Pacific Motion Control

Pacific Motion prides itself on being able to provide exactly the right motion control gear for the job. Sometimes that means building a custom rig. In this case, the client needed to film the perfect golf swing for a Nike Tiger Woods commercial. We can do that. We built this motion control golf club swinging rig using one of our Sorensen Design International motion control camera heads, a second Sorensen rotator, a head extension, and a little bit of secret sauce. The rig was able to perform a perfect golf swing, smoothly and repeatedly hitting a ball with perfect precision.

The Graphlite motion control camera crane was recently used to film a commercial for Super Mario Galaxy 2 for the Nintendo Wii. The commercial was filmed on a stage in Mexico, demonstrating that even our largest motion control rig is fully portable. In this case, the Graphlite, Kuper motion control computer system, and track were all packed into cases and flown to Mexico. Multiple setups and motion control passes were used to make it appear as if the actors are in a spherical world, and able to run, jump, and flip like Mario.

Pioneer Corn – 2008

This Pioneer Corn commercial used motion control to seamlessly marry live-action and CGI.

Computer Animation is used to show the high-tech side of pioneer corn. These effects are married to a single live-action shot, featuring a slow sweeping camera move. Motion Control move data was provided to the post house to and imported in to MAYA to model the camera move in the virtual realm.

Kuper motion control software is able to export motion control data as an ASCII data file, which can easily be imported into MAYA and other 3D modeling and CG programs.

This commercial is a great example of how motion control photography can be used to seamlessly add CGI elements to live-action while incorporating precision camera movement.

First in Motion Control

Pacific Motion Control recently had the opportunity to work on this commercial for the new Kohler Flipside Handshower. A motion control head, motion control model mover, and motion control bogey dolly were used to film the precise, choreographed movements of the shower head. While multiple passes were filmed to give the effect of multiple choreographed shower heads, motion control was also used for the precise camera movements highlighting the single shower head.

Motion control is often the perfect option when steady, precise camera movements are needed, which would be difficult to capture with a handheld camera, or manual dolly or jib. These beauty shots often can be captured in much less time using motion control, and motion control adds the luxury of precise repeatability for multiple takes.