Star Wars 1313 motion-capture tech to live on in movies

Lucasfilm chief technology strategy officer Kim Libreri says that the video game technology developed for Star Wars 1313 can be used for movie production, taking much of the processing work out of motion capture effects.

4

Star Wars 1313 is all but deceased, in light of the Disney acquisition that put a stop to many LucasArts projects. But take heart, padawans--apparently the game will live on in some form, as it's being adopted by Lucasfilm for use in movies.

The Inquirer (via VentureBeat) caught a video of Star Wars 1313 technology being used for real-time motion-capture of actors. Using the tech, the production company can capture an actor and then transfer the actions to a CG character, cutting down on production time.

Chief technology strategy officer Kim Libreri says that long-term, this kind of technology will help "take the post out of post-production." She also said that this could lead to a sea change in movies, letting viewers customize them in real-time. Those goals will take a while, though, as she notes that it will take 10 years to start scratching the surface.

This doesn't necessarily mean that we'll see the technology used in the upcoming Star Wars sequels. But as rendering technology starts to fuzzy the lines between movies and video games, it's nice to know that LucasArts is planning on capitalizing on that convergence.

As for Star Wars video games, EA has snagged the exclusive license and even opened up a new DICE studio to facilitate development.

Editor-In-Chief
From The Chatty
  • reply
    September 23, 2013 11:45 AM

    Steve Watts posted a new article, Star Wars 1313 motion-capture tech to live on in movies.

    Lucasfilm chief technology strategy officer Kim Libreri says that the video game technology developed for Star Wars 1313 can be used for movie production, taking much of the processing work out of motion capture effects.

    • reply
      September 23, 2013 4:43 PM

      Don't you talk about my Star Wars 1313!!! /cry

      The early on footage of this game looked so awesome. I'm still sad that it was canned.

    • reply
      September 23, 2013 9:32 PM

      1313 needs to still come out. Scrapping such a game that was so far along is nuts and damaging to the progression of the brand.

      • reply
        September 24, 2013 5:42 AM

        I've heard conflicting stories about how far along it actually was - they had something that looked nice for trade shows, yes, but in terms of final story and content there are reports that they still had another year or two of development left.

        • reply
          September 24, 2013 5:44 AM

          That's more common than most people think. I personally have no clue where they were with it but what you're saying definitely isn't farfetched.

    • reply
      September 24, 2013 1:34 PM

      This looks a lot like the system used for the recent Tintin movie. They used tons of tracked physical props for that. I think they had a full rowboat!

      Hopefully this will continue to make green screen performances less "stiff".

Hello, Meet Lola