Jeremy Yates, the lead animator on The Last of Us Part II, recently posted a video showcasing the motion capture used on horses throughout the game. With a much larger world to explore, players will find themselves on horses multiple times in The Last of Us Part II and knowing the creatives had real-life inspirations makes the gameplay all the more realistic.
The footage shows off both an actor and a horse decked out in motion capture gear getting ready to jump a hurdle. Yates detailed that all the footage was captured at Sony studios and because of safety concerns, a layer of plywood and rubber mats were used on the floor throughout the shoot. The original plan included renting out an equestrian center and creating a motion capture setup within, but the development team decided to keep costs internal instead.
Yates also detailed that Michal Mach, head of technical and NPC animation at Naughty Dog, created a documentary about the experience when everything was first shot and hopes it will be released sometime in the future.
Naughty Dog is no stranger when it comes to going above and beyond in terms of its details, and mo-capping animals is no different. Along with the horses, dogs were also mo-capped for The Last of Us Part II. They provided movement for not only the dogs in the game, but for other animals as well like deer. The motion capture team also worked out clever situations to portray following a dog on a leash as seen in a tweet from Almudena Soria Sancho, a lead animator at Naughty Dog.
The attention to detail Naughty Dog continues bringing to their projects is nothing short of astonishing. Mo-capping horses and other animals wasn’t necessary for the project, but the development team knew it would make The Last of Us Part II an even better game. And with Ghost of Tsushima’s release date on the horizon, we’ll soon see another project where Yates had the unique opportunity to mo-cap horses.
The Last of Us Part II is available now exclusively for PlayStation 4.
Source: GamesRadar, Twitter
