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The gaming industry is a multi-billion dollar business, constantly on the hunt for innovations. More realistic and believable looking animations are a current trend in this industry. Lately, motion capture techniques have been used to create realistic and persuasive animations. Immersive virtual environments are one of the technologies being developed to support motion capture actors with their work. The possibilities to use virtual environments as work environments have already been explored but no ethical analysis or applied ethical code has been provided for such situations.

In this paper we investigate the ethical implications of introducing a highly im- mersive virtual environment within motion capture and discuss under which circum- stances it is ethically justified to place an actor in such an environment. Moreover, we provide an overview of research in computer games ethics, virtual realities and acting, as well as an investigation of potential moral and ethical issues in motion capture. A discussion shall help finding an ethical consensus within the field of mo- tion capture and for related situations. 

The main goal of this research is to develop a mixed real- ity (MR) application to support motion capture actors. This application allows seeing and exploring a digital environment without occluding the actor’s visual field. A prototype is built by combining a retro-reflective screen covering surrounding walls and a headband consisting of a laser scanning projector with a smartphone. Built-in sensors of a smartphone provide navigation capabilities in the digital world. The integrated system has some unique advantages, which are collectively demonstrated for the first time: (i) providing fixed field-of- view (50o in diagonal), fixed retinal images at full-resolution, and distortion-free images that are independent of the screen distance and shape; (ii) presenting different perspectives to the users as they move around or tilt their heads, (iii) allow- ing a focus-free and calibration-free display even on non-flat surfaces using laser scanning technology, (iv) enabling mul- tiple users to share the same screen without crosstalk due to the use of retro-reflectors, and (v) producing high brightness pictures with a projector of only 15 lm; due to a high-gain retro-reflective screen. We demonstrated a lightweight, com- fortable to wear and low cost head-mounted projection dis- play (HMPD) which acts as a stand-a-lone mobile system. Initial informal functionality tests have been successfully per- formed. The prototype can also be used as a 3D stereo system using the same hardware by additionally mounting polarized glasses and an active polarization rotator, while maintaining all of the advantages listed above. 

Motion capturing technology has been used for quite a while and several research has been done within this area. Nevertheless, we discovered open issues within current motion capturing environments. In this paper we provide a state-of-the-art overview of the addressed research areas and show issues with current motion capturing environments. Observations, interviews and questionnaires have been used to reveal the challenges actors are currently facing in a motion capturing environment. Furthermore, the idea to create a more immersive motion capturing environment to improve the acting performances and motion capturing outcomes as a potential solution is introduced. It is hereby the goal to explain the found open issues and the developed ideas which shall serve for further research as a basis. Moreover, a methodology to address the interaction and systems design issues is proposed. A future outcome could be that motion capture actors are able to perform more naturally, especially if using a non-body-worn solution.

Current and future animations crave for realistic motions to create a perception of motions that are close to a realistic human-like performance. To create such human-like animations, motion capture actors enrich the movements of digital avatars with realistic and believable motions and emotions. Acting for motion capture, as it is performed today, implies certain challenges. In this paper we address these challenges and argue how to support motion capture actors especially when acting for computer games. We discuss the nature of motion capture acting in the view of Stanislavski’s acting principles and point out the actors’ skills and demands. We conclude that the developed principles should be: ’Imagination’, ’Objectives’, ’Information & Visual References’, ’Magic if’, ’Adaptation’ and ’Relaxation’ to support motion capture actors with their work.