Using reference footage was taken to mind-numbing extremes with the use of ‘Roto-Capture’. This technique involved first tracking the camera used on the reference footage and then brute-forcing a skeletal matchmove to copy the motion in the shot. This had varying degrees of success, and required a lot of animator input to clean up the data and make elegant motion out of it.
This was achieved using a dual-state skeleton that could transform from human proportions to ape proportions as a simple mapping of motion.
Walk:
Reference Footage.
Camera Tracked, Ape Matchmoved.
Motion Cleaned up, Attitude Animated.
Run:
Reference Footage.
Camera Tracked, Ape Matchmoved.
Performer:
Reference Footage.
Camera Tracked, Ape Matchmoved.
3DCGI 