Lotus - motion capture animated short film
Lotus is a motion capture animated short film created in completion of a capstone and thesis project. Over the course of three months, I learned animation in Unreal Engine and motion capture utilizing a rokoko motion capture suit to create this short film.
Hundreds of hours of work went into creating Lotus, and a further case study can be seen below.
Supplemental Information Order:
Lotus - Full Animation
motion capture testing
metahuman exploration
motion capture recording behind the scenes
3D modeling exploration
storyboard
animatic
role
director, writer. producer, animator, editor, voiceover editor
timeline
3 months — February - April 2024
programs
adobe illustrator, adobe after effects, adobe audition, adobe substance painter, unreal engine 5.3.2, blender, davinci, rokoko, metahuman creator
facial motion capture testing
body motion capture testing
In the beginning stages of LOTUS, there was a lot of trial and error in learning the programs (Unreal Engine, Metahumans, Rokoko Motion Capture). The top two videos show my beginning stages of learning the programs. Utilizing the Unreal Engine Live Link Face App, I tracked facial motion capture data. This data was then directly inputted into Unreal Engine and applied to a metahuman. This application allows mouth syncing with audio captured from a phone, as seen in the top left video.
In the Rokoko Studio desktop app, body motion capture can be captured. Below, two examples of cleaned body motion capture can be seen. While some of it is bumpy, it is an amazing jumping-off point that can be imported into Unreal Engine. The footage below is then exported out of Rokoko Studio and applied to the metahuman in Unreal Engine. This uncleaned result can be seen in the top right video.
Lots of tweaking of the animation through the metahuman animator in Unreal Engine was used to produce the final animation of LOTUS.
motion capture in rokoko
metahuman character creation
The initial creation of a metahuman starts through the metahuman creator. Utilizing this online platform, I was able to create the main character Kaya for the animation of LOTUS.
Along with the heavy post-production that went into LOTUS, there is also the initial filming and production of LOTUS.
Motion capture data was filmed utilizing a Rokoko Smartsuit Pro II, Smartgloves, and Headrig. Over 8 hours, body and additional facial motion capture were filmed in the Rokoko Studio application. Connection, and utilizing only a Bluetooth connection was difficult on a University Campus, causing us to end up in hallways and less crowded areas to get the best filming data possible.
Initial facial motion capture and final audio were recorded in audio booths. Luckily, both facial and body motion capture can be captured separately.
thankfully, throughout this entire process, my actor (Alexandra Lobel) and I were able to troubleshoot inevitable problems as they came up. Before LOTUS, I had never created animation in Unreal Engine, let alone using motion capture equipment to create an animation.
robot model
test robot animation
Blender 3D modeling and animation were also a large part of the basis of LOTUS. The main robot, Lucian, in LOTUS, is a custom-made 3D model created by myself in Blender. Texturing, rigging, modeling, and animation were all created for this project.
The body of Lucian is unique, inspired by a lilypad, commonly associated with lotus flowers. Lotus flowers often symbolize a sense of rebirth, this symbolization Lucian embodies throughout this short animation.
scene 1 storyboard
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scene 2 storyboard
scene 3 storyboard
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Lotus animatic