Naughty Dog Upgrades Motion Capture Tech For Uncharted 3

The Uncharted series has always been praised for its cinematic style and smooth animation, but a new behind-the-scenes look at the motion capture process reveals some of the problems Naughty Dog had with previous installments, and what the company is doing to overcome them for the upcoming sequel.

A new post on PlayStation.Blog details the changes that Naughty Dog has made for Uncharted 3's motion capturing process. The outdated motion capture studio Naughty Dog used for the first game was bathed in an "eye-searing red light," and had such poor acoustics that the dialogue had to be recorded separately and added later. For Uncharted 2, Naughty Dog recorded at an L.A.-based studio called House of Moves, which allowed them to record motion and voice performances at the same time. Naughty Dog will use the same procedure for Uncharted 3, but is now recording at its very own motion capture studio that uses state-of-the-art technology, including an array of 86 infra-red cameras (don't worry, actors still get to wear goofy-looking suits while they perform).

"We’ve developed a unique process for motion capture and performance capture for games," Uncharted 3's creative director Amy Hennig said. "We’re kind of ahead of the pack."

The post goes on to detail the story writing and acting process, with some interesting insight from Hennig as well as Nathan Drake's voice actor Nolan North (along with some pictures of him in one of the aforementioned goofy suits), so be sure to check it out.