CGW has officially announced Vicon's Markerless Motion Capture System as a recipient of a CGW Silver Edge Award for SIGGRAPH 2023. Selected by CGW's editorial team, the Silver Edge Awards recognize the most innovative and impressive technologies announced or on display at the annual conference.
Out of the many exhibitors participating in SIGGRAPH’s 50th annual conference this year, CGW selected 10 companies for their outstanding technological achievements. These best-of-show selections demonstrate remarkable advancements in the field of computer graphics.
About Vicon’s Markerless Motion Capture System
At SIGGRAPH 2023, Vicon was showing off their new markerless motion capture system in an experience by
Dreamscape called “The Clockwork Forest.” They had a six-person virtual experience set up on a relatively small volume. As you looked around the space, you just saw a square room with rails on the sides and some peripherals, and an area in the middle with a circular handrail with an opening. You then put on a VR headset and headphones, and the experience began.
This was a very different VR experience for me. When I looked down, I saw my avatar—which reacted with my movements—and when I would reach out to grab a rail I saw in the environment, I would make contact with a real rail. The hands didn’t close because we weren’t wearing VR gloves, but as you looked around, you saw the other participants. Although they didn’t look the same, you could tell who was who based on height difference. If you and someone else both grabbed the rail in the same place, you would actually feel your hands touch.
During the experience, they cleverly made you feel like you were in a much larger area, walking around and traveling much farther distances than were possible in the actual small volume of the stage. They even figured out ways of separating us within the virtual environment, and then bringing us back together in a convincing fashion. It was a cool experience, and a great case study for Vicon’s markerless motion capture system tracking six people simultaneously. — Heath Firestone