What is Motion Capture in your own words.

It's a system for capturing motion from actors,the main use is to help the animator to make the animation more realistic. Capturing motion can also be used in Scientific research, Engineering, Biomechanical analysis...

Why do we use it? When do we use it over hand animating (cell animation)?

Mocap is good for animating the character more realistic than normal keyframing them.

It is used for films, webs, live events, scientific research, biomechanical analysis, engineering and Education as well.

Who is Eadweard Muybridge, what does he have to do with motion capture?

Eadweard J. Muybridge was an English photographer who spent much of his life in the United States. He is known primarily for his important pioneering work on animal locomotion, with use of multiple cameras to capture motion, and his zoopraxiscope, a device for projecting motion pictures that pre-dated the flexible perforated film strip that is used today.

Muybridge’s approach was to use several cameras rigged to take successive pictures to capture human and animal subjects in motion.

Who is Etienne-Jules Marey what is the connection with Zoetrope & Rotoscoping?

Marey Marey’ ’s technique included using a special s technique included using a special camera which allowed several exposures camera which allowed several exposures to be captured on a glass plate and on to be captured on a glass plate and on strips of film that could be passed through strips of film that could be passed through his camera automatically (similar to a his camera automatically (similar to a video camera).

What is another name for Zoetrope?

zoogyroscope

Choose one topic by commenting on my post so others cannot do the same topic Research on the motion capture systems & processes

Gorillaz's amazing live concert used motion capture for their live. The members are doing the live behind the screen while the comic characters are doing the same thing at the same time on the screen. I'm not sure which type they were using for the live,(most of the researching are focus on the art part of it) but after read some articals and some discussion for internet, i think they are using the Prosthetic/Hybrid motion capture system.

Here is one interesting website which is making the animation MTV.http://www.eyeliner3d.com/musion_eyeliner_system.html

Here is the live. Enjoy it.