May 10, 2012
Control your 3D model and digital characters such as dragging to make movements was always seen as non-intuitive and unnatural. Typically an artist will have a mannequin acting as an aid to getting a pose right. Japan's SoftEther from University of Tsukuba, and ViVienne from The University of Electro-Communications come up with a new solution. They developed Qumarion, a tiny 30-centimeter posable mannequin that can simplify the manipulation and posing of human-like 3D CG models on the screen.
The model uses 32 sensors across 16 body joints to translate the humanoid statue's pose and transmit the data to the computer screen. With the 120 frames per second sample rate over USB, the movements of a character are mirrored almost in real-time in the modeling tools. And the software is currently being created by Celsys, an illustration and comic-production program developer.
"This mannequin was designed by a maker of action figures. So a big feature is, it can move much more than an artist's mannequin. For example, it can take sitting positions like this. It's hard to obtain a mannequin that can assume as many poses as this one. Additionally, I think we've made this mannequin into quite a complete tool, by embedding sensors in it." said Takao Ito, a graphics developer at SoftEther.
The system, including the mannequin and custom modeling software from Celsys will be released in few month for the reasonable price of US$750.
Posted in 3D Software
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Exelent initiative, needed long since. Keep the price as promised and many more than I will buy it.
iknownowt wrote at 1/17/2014 8:53:38 PM:
Am I being thick? Stick the sensors on a human. That's intuitive and is already used in the film industry. If they can do that for roughly the same price they will sell loads.
Elabz wrote at 5/11/2012 6:10:38 AM:
I wonder if this is a purpose-built mannequin or an off-the shelf play figure outfitted with rotation sensors? What kind of sensors are they, anyone knows? BTW, I'm familiar with BJD doll market (close though obviously not the same thing and lacks the sensors) and $750 for the whole system is a very reasonable price. I didn't expect anything less than 4 figures and would not be shocked if it had a 5-figure price tag. But $750 was indeed a surprise. I wonder what it will cost once it makes it to this side of the pond.