My name is Sergey Stepanov, I have my own animation studio which produces 3D and 2D cartoons and commercials. Recently, with help from the 2D mocap (motion capture) solution of Cartoon Animator (opens in new tab) and the Perception Neuron (opens in new tab) mocap suit, I completed a commercial for my client, Эминекст.
Motion capture for 2D animation
This is a never-before-seen breakthrough which facilitates the production of 2D animations. When the performer makes movements, the 2D character repeats everything after the performer. As the character imitates the performer, its movements are smooth and natural. Previously, such an animation was possible only with a large, painstaking frame-by-frame work.
Motion capture - how long it takes
The following steps and timings were required for creating this 2D commercial animation with motion capture. One trick worth mentioning is that a motion recorded in RAW format can be applied to both the frontal and sideway positions of an avatar for Cartoon Animator. Of course, you can direct mocap in Cartoon Animator, but I prefer to have a RAW format in the Axis Neuron program then apply it to the different avatars. As the timings below show, I was able to finish this commercial in less than 2 hours.
- Put on the Neuron Mocap suit: 20 minutes
- Get into position 'T': 10 seconds
- Do the calibration in Cartoon Animator: 30 seconds
- Motion capture recording: 30 minutes
- Apply motions and tuning: 20 minutes
Benefits of 2D motion capture
The Cartoon Animator 2D motion capture solution, paired with with a neuron mocap suit, saved me a huge amount of time creating the initial animation, which saves time creating the final product. And time, as they say, is money!
