Motion capture has long been responsible for some of the most realistic animations to be found in games. While initially requiring huge investments in both equipment and space, that’s all changing thanks to companies like Rokoko, who just launched their next-gen mo-cap suit: the Smartsuit Pro II. Big Bytes and Small Nibbles is delighted to present this interview with the Co-Founder and CEO of Rokoko, Jakob Balselv.
Could you tell me a bit about Rokoko?
Rokoko was founded in March 2014 with a mission to equip every creator with the power of animation. Being storytellers ourselves, we had worked on animation projects and felt that creativity got lost because of processes and tools that were slow, restrictive, and expensive. We were used to working with cameras and being able to go from idea to recording in minutes. That allowed for the spontaneity and constant iterations that we think creative processes need to thrive. But, we saw none of this in animation. It took weeks or months to test out simple ideas, and once the work had been done, it was very expensive and often impossible to redo. So there was so little time for experimentation.
We decided to do something about that. We started by reinventing motion capture - the tools needed to capture or stream human motion that you can then put onto animated characters.
Today, we have a full performance capture product line (body, fingers, face) that can be used anywhere, by anyone, single-handedly, and costs a fraction of the traditional systems on the market. It takes minutes to go from idea to recording, and the price and ease of use opens up to a whole new segment of emerging creators that never had access to this kind of technology before.
Now, we’re setting out to reinvent the software side of the equation too. The software tools needed to keyframe animate, edit animation, adjust it, stream it etc., are just as slow and frustrating as the mo-cap hardware tools. So over the next year we will be rolling out an entire animation studio in our Rokoko Studio software.
What drew you to mo-cap?
My graduation project at The National Film School of Denmark was my first real encounter with mocap and large scale animation projects. You can see the end result here.
You launched Rokoko via Kickstarter in 2015, and now have 80 employees, located in three countries, and have more than 30,000 customers. Could you talk a bit about those experiences?
It’s been an incredible ride. We’re all first time entrepreneurs so since very early on every step has been in new territory. The community of users and followers havs really been our guide and source of inspiration. The need for the tools has been abundantly clear since day one and I think that our background as storytellers and not tech entrepreneurs for “the sake of tech” has created a unique connection between us and our users -because we once were (and in many ways still are) in the exact same boat as them.
A startup journey can be stressful and you get used to facing obstacles that can seem insurmountable, but after a while you start to trust your own instincts enough to be confident that you will always find a way through. We are still enjoying every minute of it all. And within the next few years we’ll be releasing something that I never thought possible and hopefully give our users the payoff that they deserve for being with us on our journey.
For most people, motion capture brings to mind optical capture systems – large rooms filled with cameras, and actors wearing suits festooned with dots. How does your system differ?
Our mocap systems require no external parts, no studios, no cameras, and no real technical knowledge. And unlike competitors, we offer an all-in-one system. Putting on the suit and gloves is like putting on regular clothes and all the tech is embedded inside. You just use a standard USB power bank and connect through WiFi to your computer or smart device.
You can capture in your living room, bedroom or wherever you have the space, and it literally takes minutes to set up from scratch - compared to many hours (once you get to your studio) with the optical systems. Not to mention all the technicians you need with traditional systems. So it’s just a completely different ballgame.
Fun fact: In order to underline the fact that we were a new generation of mocap systems, and didn’t need all the reflective markers (pingpong balls) etc. we initially wanted to do everything the opposite of the traditional systems. They wear all black suits, because you need to be able to see the markers. So we thought, let’s make our suits a shiny white one - just because we can. Of course we realized that not as many people wanted to wear shiny white full-body suits, so we ended up with black. But that was the mentality in the beginning.
What are some of the advantages of the system, and benefits to creators, especially compared to other approaches?
- Set up in minutes.
- No need for a studio or any external hardware - the suit is an ‘all-in-one’ solution covering face, body and fingers.
- Operate single-handedly.
- Connect to Rokoko Studio through WiFI, where all your files are stored in our cloud, accessible from any machine, anywhere.
You’ve just launched the Smartsuit Pro II. Can you tell us about the upgrades, and what it means for users? For example, what will this allow that the previous generation of suit, or different methods, won’t allow?
The components we are using are constantly being improved by the smartphone industry, and general technological improvements. So the hardware itself just gets better and better. On top of that, we’ve rewritten our Studio software in a way that allows us to work with machine learning and cloud computing in a way we couldn’t before.
From day one, Smartsuit Pro II users will get a better and more robust performance, but it won’t feel that much different from the original. However, with the updates we have coming over this year, the performance will be taken to completely new levels. And it will all come as seamless updates to Rokoko Studio, benefitting all existing users.
Could you talk a bit about the development process? For example, how do you decide what features to include or areas to focus on?
The first Smartsuit Pro was very much our own creation because we didn’t have any users back then. This time, it’s been the opposite. We’ve been listening to what our users most desire and focused on improving those things. Some things, like moving to the cloud, can seem a bit counterintuitive to that, but we are confident that over time, our users will see why. Not only can we make their files accessible from anywhere and allow for real-time cloud collaboration, we can also leverage the power of the cloud to improve the performance of our tools in groundbreaking ways. As always, it won’t all happen from day one - but it will be amazing!
Rokoko makes more than the Smarsuit, and there’s a complete suite, including motion capture for hands, face, not to mention your own software. Could you talk a bit about this?
Our platform is threefold:
1. Our capture tools. Body (Smartsuit Pro), fingers (Smartgloves), face capture (currently for iPhones, coming for Android).
2. Our Motion Library: If you are unable to perform a certain move, or just need something really fast, you can go to our marketplace of motion assets and find anything you’d like in there and import it directly into your scene with just a few clicks.
3. Our Studio software: The tool you need to capture your moves with our hardware, but also where we’ll be adding a bunch of animation features to help users edit, adjust, retarget, stream etc., their animation.
For established production companies, how easy is it to integrate Rokoko’s motion capture technology into their workflow?
We have real-time plugins for all major platforms (Unreal, Blender, Unity, Houdini, Cinema4D, Maya, MotionBuilder, iClone, etc.) and you can export from Rokoko Studio in all standard formats. So it’s completely plug and play for any existing workflow.
The price-point definitely puts the technology within the range of indie dev teams and one-man studios. How accessible is the system for newcomers, either to motion capture specifically, or to animation in general?
Emerging creators are our biggest and most fast-growing segment, the one-man-army internet creators publishing directly to social media, and indie game/film/VR/AR studios that need their mo-cap to be fast, iterative and affordable. Our tools are tailor made for this segment and they are our biggest focus.
These same unique selling points also make us a great fit for education, where students can now actually operate mocap themselves without staff or supervision. So that’s also a huge segment.
We have studios like Netflix, Sony, Disney etc., using our tools, but for high-end productions, we are more of a previsulisation tool, allowing creatives to test out ideas really fast and save crucial time and money in production.
What next for Rokoko? In what direction do you see mo-cap technology heading?
I think simple camera-based motion capture with computer vision will be commoditized by the tech giants like Facebook, Google etc. Anyone will be able to do simple motion capture themselves just using their smartphone. However, that tech will always be limited because you need to see your entire body in quite some detail in order to get accurate full body data. And if you just need your hands, what happens when you put your fingers in your pockets or under your desk etc…?
So I see the entire industry moving towards the emerging space, and the need for high-quality animation tools exploding across the spectrum - but especially for young creators who publish directly to social media platforms etc.
I think we are perfectly positioned to be the go-to provider for the tools they need. ■