Centroid - Services

Pre-Production

Production Services

Post Production

Our Services

Over the last two decades, Centroid has grown to provide a full range of services to compliment any production. We pride ourselves on bringing enthusiasm, skill and experience to all aspects of our work. Our team will help you through pre-production, from casting, prop builds to all technical requirements.

In either Europe’s largest Motion capture sound studio or on location with our mobile rig, Centroid uses the latest technology and highest standards to translate the performance into data.

Once the shoot is complete, our post team ensure our high standards are carried through to the final delivery of your data.

Pre-Production Consultation

This is the road map to a successful shoot and post production. This important organization period avoids any issues that would otherwise cause delays. During this period we find you the right performers, ensure the required characters and environments are in place for onstage previs, set up an ftp service for your data transfer & delivery needs and generally get things organised.

Casting and Talent Sourcing

Getting the right talent is crucial to any production. Centroid has nineteen years of collaboration with some of the best talent and casting agencies in the industry. We have an extensive catalogue of performers with skills such as: creature performers, acrobats, combat/martial artists and stuntmen/physical actors. If we don’t have the right talent on our books then we can organise casting sessions to fulfil your exact requirements.

Prop and Set Building/Sourcing

Although we have an exceptionally equipped studio, there are sometimes specific requirements for bespoke builds. If we don’t have everything you require, the various partners on site at Shepperton are able to supply you with your needs. These include prop builders for full cars, helicopter and boxing rings. Riggers and Stunt coordinators and also weapons specialists who can train performers. Importantly these are all checked prior to production to work unimpeded with our motion capture system.

Studio Demonstration

Whether you are familiar with MoCap or just considering the technology, taking advantage of one of our studio demonstrations allows you an overview of the entire process.

This can help you understand how we capture the data and how it will finally fit into your post pipeline. It’s also a chance to test your assets, ask questions, explore avenues and see what’s possible to capture in one of Europe’s largest motion capture studios.

Sample Data

Planning and preparation has always allowed Centroid to stay head of the game. By giving us your assets before production, we can apply data samples to your rig and test for any issues. While testing, we will confirm processes and test post pipelines ahead of production, giving you the peace of mind that the majority of issues have been ironed out even before you get on to the studio floor.

Security

Shepperton has 24 hour guarded security, with CCTV and digital entry systems onto the lot and into all vital parts of Centroids buildings.

Securing your IP is also important. Our meeting and post rooms are set away from the studio, so even with several clients coming in for different reasons you can be rest assured that whether you are in pre-production, capturing in our studio or in post-production, you will not be disturbed by other Centroid clients.

The great benefit of Centroid processing its own data clean up and not out sourcing any of its MoCap services to other companies, you know that all of your data is only in Centroid trusted hands. All our clients’ data is stored to specific areas of Centroid. These are then restricted to only Centroid staff who are assigned to the projects. Once it’s processed your data is secured via our secure FTP service.

Full Performance Capture - Optical and Optical/HMC Combined

Staffed by enthusiastic, skilled and happy staff, you know that you are getting a wealth of knowledge with internationally acknowledged leaders in motion capture. This can be simple body movement or with a head mounted camera, we can capture the facial performance.

While capturing body data, we use up to 53 markers on the performer’s suit. This ensures particularly clean data. During a shoot this is our main focus as we believe that by capturing the cleanest data, at the earliest stage of the pipeline will give you the best possible results.

It’s not just humans that go in to suit on our stage. We have captured horses, dogs, camels, in fact if it moves, we can capture it!

In-House Props

Our Shepperton studio offers an extensive range of props such as guns, shields, swords and sports equipment. In addition we have a range of steps, blocks, ramps, crash mats and our modular Lobo scaffold system, to quickly and efficiently build environments for the performers to interact with.

Body Capture

Is our bread and butter. In fact Centroid has been recording the body performances of anything from an actor, sports person, horse, dog or a camel for the last 20 years. This long and varied experience helps to capture clean data.

Facial Capture - Optical and HMC

There are two solutions to facial capture that Centroid offer. The first, HMC or Head Mounted Cameras, is a front mounted camera which records facial performance in sync with body capture.

The second solution is optical facial capture, this is a scaled down version of what is used to record the body. Using 2 mm reflective markers with 12 to 16 motion capture cameras. This is generally used when there is only a need to capture the facial performance for a non-action performance with no need for body data.

Cut Scene and Cinematic Capture

The evolution of games console technology has led to the adoption of the style and conventions of modern film making. Cinematic cameras, complex story lines with strong emotional content between characters. With centroid access to powerful actors and casting services.

In-game and Locomotive Capture

Our studio floor space has a great benefit while producing movement, maximising what can be captured thanks to a large space. This enables the actors to get up to full speed and to produce several cycles before they are off the floor.

Sports Capture

Centroid has a long history of capturing all major sports for games, cinema, adverts and TV. Years of experience has allowed us to develop techniques to capture clean and precise data and will move your production to another level and thrill your audience. From Rugby, Soccer Football, Boxing; to the world’s largest capture space for real sized tennis and basketball courts with a full teams.

Live Pre-Visualisation

Previs or Previsualization is always a great benefit to any shoot. This applies the live performance from a mocap actor to a digital character within a virtual environment in real-time. Allowing you to see a character interacting with and environment giving you confidence in what is being capture and the performance the talent is giving.

Virtual Camera and Set

Centroid has two virtual camera systems to navigate virtual environments. This will allow you to replicate or test your desired cameras in any scene. The VCS (Virtual Camera System), very similar to stripped down camera unit. With its monitor, and incremental controls this allow you to move and position the camera for you desired position within the 3D environment. This has proved to be very intuitive with clients from a film and/or television background.

The second camera control system that we have has been developed in house. This uses an Xbox controller to manipulate the camera. This has proved to be very popular with games clients who find the controller based system more natural.

Online Portal – Streamer

In order to cater to clients unable to attend a shoot or looking to an affordable alternative to a traditional shoot Centroid has created Steamer, an online portal that allows you to connect to our studio from anywhere in the world.

Saving you time and money, you will be able to direct the action on our studio floor through three witness cameras and our live Previsualization steam, talking to the performers as if you were in the room. This can be used on an hourly or day by day basis.

Body/Face Data Clean Up

Our team at Centroid Serbia, ID the markers which gives unique identification of the multiple actors captured at one time. This marker information is cleaned up to remove any vibrations, calculate the positions of occluded markers and then tracked through the duration of the take to give smooth seamless data.

Body Solving and Retarget

With the clean tracked data received from our team in Serbia, we begin the process of solving and retargeting in Shepperton. This is the ultimate process that brings your characters to life with the performance captured on stage. Through a combination of processes, your data is mapped and produced to give the best fit between your asset and the actor. We liaise via a round of feedback to ensure the data fits your pipeline and gives the best visual results that you require.

Face Data Tracking and Retarget

Our post team begin by tracking landmarks on the performers face. This data provides continuous tracking points for the mouth, brows, pupils, eyes and cheek areas. These animated landmarks are mapped to drive your character rig through joints, blendshapes or a combination of the two.

Motion Editing and Post Animation Services

We can edit your data to fit your needs. From simple intersection removal to looping, blending of motions, to full cut scene production.

Character and Camera Layout

Perhaps you need assistance with scene preparation. We can aid in preparing scenes with character and camera layout depending on your requirements.

Crowd Scene Creation and Simulation

Our team can assist an asset creation for Golaem crowd simulation. Our knowledge of the required motions for path finding means we can assist in directing motions and converting them for use in Golaem. We can also assist in integrating custom skeleton assets and motions from a variety of sources.

Data Selection Process – Trimmer

Our in house data selection package Trimmer has been a big hit with our clients since it was introduced over 5 years ago. Trimmer allows clients to review video reference of every take captured during a shoot and build a data order by defining cuts within preferred takes.

We aim to get the Trimmer package from each shoot day to you by the following morning so you can make the selects and get them to the post team as fast as necessary.

Data Delivery Types and Formats

We pride ourselves on our adaptability and flexibility when working with client pipelines, ensuring that data conforms not only to rigs but any special requirements that might be necessary for seamless integration.

Data delivery can be supplied on client rigs at frame rates between 150 and 12 frames per second. Primary export format is FBX for integration in to the Autodesk suite of DCC packages. We also support 3ds Max biped format for character animation. Prop data can be supplied as solved geometry, plotted to skinned assets or as a marker cloud, to suit.