Real-Time Motion Capture Powered by iClone Timecode Sync in Studio 101
The Actor Capture team leads two advanced motion capture shoots in Studio 101 at the Creative Media Industries Institute (CMII) at Georgia State University. Reallusion iClone Timecode plugin played a pivotal role in synchronizing the motion capture sequences, highlighting its importance in real-time virtual production.
Actor Capture
Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Actor Capture is a motion capture and VFX powerhouse known for its work on blockbuster productions like The Electric State (Netflix), Lyle Lyle Crocodile (Sony Pictures), The Suicide Squad (Warner Bros.), and Replicas (Entertainment Pictures). The company also caters to the music and episodic world, with notable appearances such as Cardi B and Offset’s feature in “Cardi Tries..,” garnering over 6.8 million views.
Whether capturing high-impact stunts or intimate performances, Actor Capture’s team often juggles multiple motion capture technologies by combining optical, inertial, facial, and hand tracking depending on the shoot’s requirements.
The Power of Timecoding in Motion LIVE Workflows
Motion capture pipelines are complex, especially when syncing data from various sources like OptiTrack, Xsens, Rokoko, and FACEGOOD. The introduction of Reallusion’s Timecode plugin within iClone’s Motion LIVE ecosystem solves one of the industry’s longstanding pain points: data synchronization.
Enabling timecode metadata into multiple datastreams (even without native LTC – linear timecode – support) ensures the alignment of all captured motion, video reference footages, and animation outputs throughout production and post-production.
The Quad System and Synchronized Visualization
Actor Capture’s unique setup includes a Quad video village display with four critical views:
- Two RED cameras for video reference.
- The mocap software interface (OptiTrack, Vicon Shogun, or Xsens MVN Animate).
- A real-time visualization engine (iClone or Unreal Engine) rendering the retargeted character animation.
This layout offers all stakeholders, including directors, editor, and VFX supervisors an overview of the aligned performances, data, and visualizations. The glue that kept this all together was timecode synchronization.
Timecode-enabled capture ensures “circle takes” and other critical moments are clearly documented and easily retrievable during editorial and VFX processes. With a synced shotlist and detailed notes, each take remains linked to its corresponding data—all essential for large-scale, high-stakes productions.
Session 1: Multi-Actor Capture with OptiTrack
For the first session, four stunt performers comprising two males and two females, were recorded using a 40-camera OptiTrack system with Motive suites. An equal number of avatars were assigned to the actors and streamed live into iClone through Motion LIVE.
Thanks to iClone Timecode and Tentacle Sync devices, even complex scenes with multiple actors and overlapping performances were kept in sync; allowing the editorial and post teams to easily identify, evaluate, and extract the best takes for final production.
Session 2: Multi-Device Capture with Xsens and FACEGOOD Face Mocap
The second session featured a high-energy DJ performance by Ruban “Swift” Vidal. To capture his full-body performance, the Actor Capture team integrated:
- Xsens Link Suit with MVN Animate for body tracking.
- Rokoko Smart Gloves for finger capture.
- FACEGOOD HMC with Avatary for facial capture via dual IR camera feed.
- iPhone for facial capture via Live Face App.
All data streams were unified through iClone Motion LIVE, synced with Tentacle Sync Timecode devices. While tools like MVN and FACEGOOD supported direct timecode jamming, Rokoko did not; making the iClone Timecode plugin’s ability to assign timecode retroactively a critical component in maintaining a unified timeline.
Real-Time and Post-Production Benefits
Recordings can undergo HD Processing post-shoot to refine body motion. Once enhanced, this data can be reimported into iClone, where iClone Timecode ensures face and finger captures align perfectly with the refined body motion.
Facial data captured with FACEGOOD can be solved in Avatary Studio, where the landmark tracker enables high-precision face tracking. With iClone integration, key poses are instantly visible on characters in real time, allowing precise retargeting for high-fidelity facial expressions.
By embedding and burning timecode across all data streams, Actor Capture ensures a high level of accuracy when delivering takes to animators, VFX vendors, or editors; At the same time, avoiding mismatches and saving hours in post.
Conclusion: A Game-Changer for Real-Time Studios
Reallusion’s iClone Timecode plugin brings professional-grade precision to real-time animation; And the Actor Capture team was able to embrace this technology to unlock the full power of synchronized workflows—even when juggling complex, multi-source mocap data.
In productions packed with long scripts, dense shotlists, or multiple performers, the iClone Timecode keeps everything tight and on track. Circle Takes are called in perfect sync and delivered without a hitch. With it, directors, producers, and animators have the control they need to drive performance-focused storytelling forward.
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