VICON STANDARD
In 2003, Vicon supplied the world’s largest motion capture system to Sony Pictures Imageworks for multiple actor capture for film. It became clear over the course of this project that the requirement for digital, real-time systems in this industry was an absolute must. Therefore in 2004, Vicon launched the world’s first four megapixel motion capture camera, the MX40, which connected to a fully digital system architecture with real-time provided by Vicon iQ software. The new platform was extremely popular, and our life science customers also saw the benefit; a higher resolution camera able to deal with a larger number of smaller markers to capture foot and hand movement or faster sports moves with ease. The MX platform developed through several iterations, with 2.0, 1.3 and 0.3 megapixel versions alongside the Nexus software platform specifically designed for life science needs. At this time, I was working as the General Manager, looking after the production facilities as well as sales and support. We introduced ISO9001 and ISO13485 accreditations during this period. ISO9001 principles are mostly familiar, but ISO13485 encompasses all aspects of development and quality assurance of our products, and is a Medical Device Standard. It was no mean feat to gain this and we are one of only two companies in motion capture with this standard.
But, as always, my colleagues in the R&D department were hard at work, and by 2007, the development of a new and ambitious motion capture platform was well underway. Vicon has always been able to take off-the-shelf products and repurpose them for motion capture, but some technical compromise is always required using this approach. Over the previous years we had moved into designing our own cameras and distribution boxes but still had to rely on general purpose sensors and lenses. In 2008, with the launch of the T160, Vicon had not only produced a camera with four times the resolution of previous generations, but with a sensor with a matched lens range designed entirely for motion capture. The T-Series was an immediate success, but our markets were also demanding a lower cost offering, primarily for tracking in engineering applications. Vicon’s answer was to produce the Bonita camera range, which has quickly grown to be our most successful camera. Bonita cameras have been used in such diverse engineering applications as in-vehicle driver assessment, UAV tracking, analyzing the movements of excavating equipment and robots. But as seen in previous years, a technology that had been primarily developed for one market, was quickly taken up by others, and Bonita has been very successfully used by life sciences and entertainment customers in areas such as running injury assessment, pre-visualisation and high street store layout design.
The Bonita range was then extended to include a higher resolution camera, the B10, plus several video camera options. In parallel, our development teams were working on our independent video capture and logging system called Pico. Back in 2007, Vicon assisted a large US film effects studio with a one-off prototype head-mounted system for facial capture and tracking, used in several major feature films. The Pico project took some of the basic principles of this prototype, such as miniature video cameras, automatic blob tracking and wireless control, and turned them into a commercially viable proposition. The first product to be launched based on Pico, is Vicon Cara, our head-mounted capture and tracking system, launched in 2013. We are in the process of exploring new markets for the Pico system, so watch this space. But we are not resting on our laurels by any means. Vicon is working on a number of exciting new projects, which will launch soon, and we know will provide genuine added-value to customers old and new, while providing true innovation. This, combined with our world class support teams and resellers, means the future is looking healthy for Vicon motion capture in whatever form it takes.
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