The action of a gymnast, in regular clothes, is captured using Organic Motion’s system without the use of markers of any kind

After working for four years, Tschesnok’s efforts yielded a now patent-pending code which makes up the heart of the first commercial markerless motion capture system breaking from the pattern comparison approach completely.  Tschesnok created a thinking system which looks at people in a manner very similar to the way the brain sees another human.  People recognize human shapes and can analyze precise activity without any need for attached devices, tracking each other without requiring any setup or prep time.

Tschesnok developed a system using 10 2D cameras that track the subject.  The data output from each camera is then fed into a vision processor which maps every pixel of information and triangulates the location of the subject by seeing where the various camera images intersect.  The system dynamically makes decisions on what pixels are of higher value than others.  In this way it is similar to the way a human looks at a complex scene: Head, hands and rapidly moving body parts hold more of our attention than static elements.  Tschesnok’s approach, "Organic Motion", makes it possible for the vision processor to churn through hundreds of megabytes of data per second and still deliver highly accurate real-time tracking results at high frame rates.  The final output is a full 3D model of the subject, complete with surface mesh geometry, surface textures and 3D bone movement data down to millimeter precision.  This information is then ready to be loaded directly into any form of animation or processing software, all in real-time.

Output from the 10 2D cameras (left) is fed into Organic Motion’s vision processor which uses a data cloud and triangulates the subject to create a real-time 3D model of the subject (right)

Through this process, Organic Motion’s technology has eliminated the body suit requirement and thereby improves the flexibility of a system that digitally sees people, as well as significantly reducing the costs to operate such a system.

Organic Motion’s technology alters both the cost and convenience equations of tracking and quantifying human motion.  STAGE reduces the time a subject spends being fitted with markers and operating costs substantially.  The system provides considerably better tracking data of the actual person in three dimensions, as opposed to other systems which generate a ‘stick figure’ or similar simplified 3D representations of the tracked markers.

The Next  STAGE™ of Computer Vision

Entertainment creation
The typical function of today’s motion capture systems is to create 3D animation for video games and animated movies.  Organic Motion’s STAGE™ system provides numerous benefits, including the ability to produce production-ready clean data of the subject’s motion.  Immediately clean data can then be imported into Autodesk’s leading real time character animation application, Autodesk MotionBuilder software, as well as any custom software applications. 

Clinical
There are numerous clinical disciplines that benefit greatly from the ability to simply and accurately track human motion. Organic Motion’s BioStage™ is a turnkey motion capture system engineered for biomechanics that makes motion capture much more accessible and flexible for clinical applications.  BioStage™ streams tracking data real-time into Visual3D™, 3D biomechanics analysis software, from C-Motion, Inc.  BioStage™ can be used for the many patient populations that find it difficult or are unable to wear a body suit, such as stroke victims, elderly patients, and children with many physical challenges, while providing clinical-level analysis reports – quickly, in real-time to the doctor.

Sports Medicine
Organic Motion’s BioStage™ can have a significant impact on sports medicine and various re-habilitation programs, both in its ability to track subjects who can not easily wear a body suit, as well as the ability for therapists to use BioStage with many patients throughout the day, and operate the system without a technician.

Sports Performance Evaluation & Enhancement
An array of sports training practices will be enhanced by Organic Motion’s BioStage™, which allows a full range of motion to be captured instantly without the use of a constrictive body suit.  The ability to capture, store and immediately review movement in real-time enables progress to be analyzed for athletes at the professional, collegiate and preparatory school levels.  The system’s capabilities include the automatic synchronization of video with tracking data.  The system sees what you see and therefore acts as a powerful educational tool for athletes.

Customized Systems for the General Public
Organic Motion’s OpenStage™ is a fully customizable motion capture platform, designed to create custom applications for use with the general public.  The ability of Organic Motion’s technology to perform a full motion capture session in minutes, without the use of markers, creates opportunities for adoption in public venues catering to people in all walks of life.  For example, a sporting goods retailer can instantly measure customers to select the best athletic equipment; a therapy clinic can track patients’ monthly progress with definitive proof of results to continue insurance coverage; a museum can host an interactive exhibit to teach children about the latest 3D technologies; a clinical equipment manufacturer can build Organic Motion’s core vision technology into a treadmill for multiple patient gait analysis throughout the day.

Seeing into the Future

Through Tschesnok’s work, motion capture has the potential to evolve from being a production/research tool to becoming a mass-market computer vision technology that improves the quality of life in many fields for multiple populations.  All this is made possible by dramatically improving the process used to capture that which is essentially human – our motion.

Andrew Tschesnok, CEO and founder of Organic Motion