Qualisys launches game-changing motion capture (mocap) suit at SIGGRAPH 2019 – the only mocap suit to offer both lasting comfort and extreme accuracy.

Gothenburg, July 30 2019 - Qualisys, the leading provider of precision motion capture technology and 3D tracking systems, today announced it will be launching a brand new, high precision mocap suit – the only optical motion capture suit on the market to offer both lasting comfort and scientific accuracy – at this year’s SIGGRAPH conference in Los Angeles.

Qualisys motion capture systems have been used in the fields of human biomechanics, sports science, entertainment and engineering for over 30 years, helping researchers and organizations in some of the world’s most strictly regulated industries to capture and analyze the movement of both animate and inanimate objects.

In the biomechanics industries, mocap markers are generally taped directly onto skin for maximum accuracy. Whereas in industries like animation, actors usually wear mocap suits – often for hours at a time. And, until now, the most accurate mocap suits have proved to be uncomfortable, hot and ill-fitting. Which typically meant marker locations would vary considerably during a recording session.

“We tested the various different suits available on the market,” recalls Martin Holmberg, entertainment business development manager at Qualisys. “But we wanted an optical mocap suit that delivered more realistic movements. So we ended up creating our own.”

Qualisys looked to functional sportswear for inspiration, hoping the same principles could be applied to a mocap suit. These early ideas led them to Swedish garment innovators Atacac and co-founder Rickard Lindqvist’s signature tailoring technique, which uses the body’s natural ‘seams’ as a guide rather than the rigid traditional tailoring matrix. This body first, fabric second approach resulted in a mocap suit that not only follows the wearer’s natural movements, it also ensures the markers remain in the same place throughout.

“Much like a surgeon plans a skin graft or an operation,” explains garment industry disruptor Rickard Lindqvist. “We use Kinetic garment construction principles to ensure the fabric acts in unison with the body.”

As a result, this game-changing mocap suit is bringing the suit-wearing industries closer to the skin-taping method in terms of accuracy. Which will save animation studios countless hours of post-editing, keyframing and recalculation work.

The new suit also features T-pose guides along each arm, which clearly indicate the slightest twist or snag in the fabric, even from a distance. It also features easily identifiable color-coding per size, which will eliminate time-consuming fittings and searching for the right size – particularly important when working with large groups. The new mocap suits will also be available in custom sizes and colors via Qualisys.com.