In a part of the AMD booth at Siggraph 2014, we came across Mixamo. Their idea is that we create a character for a game or other type of media, upload it to their site, and then choose from a thousand different kinds of animations. A paste-a-face service, as it were.
The service didn't interest us much, but the Webcam did. Maximo's vp of sales Mike Walsh pointed out that the comic character on the screen was mimicking our actions. As we talked, its lips moved; as we move around in front of the Webcam, the character moved its head.
The Webcam was tracking our eye movement, and a FirePro graphic board was updating the comic character's face to match ours. Now, this is a remarkable reduction in hardware. Earlier in the week, we had seen Vicon's expensive setup involving two-four infrared cameras, large handheld device, and polarizing glasses; the day before, Leonar3Do's hummingbird-like handheld (plus two infrared cameras and the glasses); and now, just a Webcam.
Maximo isn't applying their technology to CAD, but seeing their technology told us that if you need a lowered cost of 3D input and viewing technology, someone is working on it somewhere. And those someones are usually younger people working in newer companies.
http://www.mixamo.com
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