Capcom — Osaka: 130 cameras for a face, a floor of gravel for a footstep, and a helipad on the roof

Concept

Where a game is recorded before it is drawn

Most office tours show desks and cafeterias. Capcom’s opens with a 3D scanning studio: more than 130 cameras, one rig for faces and one for whole bodies, able to capture a person from any angle. The company says that this equipment cut out work that used to take about half a year.

Then come the rooms where movement and sound are recorded — two motion-capture studios, a sound studio, and a Foley stage where footsteps are made by real feet on real ground.

01 · 3D scanning

A mirror in front of 130 cameras

In the scan studio, the face rig sits in front and the full-body rig behind. For facial scans, a mirror lets the subject check their own expression while they are being captured.

02 · Motion capture

Actors on the staff

Capcom has its own actors working in-house. In the studio they share an image of the movement with the team and try it again and again — for people and for all kinds of creatures — checking themselves on monitors.

In R&D Building No. 2 the motion-capture studio is one of the largest in Japan, with a ceiling about seven metres high and 36 cameras. Faces are captured in a separate room with almost no echo.

03 · Sound

A floor for every footstep

bit MASTER studio is the sound studio, where directors and composers work as a team; singers and musicians record in the booth at the back.

The Foley stage, opened in May 2015, records game sound effects. Its floor offers soil, grass and cobblestones as well as a water area, and the Foley artists match their steps to a character on the screen in front of them.

04 · Meeting rooms

150 seats and 7.1 surround

The large meeting room holds up to 150 people and has a 7.1 surround-sound system; it is used for things like the entrance ceremony for new employees. There are small and medium rooms too, the small ones filled with daylight.

05 · Two canteens

One calm, one bright

The third-floor canteen is decorated in calm tones for a slow meal; at its back is a bar-like space used to entertain visitors. The fourth-floor canteen has colourful chairs and daylight, crowded at lunchtime, with small tables by the window for people eating alone.

06 · Floors and roof

Creators upstairs, a helipad above

The 11th and 15th floors are for creators. A bright visitor entrance with colourful tables doubles as a place for quick meetings. On the roof of R&D Building No. 2 is a helipad for emergencies such as natural disasters.