Motion capture is also a developing field in academic research with regard to its use in the entertainment industries, including cinema, gaming and live performance. The increasing utilisation of motion capture in the New Zealand animation and visual effects industry has meant that there is a need for graduates to have some developed skills in this area. The move to address motion capture in curriculum at AUT University was a result of several factors. This initiative represents a 'first step' in the integration of motion capture within an existing digital moving image programme and was conceived to address of a number of core pedagogical and research aims around 3D animation, performance and motion capture. The motion capture system being utilised is Optitrack's economical eight-camera optical motion capture package. This paper presents a range of preliminary pedagogical and research issues which have arisen at the early stages of developing teaching modules around the use of low cost, entry level motion capture technology at the School of Art and Design, AUT University, New Zealand. In addition, there is the importance of sustaining a robust teaching-research nexus within an academic context.

Keeping abreast of developing and cutting edge moving image production technologies is often a constant challenge in digital moving image-related teaching programmes, as is the requirement to create curriculum that delivers both a strong foundational technical skill-base, but which is also addresses the meaningful application of the technology to a range of communicative and/or aesthetic principles and outcomes. Motion capture technology is increasingly being used across a range of digital moving image practice, from 3D animation, digital visual effects and gaming, to digitally augmented live performance and dance.

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