Skip to main content

PHASESPACE INTEGRATES MOTION CAPTURE WITH UNREAL® ENGINE 3

Epic Accepts PhaseSpace into its Integrated Partners Program

San Leandro, Calif. July 5, 2007 - PhaseSpace, the price and performance leader in optical motion capture systems and technology, has joined the Unreal® Engine Integrated Partners Program (IPP). PhaseSpace now allows developers to direct the performance of characters inside the Unreal Engine 3 game engine in real time. Previous pipelines involved collecting motion capture data, spending weeks cleaning it up, revising and hand adjusting the data to view it on the character, importing to the game engine and then repeating the process to look 'good enough' in the game.

Mark Rein, Vice President, Epic Games Inc. comments, "We are delighted to welcome PhaseSpace into the IPP program, and like our other IPP partners, believe that their technology is industry leading, and has the potential to deliver added value to development teams already using Unreal Engine technology."

The new pipeline developed by PhaseSpace allows the actor and director to see the finished game character moving in the level in real time, enabling them to quickly decide the proper emotion, action and style they want to create. Previewing in the game engines enables more interaction and improvisation than has ever been available with older Mocap systems, all while reducing the capture process to a matter of seconds, rather than weeks. This is both a boon to creativity and huge cost savings. The PhaseSpace system uses active LED markers which each blink a unique ID allowing the computer to replace painstaking manual labor in older systems. At 3 times the speed and 3 times the resolution of older systems, the Impulse system is real time, and doesn't require the smoothing and filtering that older technologies need. At one third the price of older technologies, PhaseSpace makes a motion capture system affordable for individual teams and projects, eliminating the scheduling and budgeting bottlenecks that hobble older systems.

With data that is ten times cleaner, many users use the raw data from PhaseSpace in their final products. When cleanup is required there are no marker swaps to deal with and occlusions can be handled automatically by the PhaseSpace Recap Editor, software that can be used by anyone with only an hour's training. With the PhaseSpace Impulse system, any artist can be a Mocap expert, simultaneously decreasing the costs of operation while increasing the productivity of the art department. Systems are already in place at Zombie and Brainzoo.

Epic Games has established the Integrated Partners Program (IPP) for the purposes of having a formal business relationship with selected companies making cross-platform technologies which integrate with, and are complementary to, Unreal® Engine 3. Under the IPP program Epic provides continuous Unreal Engine 3 source code access and full technical support to IPP members. Companies who join the IPP agree to provide a high level of technical support for UE3 licensees through Epic's established support channels, keep their implementations up-to-date with the latest UE3 versions, and work with Epic on potential promotional and co-marketing efforts. The IPP program will make it easier for Unreal Engine 3 licensees to incorporate 3rd party middleware solutions from IPP vendors into their games.

For more information, and to see a video captured live in UE3, please contact http://www.phasespace.com

About PhaseSpace

PhaseSpace Inc. was founded in 1994 with the mission of developing new technologies and products for emerging motion tracking markets. Drawing upon the talents of a strong team of scientists and engineers from diverse technical backgrounds, PhaseSpace has developed motion capture solutions for the research, industrial and graphic arts communities.

PhaseSpace is the first to introduce a product that breaks the cost barrier with affordable hardware and affordable applications. The PhaseSpace Impulse System was developed as a new generation of 3D optical motion capture systems designed to be affordable to small companies, universities and individuals, lowering the cost of ownership so that it would be a financially feasible tool for a single artist or researcher.

The PhaseSpace system utilizes custom optics and camera technology that leverages Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) and synthesized digital signal processor (DSP) technology to deliver real time functionality at a new price threshold.

joinstyle="round">

About Unreal Engine 3

The award-winning Unreal Engine is known for cutting-edge graphics and a best-of-breed toolset. Unreal Engine 3 is expected to maintain those features while adding massive world support, multi-processor support, next-generation console optimizations, and one of the most mature tool pipelines in the industry. Unreal Engine 3's new toolset is designed specifically to accelerate developers' productivity for ultra-complex, next-generation content. Additional information on Unreal Engine can be obtained at www.unrealtechnology.com.

About Epic Games

Epic Games, Inc., based in Cary, NC and established in 1991, develops cutting-edge games and game engine technology for PC and console. The company has created multiple million-selling, award-winning titles in their Unreal series and their latest game, Gears of War®, broke sales records on Xbox 360 selling more than 3 million copies worldwide in the first ten weeks and awarded overall Game of the Year for 2006 by the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences, Game Developers Choice Awards, GameSpot, GamePro and many others. Epic is also responsible for the Unreal Engine, which is the underlying technology for a wide range of games including, Console Game of the Year winner, "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell TM" by Ubi Soft; PC Gamer's Game of the Year, "Deus Ex" from Ion Storm/Eidos; "America's Army: Special Forces," by the United States Army, and "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" (PC) by Electronic Arts. Epic's Unreal Engine 3 is the current holder, and three-time consecutive winner, of Game Developer magazine's Front Line award for Best Game Engine. Epic Games was also awarded Studio of the Year at the 2006 Spike TV Video Game Awards and Developer of the Year by Official Xbox Magazine. Additional information about Epic can be obtained through Epic's Web site at http://www.epicgames.com.

id=_x0000_s1027 style="MARGIN-TOP: 102.2pt; Z-INDEX: -1; LEFT: 0px; MARGIN-LEFT: 373.05pt; WIDTH: 63pt; POSITION: absolute; HEIGHT: 27pt; TEXT-ALIGN: left; v-text-anchor: middle" color2="black">Unreal is a registered trademark of Epic Games, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. The statements contained in this release that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements." PhaseSpace cautions readers of this press release that a number of important factors could cause PhaseSpace's actual future results to differ materially from those expressed in any such forward-looking statements. PhaseSpace and the PhaseSpace logo are registered trademarks of PhaseSpace. All other company names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. Copyright ® 2007 PhaseSpace, All Rights Reserved.

Read this next

GamesIndustry.biz avatar
GamesIndustry International is the world's leading games industry website, incorporating GamesIndustry.biz and IndustryGamers.com.