NVIDIA Technology Key To Stunning and Biomechanically Accurate Animation in
Discovery Channel's Xtreme Martial Arts Documentary
LONDON, ENGLAND-NOVEMBER 25, 2003-NVIDIA Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA), the
worldwide leader in visual processing solutions, revealed that the NVIDIA
Quadro® FX 3000 was the key technology used by 3D body scanning and motion
capture studios to create digitised humans with biomechanically correct
skeletons and muscle for the Discovery Channel Xtreme Martial Arts (XMA)
documentary. This fascinating look at martial arts and the human body
combines live-action fight sequences with physical and behavioural-based
animation to illustrate the science of martial arts by highlighting moves
normally impossible to analyse with the naked eye. Clips from XMA can be
viewed at http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence...deo/video.html
"This combination of live-action footage, spectacular visuals, and
biomechanically-sound animation may redefine the way we look at human motion
and bring it to the screen," said Mickey Stern, executive producer of XMA
for BASE Productions. "The entertainment value is self-evident; the value
for scientific study and learning is unlimited. Martial artists push their
bodies to super-human levels, and only with NVIDIA Quadro graphics could we
have measured and illustrated it down to the bone and tissue level."
Each martial artist in XMA stepped into Nexus Digital Studios' laser scanner
for the 3D body scan necessary to create a life-like virtual model of a
human being. With scan data comprising hundreds of thousands of polygons,
the NVIDIA Quadro FX 3000 created a 3D image of each performer in real time.
Next, biomechanically accurate, animated skeletons were scaled to fit the
body size of the performers according to their scans. As the artists fought,
Motional Analysis Studios (MAS) used digitising cameras to capture the
subtlety and precision of their acrobatic and often deadly moves. MAS used
this behavioural data and NVIDIA Quadro FX 3000 graphics to bring the 3D
body scans to life by imposing natural movement onto the digitised
characters.
"The key technology behind the groundbreaking animation in XMA was the
NVIDIA Quadro FX 3000," said Domi Piturro, studio director at Nexus Digital
Studios. "This professional graphics board easily transformed huge datasets
generated by full body and facial scans into photo-realistic 3D images with
a level of precision that ensured high-quality results. Because of great
people and the precision and performance of NVIDIA Quadro FX 3000 graphics,
viewers will have a look inside martial arts and human body in ways never
seen before."
To blend live action and animated sequences in real time, the studios
combined scanned human characters with streaming motion capture data and
mapped those moving, 3D characters on to 35mm digitised film. In one portion
of the documentary, for instance, a martial artist jabs the end of a weapon
into the torso of another. The resultant jolt to bones is shown to viewers
through an animated x-ray technique mapped to the torso of the live action
martial artist. This created the illusion that animated bones and tissue
were those of the live performer.
"With its ability to draw more than a hundred million triangles a second,
only NVIDIA graphics had the horsepower necessary to transform the body
scan, motion capture, and muscle sensor data generated while making XMA into
the stunning animation that defines it," said Scott Gagain, vice president
of project development at Motion Analysis Studios. "With the NVIDIA Quadro
FX 3000, we had more than enough 'oomph' to get the job done. That makes a
big difference in a production environment."
[Edited on 11-25-2003 by Chad]
