8 Things You Didn’t Know About Mocap

The Planet of the Apes reboot films earned widespread praise for their lifelike CGI characters, but what’s the secret behind their believability? The answer lies in mocap, a technique that transfers an actor's performance directly to digital characters. Epitomized by Andy Serkis’ portrayal of Caesar, mocap has transformed how CGI characters are brought to life. Evolving from rotoscoping to today’s performance capture, it’s a constantly advancing technique that continues to give us unforgettable characters.

So, here are 8 things you might not know about mocap.

Motion Capture (noun) :
a technology for digitally recording specific movements of a person (such as an actor) and translating them into computer-animated images.
Merriam Webster Dictionary

1. MOCAP VS PERFORMANCE CAPTURE

At first glance, motion capture (mocap) and performance capture seem similar, but they record different elements. While the first focuses only on body movements, the latter goes further by also tracking facial expressions, eye movements, hands, fingers and even the voice. This results in much more emotionally expressive digital characters. In films like Planet of the Apes, it’s the ability to capture every subtle expression of the actors that gives characters a truly lifelike presence, making them feel more human, and therefore, more relatable to the audience.

2. IT ALL STARTED WITH...

In the late 90s, several directors gambled on motion capture technology to bring characters to life. Notable examples include the digi-doubles that populated the ship of Titanic (1997), Jar-Jar Binks in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), and Imhotep in The Mummy (1999), which used a blend of CGI and early mocap to animate the resurrected villain.

However, the first real leap into motion capture as we know it came with Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists (2000), an Indian-American animated film. While it didn’t perform well upon release, it was the first feature to extensively use mocap, laying the groundwork for future films to adopt the technology. It also played a crucial role in developing the 3D optical capture techniques that would later dominate the industry.

However, it was in 2002, with Gollum in The Lord of the Rings, that mocap truly became a game-changer. Now, actors could "be on set, outdoors, with other actors and in the moment”, as noted by IGN. From that point on, mocap evolved into the version we know today, where both physical and emotional performances can be captured simultaneously. Thanks to the constant evolution of this technology, we’ve been able to witness amazing characters and performances in movies, like Davy Jones and Thanos.

3. KING KONG: THE FIRST NON-HUMAN PERFORMANCE

King Kong (2005) marked a pivotal moment for performance capture, becoming the first major use of both full-body and facial capture to create a completely non-human character. Unlike Gollum, who relied on dialogue to communicate emotion, King Kong had to convey everything through body language, facial expressions and animalistic sounds.

This advancement paved the way for many non-human characters that exhibited very human-like behaviors. Such is the case of Smaug, portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch, the dragon from The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (2013), or Ted, incarnated by Seth MacFarlane, the mischievous teddy bear from Ted (2012).

4. THE ANIMATORS’ HIDDEN WORK

Performance capture isn’t a perfect, one-step process. Even after an actor’s movements and facial expressions are captured, the raw data often requires cleanup to fix glitches and technical imperfections. These include smoothing out jerky motions, correcting marker misalignments, and refining any data distortions caused by equipment or environmental factors. Once the data is cleaned up, enhancement takes place—animators work on adjusting the performance to better fit the character’s digital anatomy. For non-human characters like Caesar in Planet of the Apes, this step is crucial. Caesar’s facial structure is different from a human, so animators have to adapt the performance to make it feel natural while retaining the actor’s emotional nuances.

Blacksmith made by Orbitae for Winamax - process

5. MOCAP ISN’T CONSIDERED ANIMATION

A surprising fact is that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences does not consider motion capture performances as “animated”. As the technology advanced, with films like The Polar Express and Avatar bringing performance capture into the mainstream, the Academy had to address this new style. In 2010, they updated the rules, stating that “animation must figure in no less than 75 percent of the picture’s running time” and clarified that motion capture alone is not considered an animation technique​. This meant that films like Spielberg’s The Adventures of Tintin (2011), though created entirely using 3D techniques and mocap, did not qualify as an animated film under Academy rules (which are still in effect for 2025).

More recently, this exclusion affected projects like Ishan Shukla’s Shirkoa: In Lies We Trust (2024), a film made with Unreal Engine and using mocap for all the performances. Because of it, Shukla revealed that his movie was not eligible for the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, despite being visually what we would normally consider an animation movie.

This raises another debate: if motion capture is not considered animation, should actors like Andy Serkis be eligible for Best Actor nominations for their CG performances?

6. THE OLDER BROTHER: ROTOSCOPY

Before motion capture, there was rotoscoping, an animation technique invented by Max Fleischer, the creator of Betty Boop. Rotoscoping added realism to animated characters by using live-action footage as a reference, where animators would trace over each frame to capture the movement. Disney famously used this method in films like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) to give characters more lifelike movement.

7. MARKERLESS MOCAP IS EMERGING

While marker-based motion capture remains the industry standard, markerless mocap—which uses AI to track movement without special suits or markers—is gaining popularity. Tools like Move.ai and Rokoko are making this technology more accessible to smaller studios and independent filmmakers by eliminating the need for expensive rigs and specialized equipment.

However, as of today, the accessible versions still have limitations. They lack the precision of traditional systems, especially when capturing fine details like finger movements, complex facial expressions or intricate body interactions. As a result, animators are often required to do more cleanup and enhancements to smooth out the data and ensure accuracy. But it sure is a great tool to play with and make some tests, if you’re trying to do some mocap. 

8. NOT FOR EVERY ACTOR

Acting in mocap requires a unique combination of physical and emotional performance. Unlike traditional acting, where costumes and makeup help convey a character, mocap actors perform in special suits covered with markers. Depending on the movie, like Cameron's Avatar movies, they also often have to act in empty environments, with little to no set design. This type of acting demands not just a lot of imagination, but also huge amounts of training and incredible physical control to bring those fantastic characters to life. To achieve this, many mocap actors undergo training in disciplines like stunts, mime, or dance to master their body movements and portray both human and non-human characters with precision.