Motion capture systems are typically used to record an actor’s physical performance, which is then applied to a CG character, or even a CG stunt double, to ensure their digital counterpart moves as lifelike as possible. And while the subtle movements and contortions of an actor’s face, including their eyes, are also recorded, the CG doubles are usually just rendered with a pair of generically-shaped and simplified eyeballs that always seem to lack a spark of life and believability.
So the researchers at Disney developed a new capture system that takes footage of an actor’s eyeball and perfectly extrapolates and reconstructs every last detail from its unique shape, to bumps created by veins, to the movement of the iris, to even how light is reflected below the its surface. It sounds a little like overkill given how small the eyeballs are on a CG character, but they provide a disproportionate amount of believability, and the ultimate goal of visual effects is to be completely invisible so as not to distract the viewers.
via Gizmodo
