A feed of actors faces as they wear expression capturing cameras

performance capture Services

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StudioT3D is Central London's agile performance capture studio, offering marker-based optical, markerless facial, and hand/finger capture for film, games, immersive theatre, music promos, and guerrilla activations. Cost-effective, and real-time ready, our 16m x 12m OptiTrack volume with 42 cameras enables high-fidelity capture without the constraints of large-scale facilities.

Our Performance Capture Service features...

A motion capture actor t-posing in the volume whilst wearing a headrig

OptiTrack motion capture camera facing right

42 Camera OptiTrack Motion Capture system

Delivering sub-millimeter positional accuracy in a 12m x 16m volume. Supports full‑body, facial, and finger tracking. Data is captured via OptiTrack’s Motive software, streamable in real-time to engines like Unreal Engine or MotionBuilder.

Facegood or Radical Variance iPhone FaceCap

The iPhone HMC provides wireless real-time face tracking, while Facegood delivers detailed facial animation through high-fidelity markerless capture. Directors can also access a live feed of facial cameras via our streaming network.

Motion capture actor smiling and looking to the right wearing a Radical Variance iPhone HMC

Manus Meta, Stretchsense or OptiTrack finger tracking

Manus and StretchSense gloves for precise hand and finger tracking. Manus Meta and StretchSense offer real-time data streaming for virtual production, and high-resolution, soft-sensor input for nuanced finger movement capture.

Why use Performance Capture?

Our studios are your ticket to the best method of capturing an actor's full performance.

Achieve Realistic Character Animation

The biggest win with performance capture is the level of realism it brings to character animation. Forget stiff, robotic movements. With performance capture, you're getting the actual nuances of a real actor's performance. This includes everything from subtle facial expressions to the way they carry themselves. It's a shortcut to believable characters.

Unlock Creative Possibilities

Actors can play characters that would be physically impossible for them to portray otherwise. Imagine a small actor playing a giant, or an older actor playing a young character. It also allows for more complex and nuanced performances. Actors can focus on their acting, knowing that their performance will be accurately translated to the digital character. It's like giving filmmakers and game developers a whole new set of tools to play with.

Streamline Production Workflows

Animators can start with a solid base of captured data. This means less time spent on animation and more time on other tasks. Plus, it allows for more iteration. If the director wants to try something different with a character's performance, it's much easier to re-capture a scene than to completely re-animate it from scratch.

IntegratE Voice and Expression

It's not enough to just capture the movement of the face; you also need to capture the voice. The way someone speaks—their intonation, their pauses, their emphasis—is just as important as their facial expressions in conveying emotion. Integrating voice and expression in performance capture means recording both simultaneously and then synchronizing them perfectly.

Leonie Schiesling, actor, wearing a motion capture facial helmet by Facegood and wearing a motion capture suit with Target3D on the front

We Work across industries

StudioT3D delivers high-quality performance capture data for use in...

Video Games

We deliver full‑body, finger, and facial performance capture—streaming real‑time data into engines like Unreal and Unity to bring game characters to life with actor-driven realism. Our team has contributed to major titles including Dune: Awakening, Shadow Warrior 3, and Norse, providing precise, high-fidelity capture for both gameplay and cinematic sequences.

Film

Performance capture for film productions, combining full-body motion, facial expression, and hand articulation to support both dramatic and stylised storytelling. Our projects include Letters from Drancy and the documentary Buy Now! The Shopping Conspiracy, showcasing our versatility across genres and visual styles.

NY Billboard showing Tyson Fury's Character in a crown

Advertising

In advertising, StudioT3D enables bold creative visions through high-end performance capture, supporting agencies like UNIT9, MAYDA, and Stink Studios on campaigns for brands including LUSH and Battle of the Baddest: Tyson Fury. Our work blends cinematic motion with cutting-edge tech to deliver standout moments across digital and broadcast media.

Music Production

We bring performance capture into the world of music, creating immersive visuals for artists including Björk (Ovule), Stefflon Don, Imogen Heap, and Bring Me The Horizon. Whether it’s expressive choreography, stylised avatars, or virtual stage performances, our mocap and facial tracking workflows help turn musical ideas into compelling visual narratives.

A stage show of a pantomime with a digital screen in the centre featuring a beautiful lady in a red dress

Theatre

StudioT3D supports live theatre with motion capture and virtual production workflows that enhance stagecraft and storytelling. From bringing animated characters to life in Mother Goose at The Customs House, Gateshead, to contributing to the West End spectacle Stranger Things: The First Shadow, we bridge the digital and physical to elevate theatre.

Experiential Marketing

We deliver pcap for live brand activations and immersive experiences, blending performance and tech in real time for maximum audience impact. From pop-ups like SXSW Austin's LUSH popup (with MAYDA) to global showcases, we help agencies and artists engage audiences in bold, unexpected ways.

Why StudioT3D?

Unlike larger studios with restrictive pipelines, StudioT3D offers flexible, scalable mocap solutions for everything from indie games to experimental theatre and guerrilla marketing activations.

We offer real-time streamed full performance (face, body, fingers) live into Unreal Engine or MotionBuilder via Motive. This enables on-set preview, directional playback, and seamless integration with LED walls or stage lighting - all live

"Capable, trusting…definitely trusting. Both ourselves and the client could trust the whole team implicitly. They found the most technically efficient and creative solution. StudioT3D isn’t just technically minded - they are creative problem solvers. Oh, and did I mention trust!”

Hannah Smith, PitStop Productions.

What Is Performance Capture?

A person in a mocap suit facing a screen with green lines showing what the camera can see

Two actors wearing iPhone head mounted cameras facing the camera wearing mocap suits

What is "performance capture"?

By recording the body movement, voice and facial expressions of an actor simultaneously, performance capture (sometimes referred to as "Pcap") enables film and game producers to bring to life an animated or virtual character more than ever before.

The performer is kitted out in a mocap suit to capture their body movement, a microphone to capture their voice, and either facial markers or a camera directed at the face to capture their facial nuances. Their performance takes place in the volume and, with pin point accurate optical tracking - exact to less than 0.5mm, their full body, facial and finger movements, and voice are captured. This allows for the seamless integration of visual effects without losing the humanity of traditionally filmed performances.

At StudioT3D, the performer is at the centre of everything we do, whether that’s for a razor sharp fight sequence or an intimate theatrical monologue. Using a combination of cutting edge motion capture technologies, we offer an end-to-end performance capture solution for your project.

Andy Serkis’ performance as Sméagol in Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy is perhaps the most famous example of the magic that can be afforded to a character with the use of performance capture technology. Behind the scenes features show the uncanny doubling of performer and avatar, layering together the real and manipulated. Likewise, performance capture technology took Steven Spielberg and Peter Jackson’s Tintin from sketched line drawings to living, breathing minutely detailed renders that hold the essence of Hervé Léger’s illustrations without sacrificing the nuance and precision of the actors’ performances.

Andy Serkis in a mocap suit next to his character Gollum

Encompassing everything from the subtle quirk of a digitally animated eyebrow to the exact motion and trajectory of a stuntman’s fall from horseback, performance capture allows for the creation of imagery which can have all the expressiveness of naturalistic acting, married with extraordinary visual spectacle.

The evolution of performance capture technology means that this effect is no longer the exclusive domain of big budget fantasy movies; Target3D is an affordable central London option for projects large and small, with our own StudioT3D fitted with 42 OptiTrack cameras to capture within a volume of 9m x 4.5m.