CJP Broadcast, a leading provider of products and services for the broadcast and wider television industry, is pleased to announce its appointment by motion capture specialist Xsens as distribution partner specialising in the UK education sector for media and entertainment. Xsens, part of Movella, offers a range of products designed for use in entertainment, sports, health and manufacturing. Customers such as The Mill, Trixter, THQ Nordic, CodeMiko, Corridor Digital and Double Negative have used Xsens motion capture technology for their film, game and live television productions. Xsens also has integrations with major players in this field, such as Unreal Engine, Mo-Sys, HTC Vive, Pixotope, Houdini and Unity 3D.
"Motion capture offers a far more efficient way to achieve animation than the labour-intensive frame-by-frame techniques long used by animators," says CJP Broadcast managing director Chris Phillips. "It is becoming an increasingly important element of the media study courses offered by universities, colleges of further education and industry-specific skills training organisations. A crucial factor is to give students experience with the actual tools they are likely to meet when they progress into their careers. Xsens comes into exactly that category, used to create film and television content as well as augmented reality, virtual reality and mixed reality experiences."
"We are delighted to be working with CJP Broadcast to promote awareness of Xsens into the UK educational market," adds Ole Bakker, senior account executive at Xsens. "Chris and his team have the experience necessary to guide their customers during the initial planning stages of a project plus the proven ability to design, integrate and support systems that will stand the test of time. Our first joint venture with CJP is already in progress for one of Britain's leading media-studies universities and I am confident we will be co-operating with CJP on many more."
Core of the Xsens product range is the MVN Animate motion capture system, available in Basic, Plus and Pro versions. Features include quick and easy calibration and real-time visualisation, as well as playback and reprocessing of motion capture data. MVN Animate offers real-time 3D animation, graphs, data streaming, and video output. The software has built-in timecode and remote control plugins. MVN Animate exports in proprietary motion capture software streams or can feed data to third-party 3D software.
Three types of motion sensing hardware are offered: MVN Awinda Starter, MVN Awinda and MVN Link. The starter and full versions of MVN Awinda each use 17 wireless sensors that attach to the talent with adjustable straps for fast, easy, and reliable motion capture. MVN Link operates on the same 17 trackers but attached to a Lycra suit for highest precision data capture and a bigger recording range. MVN Link additionally features GNSS and HTC Vive support and On-Body Recording. Xsens Gloves provide real-time finger tracking, compatible with both the MVN Awinda and MVN Link hardware.
