Vicon collaborates with Manus VR to deliver hands-on tracking

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – SIGGRAPH 2017 (booth #523) – August 1, 2017 – Vicon, the motion capture technology specialist for the entertainment, engineering and life sciences industries, has collaborated with Manus VR, leading developer of virtual reality gloves. This key integration will give customers the ability to incorporate the Manus VR Glove into their production pipelines – providing full finger tracking. Whilst also unlocking features such as haptic feedback to deliver the sensation of touch to virtual environments and creating more immersive, engaging and personalised experiences.

“The integration with Manus VR expands Vicon’s tracking capabilities, giving users the ability to gather accurate finger data in real time. The gloves’ intuitive design provides consistent and low latency analysis, aiding the creation of truly immersive experiences,” said Tim Doubleday, VFX product manager at Vicon. “Manus VR’s focus on innovation supports our vision to help customers bridge the gap between physical and virtual worlds.”

Tracking the movements of all five fingers has often been problematic, especially on low camera count systems – as markers frequently become blocked by one another. As a result, animators usually create the gestures in post-production, often a time-consuming process disjointed from the actor’s initial motion capture session. Merging full body tracking data with precise hand analysis makes for a powerful combination. It brings new ways of expressing creativity in animation design, adds an extra layer of realism to productions and vastly simplifies the production workflow.

For those deploying virtual reality environments, the hand and finger movements are invaluable, as they allow users to interact with their surroundings and one another in a natural way – removing the need for controllers. This is especially beneficial to the engineering market, which often uses VR for prototyping and training, relying on hand movements to inform tasks such as assembly and factory planning. The sports science industry will also reap benefits from this collaboration, where detailed tracking will help performance enhancement in sports such as basketball and golf.

“This was a natural next step in providing customers with an advanced full-body tracking system,” said Maarten Witteveen, CTO of Manus VR. “With the boundaries of virtual reality ever expanding, it’s important for us to partner with a motion capture pioneer like Vicon to equip customers with an unlimited amount of possibilities.”