushing the industry forward."

About Vicon

Academy Award®-winning Vicon is the world's largest supplier of precision motion tracking systems, serving customers and CG animation applications in film, visual effects, computer games, and broadcast television, as well as engineering and life science industries. VICON operates in four offices worldwide, including its Los Angeles-based Entertainment headquarters, a 26,000 square-foot facility equipped with three performance capture stages for VICON's service company House of Moves as well as 125 VICON MX40 cameras.

Vicon is the largest holding of Oxford Metrics Group (LSE: OMG), plc., a group of technology companies that produces image understanding solutions for the entertainment, defense, life science and engineering markets. Other holdings include Emmy Award®-winning 2d3 and newly founded Yotta DCL.

Oxford Metrics' global clients include: life science leaders University of Pennsylvania, the VA Hospitals, Shriners Hospitals for Children, Titleist Golf, National Pitching Association; engineering industry leaders Ford, BMW, Airbus, Lockheed, Pratt-Whitney, NASA, Caterpillar, International Truck, and Toyota; and entertainment companies Sony Pictures Imageworks, Sony Computer Entertainment, Industrial Light and Magic, Sega, Nintendo, UbiSoft, Vivendi, Electronic Arts, Square Enix and many others. For more information about OMG and its subsidiaries, visit www.omg3d.com, www.yotta.tv, www.vicon.com, or www.2d3.com.

[mctmct] 01/11/2007 10:41

Looking good. 100p by this time next year?

"Trading in the second half of the year has been strong across all markets. The
Group has continued to increase investment in the new areas of 2d3 Defence and
Yotta and both divisions are making good progress, whilst Vicon and 2d3 Boujou
have continued to maintain their leading market positions. The integration of
Data Collection Limited, acquired in July, is proceeding well, providing a
strong foundation for further development of our mapping business.

Full year results are expected to be in line with market expectations.

Preliminary Results will be announced on 28 November 2007."

[masrscb9] 26/10/2007 07:56

An article explaining the advantages of Yotta DCL's offering to the asset collection surveying market:




[October 25, 2007]


Yotta DCL: Yotta DCL cuts the cost of asset collection surveys

(M2 PressWIRE Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)
RDATE:25102007

Oxford, UK -- New software combined with high-resolution photography
from Yotta DCL is changing the face of highway asset data collection.
Yotta DCL calls this breakthrough Nano and it enables rapid, safe,
accurate and cost-effective asset surveys. Whereas traditional asset
collection is performed on foot at a rate of about 2km a day, using its
unique digital technology Yotta DCL can survey up to 200km a day. The
added advantage is that Nano completely automates the asset capture
process and is free of human error.

With Central Government driving local authorities to manage highway
assets better, Nano enables them to quickly create accurate
inventories, mapping asset locations and their condition precisely.
This street-level view then provides local authorities with a head
start for developing incremental maintenance and replacement schemes.
This in turn allows local authorities to manage emergency maintenance
better, freeing their crews from non-urgent works. In addition the data
can be input directly to Pavement Management Systems and Geographic
Information Systems without the need for manual entry of new
information.

The Yotta DCL survey team use a specially designed and developed
vehicle equipped with six high-resolution cameras that provide a full
360-degree street-level view of the highway. The cameras take a
photograph every two metres as the vehicle drives along, with the
precise position of the vehicle recorded by a high end GPS Inertial
tracking system. These photographs are processed, evaluated and
analysed pixel-by-pixel by the Nano software to give a highly accurate
view of each inventory item captured on the journey.

With its unique service, Yotta DCL has removed the element of human
inaccuracy, sped up the survey process by 100 times as a whole and
reduced the cost of asset collection. Furthermore, the survey is
repeatable.

"Yotta DCL has made a huge leap forward for asset collection surveys.
By taking our market-leading technology and combining it with our deep
experience of highway surveying we are able to offer a unique solution
that helps local authorities to quickly gain a clear, reliable and
accurate view of their highway assets. The digital street-level view of
the highway we are able to provide is making it much easier for
highways departments to manage their assets. We are already working
with several satisfied customers who are benefiting from Nano and many
other local authorities are showing great interest in working with us,"
says David Lowe, Managing Director, Yotta DCL.

CONTACT: Robert Peel, Editorial Enquiries, Yotta DCL PR, The Marketing
Edge
Tel: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
e-mail: [e-mail]
David Lowe, Reader Enquiries, Yotta DCL
Tel: [phone]
e-mail: [e-mail]
WWW:

((M2 Communications Ltd disclaims all liability for information
provided within M2 PressWIRE. Data supplied by named party/parties.
Further information on M2 PressWIRE can be obtained at
on the world wide web. Inquiries to
[e-mail])).

Copyright 2007 M2 Communications Ltd.

[hew] 09/10/2007 14:18

Masrscb9, thank you for the rapid response, and more for digging these pieces up.

I wonder why OMG does not keep the News Items on its main site up to date with the announcements, that were in fact made by VICON and Yotta. Too many such? I hardly think so.

[masrscb9] 09/10/2007 10:26

Hello hew,

Sources were:

and

(or similar)

From the latter, I like the competitive advantage gained from Data Collection's GPR:
"The ARAN vehicles operated by Yotta DCL also have Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) systems installed. Processed by Aperio, the combination of GPR data with SCANNER is unique and for the first time enables surface and sub surface data to be evaluated together."

masrscb9

[hew] 09/10/2007 09:22

masrscb9,

Thank you for the two posts above, but what are their sources? I can't see them under News on the OMG site and the Yotta link you give in the second one doesn't seem to work. Thanks.

PS: having followed many high tech companies for quite a while, it is the only time that I have seen the boast: "captured a live camel on stage - a first". Well done OMG!

[masrscb9] 08/10/2007 19:09

Yotta DCL helps Greater Manchester Consortium hit highway management targets
Written by Yotta DCL

Friday, 05 October 2007
Highway surveying specialist Yotta DCL has been granted an extension to its contract with the Greater Manchester Consortium of local authorities highways departments for its innovative SCANNER service.

Yotta DCL is helping the Consortium with maintenance scheme development and prioritisation for a combined network of 1736km across Greater Manchester, providing essential support to the local authority engineers' own investigations. The independent survey results better equip the Highway Engineers with unbiased back up for justifying specific works.

Using its advanced vehicle-mounted laser scanner, Yotta DCL performs automated SCANNER (Surface Condition Assessment for the National Network of Roads) surveys on the Consortium's classified roads (A, B and C). The Automatic Road Analyzer (ARAN) vehicle scans the condition of the road surface and the results are compared with national standards using Best Value Performance Indicators.

The data is collected, tested, verified and then presented to the relevant Council, which is then able to use the information to help with specific treatment selection, forecasting the costs of treatment, and deciding priorities. The survey data is also used in the United Kingdom Pavement Management System (UKPMS). This is used by Highway Engineers to better target expenditure for road repairs.

Greater Manchester is a massive conurbation with a population of 2.5 million, and is also a major tourist destination, therefore highway maintenance and asset management is a high priority for the Consortium member authorities.

"Yotta DCL does a great job of presenting exactly what we all need within the Greater Manchester Consortium. The company understands the broad requirement of the Consortium and provides our engineers with independent support, helping them to justify their decisions and back up their own findings," says Matthew Mollart, UKPMS Engineer, Urban Vision Partnership (the joint venture company comprising Salford City Council, Capita Symonds and Morrison Highway Maintenance).



The Greater Manchester Consortium comprises the following 10 Local Authorities:
Bolton
Bury
Manchester
Oldham
Rochdale
Salford
Stockport
Tameside
Trafford
Wigan

Automated Surface Condition Surveys (SCANNER)

Yotta DCL operates two SCANNER vehicles in the UK. The SCANNER's are based on the hugely successful Canadian built Automatic Road Analyzer (ARAN). Yotta DCL is just one of three UK companies equipped to undertake government-specified surveying for the government's Surface Condition Assessment for the National Network of Roads (SCANNER) programme.

Yotta DCL's £1 million ARAN2, incorporates technology from Canadian firm Roadware. Equipped with precise satellite positioning, special ground penetrating radar and an advanced surface laser scanner, ARAN2 captures profile data that is considerably more accurate than before. The precise location information allows the SCANNER data to be matched with other highways data for analysis on Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

One of the significant advantages of the ARAN is the transverse profile system that measures 1200 points over a 4m width for every 10cm traveled. More points provide a very accurate profile and eliminate repeatability issues.

The GPS and inertial system is the military grade Applanix POS LV 420, the most accurate dynamic GPS system available for a vehicle.

The ARAN vehicles operated by Yotta DCL also have Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) systems installed. Processed by Aperio, the combination of GPR data with SCANNER is unique and for the first time enables surface and sub surface data to be evaluated together.

The survey data is collected to support the government's Best Value Performance Indicators for highway maintenance and is used in the United Kingdom Pavement Management System (UKPMS). This is used by Highway Engineers to better target expenditure for road repairs.

UKPMS

UKPMS is the standard system for the assessment of UK local road network conditions and for the planning of investment and maintenance on paved carriageways, kerbs, footways and cycle-tracks within the UK. (Source: www.ukpms.com)

Press Information: Billy Burle, eSales Manager Tel: [phone] extension 2447 E-mail: [e-mail] General Information: [e-mail]

[masrscb9] 08/10/2007 08:34

October 1, 2007
MOBILITY ART STUDIOS OPENS INDIA'S FIRST VICON MOTION CAPTURE FACILITY

India's First Professional Motion Capture Studio Chooses Advanced VICON MX-F40 System


VICON, developer of Academy Award®-winning motion capture systems, announced that Mobility Art Studios, the first professional motion capture studio in India has purchased a VICON solution.

Mobility Art Studios is the only fully integrated performance capture studio in India and is among the largest motion capture service studios outside of North America. The studio is one of a handful in the world capable of offering full body, face and hands motion capture.

Mobility Art Studios is equipped with the latest VICON MX system with 48 VICON F40 cameras. The new facility, based in Hyderabad with a second facility being setup in Mumbai, India, is designed to service the worldwide CG animation production, gaming, and visual effects for films and television industries. With top technology, infrastructure and talent, Mobility Art Studios is well positioned to provide cost effective motion capture solutions to global clientele.

Nick Bolton, Chief Executive of Vicon commented, "To have Vicon involved in India's first and only motion capture studio is fantastic news. We are proud Vicon has been chosen to be involved in such a ground-breaking project. Mobility Art have a very impressive studio and I look forward to seeing the excellent service work coming out of their facility."

Recently opened, Mobility Art Studios is already working on gaming and film projects. One of the earliest projects completed by Mobility Art Studios upon installing their VICON system, was for an upcoming film project in which they captured a live camel on stage. This is the first time camel capture has ever been accomplished in any studio of this type.

Mobility Art Studios houses a 12,000 sq ft capture studio divided into two shooting stages equipped with an overhead camera grid, independent stunt grid, and high density rubber flooring. Fully equipped to handle the most complex of projects, with a complete pre-production, motion/performance capture and data cleanup pipeline, Mobility Art Studios offers its customers a total end-to-end solution. For more information about Mobility Art Studios, visit www.mobilityart.com, or email: [e-mail].

[inntolife] 06/10/2007 09:37

Morning all,

The move up could be because last year "omg" can out with
a trading statement on the 16th October. I for one wanted
to pick some more up before the statement. I know it's a bit
of a gamble, but having held and traded this stock for over
two years i feel that there are no bad news stories waiting
in the wings.

So after the statement they should move up.....looking for mid .70s to even low .80s well here's hoping.

Happy to hold, good luck to all.

Oh, by the way for those of you that think luck has nothing to do
with the stock market remember what Paul Getty said when asked what he attributated his vast wealth too.

"get up early, work hard......then hit oil"


Now that's luck.

D.Y.O.R.

PSD

[bbonsall] 05/10/2007 15:47

End of year was 30 September, someone must know how things went already. Or perhaps an announcement is due about progress with the US military?

[marshalltronics] 05/10/2007 15:38

Interesting spike today.

[geovest] 28/9/2007 14:23

masrscb9- cheers for that. The DCL acquisition seems to be a pefect fit and now building momentum.

[garth] 28/9/2007 13:44

masrscb9,

You've got too much time on your hands ;0)

O/T
Interesting recent news from GNG has led me to revise my opinion....

Best regards,

G.

[gengulphus] 28/9/2007 10:30

Interested but nothing new to add.

My position as well.

Gengulphus

[geovest] 28/9/2007 08:23

Interested but nothing new to add. Waiting for further news on Yotta and defence contracts.

[bbonsall] 27/9/2007 16:51

A month since a single post appeared and that was from me. Am I on my own here, is anybody out there? Looks like no-one's interested in this company's apparently excellent prospects.

[bbonsall] 29/8/2007 12:38

Nice mention in today's Daily Telegraph.
It refers to the contract announced yesterday with the MOD. It also quotes Libertas Capital as saying that it vindicates OMG's decision to apply their product to defence. It also quotes Libertas Capital as pointing out that OMG keeps issuing positive news across all three of its divisions and that Libertas reiterated its "buy" rating with a 106p price target.

[geovest] 14/8/2007 07:40

I think it was a very clever acquisition. It adds expertise, industry experience and contacts as well as a very usefull income stream. Momentum change for Yotta.