Inside India’s largest motion capture studio in Hyderabad

At the newly-launched A&M MoCap Lab wrong Hyderabad’sAnnapurna Studios, positioned arsenic India’s largest and astir precocious question seizure facility, an artiste wearing a specialised suit equipped with markers, demonstrates stunt moves. His movements, recorded utilizing high-definition question tracking cameras, are transferred to 3D machine generated characters. 

The information helps filmmakers analyse precision, velocity of movement, camera angles and extent required for a unrecorded enactment movie shoot. The data, which includes facial capture, besides helps animation filmmakers and the gaming assemblage to present characters that mimic life-like expressions.

Motion capture, often referred to arsenic MoCap, facilities are not caller to India. Facilities successful Bengaluru and Mumbai are often utilized by the animation and gaming sector. But ideate MoCap arsenic portion of pre-production enactment for a larger-than-life film. Say, a stunt series involving 20 to 30 actors oregon adjacent a warfare sequence. It involves a larger floorspace, respective cameras and supporting software.

For his upcoming Telugu movie Varanasi, starring Mahesh Babu and Priyanka Chopra Jonas, manager SS Rajamouli utilized MoCap to program stunt sequences arsenic portion of pre-visualisation work. 

The A&M MoCap Lab, though formally unveiled by Rajamouli successful precocious February 2026, has been functional since mid-2025. The laboratory is simply a concern betwixt actor-producer Nagarjuna Akkineni’s Annapurna Studios, Baahubaliproducer Shobu Yarlagadda’s Mihira Visual Labs and Animatrik Film Design that provided exertion solutions to Hollywood films specified arsenic Avengers: EndGame and Spider-Man: No Way Home.

The 60ft x 40ft x 30ft abstraction is equipped with much than 60 Vicon Valkyrie (VK26) high-fidelity question tracking cameras, Vicon Live for real-time information streaming, Vicon Post for precocious post-processing, and Unreal Engine unrecorded preview that enables enactment betwixt performers and integer environments. The setup includes stereo head-mounted camera units that assistance high-resolution facial show capture.

Shobu recalls travelling with Rajamouli to Bengaluru a mates of years agone for a trial project. While filming Baahubali - The Conclusion, they flew an creator to Los Angeles for MoCap enactment arsenic portion of the pre-visualisation. Since then, the 2 hoped for specified a installation person home.

Applications of MoCap technology

For the unversed, pre-visualisation is simply a portion of pre-production enactment earlier a movie goes connected floors. Earlier, hand-drawn images were utilized to make a storyboard, with the director, enactment choreographer and cinematographer weighing successful connected placement and question of radical and camera equipment. Such prep enactment helped prevention money, clip and effort connected set. Manual storyboarding has agelong since been replaced by computerised ones.

“We wanted a MoCap abstraction with ample height, extent and standard successful India, successful Hyderabad,” says Shobu. He and Rajamouli had met Brett Ineson, president and CTO of Animatrik Film Design, to recognize the feasibility of introducing specified a installation successful India.

Around the aforesaid time, CV Rao was keen to research newer exertion that could beryllium introduced astatine the Hyderabad studio. Shobu pitched the thought during a casual conversation, aft which Rao travelled to LA to conscionable Brett and recognize the exertion being utilized for large-scale question seizure successful Hollywood films.

Though Rao does not disclose the investment, helium states, “It was going to beryllium a one-time concern and fixed the vibrant movie industries and gaming assemblage successful India, Annapurna Studios decided to spell ahead.” Shobu’s Mihira Visual Labs, launched astir 2 years agone to enactment connected animation and ocular effects for the animation movie Baahubali - The Eternal War, partnered connected the ambitious project. The installation was built successful summertime 2025 and kept nether wraps, arsenic per Rajamouli’s request.

In hindsight, Shobu agrees with Rajamouli’s connection during the motorboat of the laboratory that had specified a MoCap installation been disposable portion making Baahubali, peculiarly the warfare sequences, it would person helped velocity up the pre-visualisation process and filming.

Tech leaps since ‘Kochadaiyaan’

In the Indian context, moviebuffs whitethorn callback the country’s archetypal photorealistic question seizure movie — Soundarya Rajinikanth’s Kochadaiyaan (2014). “The movie was up of its clip but the exertion was nascent. It was a large experiment. Today specified a movie tin beryllium done with ease,” says Shobu.

Internationally, manager Steven Spielberg’sThe Adventures of Tintin (2011) was among the archetypal groundbreaking question seizure diagnostic films. Shobu cites Love, Death & Robots (Netflix series) and Secret Level (Amazon Prime) arsenic caller examples to showcase the possibilities of MoCap.

Closer location successful Telugu and different movie industries successful India, Rao and Shobu authorities that determination is curiosity astir exploring the exertion for unrecorded enactment and animation films.  “The occurrence of Mahavatar Narasimha has shown the scope for Indian animation films. MoCap volition assistance specified filmmakers,” says Shobu, and adds that manager Ishan Shukla, who is helming Baahubali - The Eternal War, had utilized MoCap for immoderate sequences of his erstwhile indie animation movie Schirkoa: In Lies We Trust, with the assistance of a workplace successful France. He adds, “when cutting-edge exertion is disposable here, much filmmakers are apt to research it.”

India’s largest question seizure workplace successful Hyderabad

India’s largest question seizure workplace successful Hyderabad | Video Credit: The Hindu