Ryan Reynolds in Costume on Set of GREEN LANTERN

by Steve 'Frosty' Weintraub

Motion Analysis has developed an exclusive new proprietary image processing software which is embedded in the Raptor cameras. The Raptor cameras have an enormous amount of onboard computing power in order to accomplish all of the required image processing computations. This new, exclusive software addresses the various challenges of working outdoors in direct sunlight as well as indoor environments where reflections and lighting conditions can also affect a capture, while maintaining extreme accuracy and real-time capabilities.

“Our objective was to deliver a camera that performed in bright sunlight without compromising the superior accuracy and real-time, high data throughput customers have come to expect from all Motion Analysis cameras,” said Shel Fung, Senior VP of Engineering. “The results speak for themselves - there has been no degradation of performance when these cameras are used in an outdoor setting.”

Although the obvious application will be in the sports market for performance assessment and injury prevention, Motion Analysis believes that the ability to use motion capture outdoors will also be valuable for the animation and industrial markets as well.

“This is a major industry breakthrough,” Tom Whitaker, CEO of Motion Analysis, commented. “Mocap users have always wanted to take their systems outdoors but have been prevented from doing so. Until now.”

Many of us remember fondly the original DARK CRYSTAL from our childhoods, and now, with a sequel on the way 28 years later, maybe we’ll get to share that magic with our kids as well.

Or we’ll bitch about how special effects ruin everything and the original was way better.

Either way, POWER OF THE DARK CRYSTAL is moving forward, and according to a recent press release, has picked up a pair of directors in the form of Peter and Michael Spierig, who most recently helmed DAYBREAKERS, a very underrated film from last year that I think will find a following at some point.

What’s the plot of this new CRYSTAL adventure?

Set hundreds of years after the events of the first movie when the world has once again fallen into darkness, “Power of the Dark Crystal” follows the adventures of a mysterious girl made of fire who, together with a Gelfling outcast, steals a shard of the legendary Crystal in an attempt to reignite the dying sun that exists at the center of the planet.

A mysterious girl made of fire? I think they’re going to want to go with the mo-cap over a puppet for this one.

Actors embrace performance capture -- gradually

Performance-capture acting, and the thesps who've tried it, are earning more respect these days.

"Avatar" rode performance-capture to generally stellar reviews, record-breaking grosses and rare levels of audience engagement.

Yet professional thesps still lag behind the public in understanding the process and are just beginning to sort out what it means for the business of acting.

Zoe Saldana -- "Avatar's" Neytiri -- may be remembered as the first movie star to have her breakout role in performance-capture.

The prominence she got in spots for "The Losers," opening this weekend, befits a popular star, and she was prominent in spots for "Death at a Funeral" as well.

Her agent, Lorrie Bartlett, says Neytiri was "absolutely" Saldana's breakout part, and her manager, Aleen Keshishian of Brillstein Partners, says, "The attention we've gotten from filmmakers has been remarkable."

There has been pushback, though, especially from thesps, who either look down on the process as an animation hybrid or fear it is a step toward replacing actors altogether.

Andy Serkis, who through performance-capture played Gollum in the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and Kong in "King Kong," understands the thinking -- but dismisses it.

"(They think) if it's not the actor's face onscreen, they won't get the next job. There's a kind of vanity about that. Actors who care about the purity of acting and transformation are not worried about that."

Performance-capture, he says, is actually a boon to actors. "It enables you to play any manner of characters you might not normally be cast as."

One indication actors are coming to respect the process is that SAG is forming a performance-capture committee. Just a few years ago, when Serkis was shooting "King Kong," SAG covered his work only during principal photography, not while doing eight weeks of performance capture playing the giant ape.

Serkis credits thesp Woody Schultz, a vet of "The Polar Express," "Monster House" and "Avatar" who has been appointed to chair the new committee, with helping the Guild to change the way it looks at motion capture. For his part, though, Schultz says SAG's attitude evolved naturally, not through his efforts.

"Nobody knew where this technology fell," Schultz says. "It was a huge gray area."

Schultz says there's still an urgent need for education on the topic, and the Motion Picture Academy, answering that call, scheduled an April 22 panel on "Acting in the Digital Age."

Stars like Tom Hanks and Anthony Hopkins have given performance-capture credibility as "real acting." But reps aren't ready to evaluate potential clients that way.

One agent, who asked not to be identified, has had clients in performance-capture movies, with good results, but says not even Saldana's turn in "Avatar" would have been enough to sign her without live-action clips.

"It's not enough information," says the rep. "You don't know how much the performance is manipulated because the technology is so new."

That jibes with Schultz's experience as well.

"Initially if I were to show a reel to an agent that had my performance-capture work, it didn't sink in until I could show the video reference footage, so they could see me next to Anthony Hopkins performing a scene. They couldn't wrap their heads around the fact it was acting. Especially if the character didn't look like me."

"But that's changing," he adds.

SAG's committee is still being officially constituted; Schultz says he hopes it will officially meet in May.

Serkis, for his part, recently confirmed he is launching his own London-based facility, The Imaginarium, aimed at making the process accessible to more filmmakers at lower cost.

"I absolutely fundamentally believe it's part of the actor's journey now," he says. "If you look back at history, going back to Greek drama and commedia dell'arte -- which used masks -- and Kabuki, I don't suppose audiences were questioning the technology or how the actor was cloaked; they were moved by the performance. That's what we ought to be examining.

Omni-Focus Camera Sees Everything Perfectly

There are well-known methods to extend depth of field. There are even digital cheats to extend depth of field. But imagine shooting macro photography and telephoto photography, all in perfect focus, as one image. A new camera makes it possible.

The Omni-Focus Video Camera, by researchers at University of Toronto, can accomplish such a feat—and yes, it does cheat a bit, of course.

The camera is really many cameras, all focused at various distances. But what the Omni-Focus does really well (through collaboration with another related project) is map each pixel that each camera is shooting in 3D space, then combine these pixels appropriately into one image.

Obviously, photographers often enjoy blur. But I could see the benefits for 3DTV programming, in which anything out of focus can cause eyestrain. Plus, there's obvious utility for the industrial, security and pervy spycam sectors, too. [Physorg via PopSci]