Empire: Total War Mo-Cap Shoot
On Friday 9th May, we set out to Shepperton Studios for a day of motion-capture shooting for Empire: Total War. With two highly trained stuntmen kitted out in the latest technology (and a lot of spandex), we captured a whole host of data which is currently being turned into new animations for the game.
Top of the bill on the day were a selection of the combat moves that you will see individual troops carrying out in the massive land battles featured in the game. We also captured some fierce sabre fighting that you will witness in the duelling scenes of the campaign game. A variety of props to simulate interaction with guns, mortars, cannons and walls were also used, as we put the stuntmen through their paces.
In the morning we set up the cameras, tripods and workstation, and then used specialist software to calibrate the equipment to create a virtual space to work in. Once the stuntmen had been briefed on the day’s plans, they warmed up and donned their motion capture suits. Markers were placed in a specific layout, and the combatants performed test captures in variety of poses.
A film crew then arrived to record the day’s action for use in today’s trailer release. Their equipment was carefully set up outside of the capture area to avoid any interference with the light, cables and tripods. Knocking any one of the 10 tripods mere millimetres would require a total recalibration of the system that typically lasts between 15-30 minutes. Fortunately though, this didn’t happen!
The seamless precision in which the actors choreographed their moves was really impressive to watch. As our lead and cutscene animators directed them, another incrementally checked all of the hardware and software. All of the captured moves were reviewed throughout the day and recaptured if necessary.
We also simultaneously conducted a series of interviews with some of the artists and designers who work on Empire: Total War. Positioned outside of the camera volume, our team spoke about how the data will be used as the battles waged on behind them. The resulting footage is part of a new developer diary entitled “The Art of Dueling”, which is now available to watch here!
Back in The Creative Assembly studio, our team is now busily implementing the motion-capture information, as part of the massive collaborative effort on Empire: Total War.
I hope you have enjoyed this glimpse behind the scenes and accompanying Dev Diary. Stay tuned to www.totalwar.com for more features in the coming months!
Best regards,
Mark O’Connell
Will agents and kings etc. have a stat for dueling skill that could be enhanced with training for, or winning duels? Or is every duel 50-50?
Posted by Patrick_Pretzels on May 24th, 2008 at 9:40 pm
very interesting stuff… but I’d rather see some proper trailers! =D
Posted by Ryan/Sharky on May 25th, 2008 at 4:33 am
I would like to know what the System Requirements for Empire Total war is. I have all Total War series starting from Shogun to Medieval 2. I am afraid that if you all went Duel Core for this one then their is no reason for me to even get exited about Empire do to i will not be able to Play it. Im not rich and cant afford another computer. Please let me know, i have $60.00 dollars saved up to buy the game, but if its system Requirements are more then what my computer can handle then i will use the money for other things. I can play Medieval 2 with no problems, but my computer is not a duel core. Thank you
Posted by J. Klien on July 6th, 2008 at 7:44 am
honestly man they probably wont have the system specs out for a while but, i have seen the newest screen shots and they have definatley overhauled the game engine and the graphics along with it. i have a quad core and i am thinking i will have to get a new graphics card. Remeber the biggest thing with pc gaming is not as much proccessing speed but the amount of video memory you have. a 512 card is small now and a gig is the new standard in card capacity. Keep your hopes up man and i hope you come across some extra cash because i believe this will be the best game out of the series
Posted by Thester on July 21st, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Reply to Comment ! That is what they did for all of their games so far, but they really improved it since the first Medieval game, I couldn’t kill a prince in battle even if my entire army surrounded him. It was insanely frustrating. But thankgoodness to Rome: Total War and Medieval II: Total War, they fixed that problem. It is much more fun to play now, and I would say a prince wins duels 80% of the time, depending on who he is fighting and how many of them. It is enough to kill one, but still enough not to fret over losing him in melee.
Posted by Koolio Kid on October 15th, 2008 at 11:57 pm