Faceware Technologies—an innovator and provider of markerless 3D facial motion capture solutions—announced the upcoming release of its Shepherd motion capture sync software. This brand-new software automates Faceware’s ProHD headcam recording, and integrates with industry-leading body motion capture systems, such as Vicon and Optitrack, to sync facial and body mocap recordings on Windows PCs and tablets.
“In most mocap recording sessions, operators are working with one software package for body mocap, and another for facial mocap. This adds a lot of complexity and a lot of work for your operators,” said Peter Busch, VP of business development at Faceware Technologies. “Shepherd syncs a studio’s face and body mocap pipelines, providing a more unified, succinct and automated motion capture process—something that is a key initiative for our users.”
Shepherd gives facial motion capture operators the ability to control recording and playback of multiple Ki Pro® video recording devices. Shepherd instantly simplifies any motion capture shoot by eliminating the need to manually track take numbers, file names, and recording times. Because of Shepherd’s novel ability to start and stop facial recording at the body system’s direction, the facial motion capture operator is empowered to focus on the most important aspect of any capture shoot: the actor’s performance.
Shepherd currently connects to Vicon and Optitrack mocap systems to provide facial motion capture recordings that are in sync with body motion capture recordings. Shepherd also provides valuable tools for producers, like the ability to easily transfer clips from multiple Ki Pro® devices simultaneously, as well as export a detailed list of recorded clips for review, editorial, or to be fed directly into an existing Faceware Batch Pipeline. Shepherd will be available via a Closed Beta with select partners starting this month. A wider Open Beta period will follow in November with a public release scheduled for early 2019.
Faceware’s software products identify the movement of an actor’s face from video and apply that movement to a CG character. Together with its head-mounted and stationary cameras, Faceware’s technology has been used successfully in movies like The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Walk.
Jennifer Kent On Why Her Feature Directing Debut, “The Babadook,” Continues To Haunt Us
"The Babadook," when it was released 10 years ago, didn't seem to portend a cultural sensation.
It was the first film by a little-known Australian filmmaker, Jennifer Kent. It had that strange name. On opening weekend, it played in two theaters.
But with time, the long shadows of "The Babadook" continued to envelop moviegoers. Its rerelease this weekend in theaters, a decade later, is less of a reminder of a sleeper 2014 indie hit than it is a chance to revisit a horror milestone that continues to cast a dark spell.
Not many small-budget, first-feature films can be fairly said to have shifted cinema but Kent's directorial debut may be one of them. It was at the nexus of that much-debated term "elevated horror." But regardless of that label, it helped kicked off a wave of challenging, filmmaker-driven genre movies like "It Follows," "Get Out" and "Hereditary."
Kent, 55, has watched all of this — and those many "Babadook" memes — unfold over the years with a mix of elation and confusion. Her film was inspired in part by the death of her father, and its horror elements likewise arise out of the suppression of emotions. A single mother (Essie Davis) is struggling with raising her young son (Noah Wiseman) years after the tragic death of her husband. A figure from a pop-up children's book begins to appear. As things grow more intense, his name is drawn out in three chilling syllables — "Bah-Bah-Doooook" — an incantation of unprocessed grief.
Kent recently spoke from her native Australia to reflect on the origins and continuing life of "The Babadook."
Q: Given that you didn't set out to in any way "change" horror, how have you regarded the unique afterlife of "The... Read More