Xsens MTx used for new Star Trek movie

 

Xsens MTx Motion TrackerXsens MTx used in new Star Trek movie 

For the new Star Trek movie lots of visual effects camera shots where done by ILM. For making the previs movies ILM used the Xsens MTx motion tracker to track the orientation of the camera in 3D. With the orientation tracker they could create multiple takes of the camera work in real-time saving huge amounts of time. Colin Benoit of ILM talks about the MTx motion tracker in the article on StudioDaily.com: 


  “It’s a little device from Xsens, a gyroscope and magnetometer about two or three inches long and three inches high, that gave us orientation control at our desk,” Colin Benoit [ILM]  says. By plugging the Xsens device into a USB port, the shot designers could plot the position of the camera and the pan, tilt and roll in real time.

“It was like I was looking through a real camera,” Benoit says. “I could watch all the 3D geometry, everything in 3D space, the characters fly by, the umbilical cord, the Narada, the drill platform, all optimized to play back in realtime.”

By holding the device in his hand, Benoit could move the camera through all three degrees of freedom while watching the footage. “I’d let the footage loop and do multiple takes,” he says. “I could crank out 10 or 15 takes, pick the best one, tweak it if I wanted, and render it out. I showed the device to J. J. and he was very excited. Sometimes, it’s hard to interact so directly with CG. This bridges that gap.”


>> Read the complete article on StudioDaily.com

The Xsens MTx is a miniature motion tracker that can be used for tracking human and other motions. The data output can for instance be used to stabilize or remotely control cameras. For more information about the MTx, please click here.