DI4D in LA

Dimensional Imaging (DI4D), one of the world’s leading facial capture companys, has now expanded to LA.

  • CEO and co-founder, Colin Urquhart has relocated to Los Angeles to lead the US expansion from the Company’s new office in Playa Vista, at the center of “MoCap Gulch”.
  • The Company has also based its latest DI4D PRO system, which uses 12MP video cameras to capture the high fidelity DI4D data at its office in LA. This new, higher resolution system captures more detail and nuanced facial performances.
  • Dimensional Imaging is also continuing to expand its Glasgow operations, where R&D and post-processing headcount has doubled in the last twelve months.

DI4D was formed in 2003. The company provides 4D facial performance capture services, systems and software for visual effects in movies, television, video games, VR and advanced research applications.

Above MPC’s amazing work on Rachel in BladeRunner 2049 using DI4D.

Recent projects that have used DI4D include the Warner Brothers movies ‘Blade Runner 2049’ and ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’, and Microsoft Studios video game ‘Quantum Break’.  There are several more movie, television, video game and VR projects currently in production. Leading research customers include University of Glasgow, Imperial College London and Dallas Children’s Hospital.

DI4D’s proprietary “motion scanning” technology captures 4D data comprising video rate 3D surface scans tracked with a dense fixed topology mesh. The DI4D solution, which does not require any markers, make-up or structured light, provides high fidelity facial motion capture data and ensures that the nuance of an actor’s facial performance is sampled. Since upgrading their DI4D PRO system with nine 12 mega-pixel synchronised video cameras, the company has been able to capture higher fidelity 4D data than ever before.

CEO and co-founder, Colin Urquhart has relocated to Los Angeles to lead the US expansion from the Company’s new office in Playa Vista.  Urquhart believes that by opening the office in LA, in addition to its headquarters in Glasgow UK, DI4D will be more effective in serving both markets.

“A large and growing number of DI4D’s customers and projects are based in North America and in Los Angeles in particular. I am therefore delighted to at last have a permanent presence here so that we can now offer them the same high level of service that we provide our European customers. DI4D’s recent work on high profile movies, such as BLADE RUNNER 2049,  made the decision to move to LA very easy – and the fact that I have re-located here from Scotland with my young family demonstrates our level of commitment to this market.” explained Urquhart.

The Company’s DI4D PRO System was used to capture actresses Sean Young and Loren Peta on location in Budapest for Blade Runner 2049. Sean Young who played replicant ‘Rachael’ in the original 1982 Blade Runner movie and Loren Peta who took over the character in the new movie, were both scanned.

Without the use of any markers, or makeup, DI4D captured and tracked Loren’s facial performance, delivering highly realistic facial animation for the scene. Douglas Green, COO of DI4D said: “We were delighted to be given the opportunity to work on BLADE RUNNER 2049. When we were asked to capture the facial performances for this key scene, we knew that our system could deliver the highest possible fidelity of data that the VFX Production Team required.” 

“Being able to capture every nuance of Loren’s facial performance was crucial for this particular scene. We tracked her facial performance using a 7,400 vert mesh – the densest mesh that DI4D have tracked to date. We subsequently increased the resolution of the tracked data to approximately 30,000 verts. This resulted in the delivery of highly realistic facial animation for this pivotal scene.”

Richard Clegg, VFX Supervisor at MPC said- “Quality data capture, especially for facial performances, is an integral part of producing digital humans. Dimensional Imaging (DI4D) came through for us with Rachael on Blade Runner 2049. Their team was highly professional and very accommodating”.  

Dimensional Imaging also continues to expand its Glasgow operations under COO and co-founder Douglas Green. Colin added –“Following our new round of investment in January 2017, DI4D now has the financial strength and confidence to scale up significantly. As well as expanding into the US, we have also invested heavily in the continued R&D of our already world-leading facial performance capture technology and in our post-processing service capability. I am really excited that DI4D is now firmly placed at the forefront of the worldwide VFX industry.”