Arts University Bournemouth (AUB) has officially become the first university in the UK to install a pioneering hybrid motion-capture system on campus.
The state-of-the-art studio places AUB’s Bournemouth Film School (BFS) at the forefront of cinematic innovation, offering students infrastructure unmatched across UK higher education.
The cutting-edge installation serves as the flagship project of a landmark £1.25 million capital investment from the Office for Students (OfS), which was allocated to AUB to enhance facilities to support high-quality skills-based education. The project will prioritise the needs of local employers and regional economies as identified in the Local Skills Improvement Plans.
Delivered by Oxfordshire-based Vicon, the global leader in motion technology of over 40 years, AUB’s new virtual production studio offers a hybrid workflow that seamlessly combines traditional marker-based tracking with markerless technology in a single user journey.
Rob Fanner, Innovation and Business Development Manager at AUB, who's been Project Manager for the OfS investment, explains why the new markerless technology is important:
“Rather than requiring actors to spend hours getting fitted into specialised marker suits, the system can flood the arena with UV light, tracking multiple actors and props simultaneously without any suiting. This dramatically cuts down iteration times and improves accessibility and inclusivity, all of which means that more students across more courses will be able to access this incredible technology.
“This represents a paradigm shift for AUB. Traditionally, motion capture has been tucked away inside sports science or engineering departments. By bringing this elite, studio-grade tech into a creative arts space, we are giving our filmmakers, animators, dancers, and actors total agency to create digital data in entirely new ways.
“The system even tracks real-time facial expressions via a non-obtrusive Rokoko head camera setup. It's transformative, it looks spectacular with its custom grid-mirrored flooring, and it will be fully operational for students from the start of the upcoming academic year.”
AUB will also open the doors of its virtual production space to the wider creative sector, maximising its commercial potential and driving regional economic growth.
The studio features a large-volume production floor with an industrial-sized rear access bay, making it uniquely suited for high-end commercial projects, music videos, and independent film shoots.
“By inviting external studios, creative tech professionals and national patrons onto campus to harness this setup, AUB is establishing a vibrant industry hub that bridges academic excellence with live, commercial cinematic innovation” Rob says.
The hybrid virtual production studio represents just one element of the investment with the remaining £1.25 million OfS grant funding a series of major, interconnected facility upgrades across AUB including a state-of-the-art cinema, a new creative collaboration and industry hub, and next-generation production equipment.
The highly competitive funding round required institutions to demonstrate direct alignment with the government's industrial strategy, the needs of regional employers, excellent value for money, and strict environmental sustainability standards. AUB met the criteria comprehensively as a UK leader in sustainable higher education.
Jonathan Carr, Pro-Vice-Chancellor at AUB, says, “The OfS funding is supporting vital investment in our facilities and future technology, fundamentally enriching the student experience. This new hybrid studio bridges traditional filmmaking with the future of digital creation, giving our students a definitive edge when they enter the industry.”
For more information about using the new facilities at AUB, contact innovationstudio@aub.ac.uk.
