Motion capture, or mocap, is the process of recording an actor’s physical movements and translating them onto digital character models. When paired with 3D animation software, mocap allows actors to bring realistic motion to CGI characters—whether human, animal, or entirely fantastical—giving them lifelike presence on screen.
Motion capture software is widely used in the film, television, game development, and virtual reality industries. It helps animators, VFX artists, professional creators, and game developers create realistic animations and enhance visual storytelling with precise character movements.
By recording human actions and using them to animate digital models, 3D artists utilize motion capture software and techniques to bring deep realism to video game characters .
Image courtesy of Yosir El Hadidy
Performance motion capture technology allows artists to translate an actor’s movements and facial expressions directly onto digital character models, creating lifelike animated performances.
Image courtesy of Artur Szymczak Radoslaw Pyzel
Motion capture is integral to previsualization, the mapping or pre-planning of scenes before principal photography.
Image courtesy of Jonatas Ferreira
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Flow Studio’s AI-driven system captures and analyzes motion data without relying on traditional mocap suits, markers, or sensor hardware. Instead, it extracts motion capture directly from standard video footage and actor performances to generate 3D characters and animated scenes—no specialized equipment required. This technique is commonly referred to as markerless motion capture.
Despite being markerless, Flow Studio’s AI motion capture delivers precise body movements, expressive hand gestures, and nuanced facial expressions. Its facial tracking system detects and follows subtle motions of the eyes, eyebrows, lips, mouth, and nose directly from video footage. The body and hand capture features are equally advanced, offering detailed tracking data that can be exported—all without the need for traditional mocap gear.
Flow Studio’s markerless motion capture works seamlessly with built-in platform rigs or custom characters you import. It offers intuitive, advanced retargeting through inverse kinematics (IK), enabling smooth alignment of human performances from any live-action footage—regardless of the camera used—with your unique rig setups.
Flow Studio’s mocap and VFX elements are all fully editable in popular DCC tools like Maya, Blender, Unreal, and 3ds Max via USD. You can also perform quick fixes and edits within the program through built-in cleanup tools like automatic foot locking, smoothing, and trajectory fixes.
Generate motion capture data from a live actor on a mocap stage and import it into MotionBuilder, where animators and directors can interactively refine and direct character performance.
MotionBuilder lets you take a performance from capture to completion, bringing data in to direct character movement, then carrying that animation via FBX or OpenUSD into Maya or 3ds Max to polish and finish shots.
You can get MotionBuilder, Maya, 3ds Max, Flow Studio, and more in the Media & Entertainment Collection.
With Rokoko’s Motion Library plugin for Maya, you gain access to thousands of high-quality character animations from the world’s top motion capture studios. This allows you to search, preview, and purchase mocap assets natively, directly in Maya.
Export Flow Studio markerless mocap to Maya or 3ds Max to clean up and refine animation. Choose exactly what data you bring over and adjust it where it actually needs work.
MotionMaker in Maya uses machine learning trained on Autodesk’s own human and canine mocap data, so you don’t need to capture motion yourself. Just set the rules, and it generates natural animation for your bipeds and quadrupeds like a built-in virtual mocap stage.
MotionMaker is a generative animation system for character animation, available in Maya. MotionMaker helps you generate motion faster, while still giving you control to edit animation to make it your own.
INTRODUCING MOTIONMAKER
Animating every element of a scene or performance can be time-consuming, but with Maya’s AI-powered MotionMakertool, you don’t have to. Simply capture the important keyframes of the performance, and MotionMaker will do the rest. It takes motion data from Maya and passes it through its machine learning model to predict the next character pose frame by frame. You can even edit movement as if you were directing a human mocap performer in a studio.
SIGGRAPH 2025 VISION SERIES
Autodesk's Lance Thornton, Principal Product Manager, and Etienne Allard, Sr. Software Developer, demonstrate MotionMaker at SIGGRAPH 2025. MotionMaker enables generative motion from simple path and action inputs, reducing production time significantly. It uses trained models for bipeds and quadrupeds, supports retargeting to custom characters, and allows non-destructive edits. It also offers features like motion scaling, path modes, and foot sliding reduction.
AUTODESK UNIVERSITY 2025
At Autodesk University, CEO Andrew Anagnost unveils new AI tools in Maya designed to accelerate animation workflows, including MotionMaker, which combines keyframing, mocap, and machine learning to quickly generate motion; FaceAnimator, which creates facial and lip-sync animation from audio using existing rigs and styles; and Autodesk Assistant, a natural language tool that automates creative tasks.
For successful motion capture, there are several key ingredients (unless you’re using Flow Studio, our AI-powered mocap solution, which requires no equipment).
When actors are filmed for motion capture, they wear special suits with reflective markers, which allow their movement and body parts to be captured digitally.
Cameras are a vital part of any motion capture system. These need to be highly precise so that they can accurately capture the motion.
Once you've captured a performance using mocap, you can transform it using 3D motion capture software such as MotionBuilder or Maya.
Motion capture can't be done just anywhere - you need a capture space or stage that is kitted out for the process. A large space is ideal, with plenty of room for movement. Your mocap space also needs to have good lighting conditions to ensure optimal capture. With some motion capture systems, such as those using inertial motion capture, independent creators can even create a suitable space in their own home.
BOXEL STUDIO
Find out how VFX house, Boxel Studio, used Flow Studio to pre-visualize key action sequences and deliver 'Superman & Lois' on time and on budget.
Corridor Digital
Discover how award-winning content creators, Corridor Digital, use Flow Studio’s innovative AI-powered mocap tools to streamline and accelerate their VFX pipeline.
SEGA
The developers at SEGA explain how they used Maya and MotionBuilder for motion creation in the 'Sonic X Shadow Generations' video game.
© SEGA
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An actor wearing a mocap suit fitted with markers performs the desired role in front of specialized cameras, which capture their movements and translate them into actionable data. Motion capture software is then used to build a digital 'skeleton' that corresponds to the actor. A 3D character can then be placed on top of this skeleton to create life-like effects. Today, markerless AI motion capture solutions like Flow Studio can record and interpret motion capture data without needing motion capture suits, markers, or sensor hardware required for traditional motion capture.
A lot depends on the quality of the data you record. If you want top results, then be sure to use properly calibrated high-end cameras in good lighting. Alternatively, leverage the power of AI motion capture with Flow Studioto produce high-end results without special equipment.
Yes. Autodesk's Maya and 3ds Max support integration with motion capture source material. You can also use our Flow Production Tracking software to follow every aspect of the 3D motion capture and animation pipeline.
Motion capture animation is essentially the process by which the movements of a live performance are recorded and then turned into a 2D or 3D animation digitally. The entire body may be captured, or just certain parts such as hands or faces. The mocap movement data captured can then be mapped onto a digital model, which will then emulate the actor's motion capture performance. Motion capture animation is used widely in filmmaking and video game design.
While you can buy fully made motion capture suits, with a bit of time, money, and know-how, it's also possible to make your own. There are different ways of creating a mocap suit, but the basic principle is that to record movements, you need to create a way for your performer's outputs (movements) to be input into a computer. You can do this by wearing a mocap suit with reflective markers, or a mocap with inertial sensors. With Autodesk’s Flow Studio mocap software, meanwhile, you can create motion capture animations without any special equipment.
A motion capture system refers to the whole configuration used in the motion capture process. This generally includes specialist cameras, markers, and/or inertial sensors which are capable of recording movements. It also includes the mocap software that is used to take that raw movement data and turn it into something else digitally, such as a 3D character animation for a video game. Motion capture systems can be either optical (using cameras) or inertial (using inertia sensors).
