New Version Features Faster Solves and New Manual Tools

16th July 2009, Oxford, UK: Vicon, developer of motion capture and image understanding systems, for the entertainment, life science and defense industries, has today announced that it will be showcasing a pre-release version of its eagerly awaited boujou 5 at the Siggraph conference this August in New Orleans, LA. boujou is the industry leading camera matchmoving software allowing 3D professionals to automatically derive complex camera motion and calibration data from image sequences.

 

 

Building on its established ease of use and automation, boujou 5 is enhanced with a unique new way of solving 3D camera positioning and motion paths from image sequences. This new approach radically accelerates the solve and allows users more manual interaction within complex shots.

The upgrade includes exciting new features that many existing boujou users will have been eagerly anticipating, such as:

• New Automatic Sequential Solver-Previous versions of boujou took the entire shot into account before delivering a solve. Now, the application looks at a single frame at a time, which not only enables the user to intervene, it can make the entire process a lot faster
• Fully functional Graph Editor-Lets the user manually tweak the camera data and, if necessary, reprocess a shot. boujou 5 also provides the ability to lock valid sections of solved data or sections which are known to be correct, which animators can then use to improve other segments of an image sequence.
• Reference Frames- Allows users to import still images taken with any camera and use them to assist in a solve

For a complete list of new product features, please visit http://www.vicon.com/company/releases/071609.htm

Phil Elderfield, Product Manager at Vicon explains, "Customers have been asking for greater control, and that's exactly what we're delivering with boujou 5. The new manual tracking tools will give users the ability to step in and work directly with the data. Even the trickiest shot can be solved in boujou 5."

"boujou has always been the weapon of choice for top VFX professionals, being used on films such as Charlotte's Web, Tropic Thunder and Angels and Demons," said Douglas Reinke, CEO and president at Vicon."Three years of research and development have gone into creating boujou 5 and we're confident it stands out as a complete matchmoving package."

About boujou
Vicon's match moving software, boujou (boo-zhoo), was the first fully automated camera calibration and tracking system. Using advanced adaptive algorithms developed from vision science research, the application removes previous limitations on what is achievable in visual effects production by enabling 3D professionals to derive complex camera tracks and calibration data from film and video material.

boujou has made a major contribution to high-profile television and film productions, music videos and commercials by facilitating the creation of visual effects that seamlessly combine live action and 3D. In 2002, boujou was awarded a Primetime Emmy Engineering Award.

About Vicon
Academy Award®-winning Vicon is the world's largest supplier of precision motion tracking systems, and match moving software. It serves customers in the CG animation industry, film, visual effects, computer games, and broadcast television, as well as engineering and life science industries. Vicon operates in four offices worldwide, including its Los Angeles-based Entertainment headquarters: a 26,000 square-foot facility equipped with three performance capture stages for Vicon's service company House of Moves as well as over 250 Vicon T-160 and F40 cameras.

Vicon is a subsidiary of OMG (Oxford Metrics Group - LSE: OMG), plc., a group of technology companies that produces image understanding solutions for the entertainment, defence, life science and engineering markets.

For more information about OMG and its subsidiaries, visit http://www.omg3d.com, http://www.vicon.com, http://www.vicon.com/boujou, http://www.2d3.com, http://www.yotta.tv, or http://www.yottmvs.com.