House of Moves provides mocap for Lexus commercial

Andy Price | Commercial | Showcase | 27/09/2011 14:27pm

In the 30-second spot, titled ‘Light’, the motion capture and animation company provided capture for the renowned car brand

Through the use of motion capture, the difference in data derived from a typical crash test dummy and the Lexus ‘crash test genius’ are illustrated with tiny dots of light outlining a driver in a slow-motion simulated crash.

Production company Epoch Films enlisted Vicon House of Moves for the motion capture and data processing, and a52 to complete the visual effects for the spot.

The “Light” commercial was shot at HOM on its 2,520 square foot main stage, which features 80 Vicon T160 16-megapixel cameras.

A stunt coordinator designed a 40-foot rig that was able to simulate the effects of an automobile collision with a stunt performer in the driver’s seat.

The performer was outfitted in a mocap suit and was thrust forward in the rig with movements similar to those of a crash test dummy captured by the Vicon cameras.

Once the data was captured, Vicon HOM retargeted the data at their Los Angeles studio for a52 to integrate into the final spot.

“While as a standard we capture at 120 Frames Per Second (FPS) we increased the rate of the T160 to 240 FPS to capture even more detail at the point of impact,” says Brian Rausch, vice president of production at Vicon, House of Moves.

“It was incredibly interesting to see what the body goes through in a collision.”

Watch the spot:

Posted on Tuesday, September 27th, 2011 at 2:27 pm under Commercial, Showcase. You can subscribe to comments. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.