With the United States Armed Forces facing a budgetary crisis, deploying cost-saving technologies is more critical than ever. Organic Motion, the market leader in professional markerless motion capture systems, can drastically reduce costs in the area of role-play training. The US military spends hundreds of millions of dollars annually on role-play actors, rivaling even Hollywood in terms of dollars spent. Organic Motion LIVE™ (Live Interactive Virtual Environment), which was first released late last year, can provide role-play training and simulation at a quarter of the cost.

“It’s incredible. The US Armed Forces has built entire towns and villages just for training and then has to fly in and house actors to play the local population at budgets approaching the entire Hollywood payroll,” said Andrew Tschesnok, CEO of Organic Motion. “We can bring a new level of efficiency to this practice.”

In order to extend its lead in this area, Organic Motion, Inc. announced today that it has raised a new round of funding led by Foundry Group, and acquired Activate 3D, developer of Intelligent Character Motion (ICM), a revolutionary approach to using motion capture for digital character animation. The funding and Activate3D acquisition are part of a broader strategy to double down on the military training and simulation market, as well as Organic Motion’s core game development and animation market.

As part of the deal, Organic Motion acquired Activate 3D technology and intellectual property, and brought on board the excellent engineering team that developed it. Activate3D’s ICM technology provides advanced gesture and intention recognition capabilities, allowing motion capture actors to trigger character animations that go beyond the limits of literal motion translation. For example, an actor reaching behind his back can cause the digital character to produce a weapon. This technology is a critical component of Organic Motion LIVE™. Activate3D’s expertise in the gaming industry has even broader benefits, driving the technical direction Organic Motion’s markerless motion capture system, OpenStage 2, for game developers and animators, including integration with game engines and other pipeline optimizations.

“We are really excited to have the Activate 3D team join Organic Motion. The talent and experience they have brought to Organic Motion LIVE™ has proven critical in in the delivery of a market-leading product,” said Tschesnok. “Activate3D’s expertise in advanced videogame technology is also being put to use in advancing Organic Motion’s OpenStage 2 product in the game development market.”

Organic Motion LIVE™ works by connecting the performance of a single actor in a motion capture portal with projected digital role-play characters in real-time. This allows one actor to play many different characters in a short period of time, appearing as a man, a woman, or a child regardless of the actor’s actual demographic. Every move the actor makes, including detailed facial expressions, is translated onto the digital character. Combined with voice modulation and a two way audio and video link, LIVE provides immersive open-ended human interaction between trainees and digital characters. For more information, visit Organic Motion LIVE on the web.

About Organic Motion, Inc.

Organic Motion is the leading developer of professional markerless motion capture systems. Organic Motion’s revolutionary technology provides the easiest-to-use and most cost effective motion capture system available. It also serves as the basis for Organic Motion LIVE™, which enables tactically relevant role-play training and simulation at a fraction of today’s cost. Organic Motion LIVE translates role-players’ every move into simulations without the need to wear any special suits or tracking devices. Learn more about Organic Motion markerless motion capture systems online.