Magic Leap Teams with Andy Serkis Effects Studio Imaginarium for New AR Experience

The critics of Magic Leap have been circling for a couple of weeks now, but that isn't stopping the company from pushing forward with major new partnerships. The latest Magic Leap tie-up is with none other than motion capture actor Andy Serkis and his UK-based The Imaginarium Studios.

"In using performance capture, we have the opportunity to authentically portray the intent of the actor," said Matthew Brown, CEO of The Imaginarium Studios, in a statement on Magic Leap's website. "With Magic Leap's technology, that performance is pulled off the screen and into the world of the viewer. This is storytelling as it should be: immersive, personal, and integrated into our world."

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Those unfamiliar with Serkis will almost certainly know his motion capture work from film franchises including the Lord of the Rings (with Serkis as Gollum), the Planet of the Apes (with the actor as lead ape Caesar), and Star Wars (with Serkis as Supreme Leader Snoke).

Digitally captured performances that allow humans to be transformed into 3D constructs and inserted into any computer-generated environment are increasingly being used for augmented reality content. By teaming up with The Imaginarium Studios, Magic Leap is showing us how some major studios may soon leverage traditional motion capture content as an easy pathway from films into high-level AR content.

Check out more about how the Imaginarium Studio works in the video below:

The first collaboration between the two companies is for a creature called Grishneck. "The experience follows Grishneck as he hops from a physical screen into the user's environment, creating the perfect backdrop to highlight Magic Leap's spatial computing capabilities and The Imaginarium Studio's expertise in performance capture," reads the description from Magic Leap.

We checked and, as of this writing, the experience doesn't appear to be available anywhere in the Magic Leap One menu, but we'll keep watch and let you know if it shows up soon.

"Working with Andy [Serkis] and his team has excited me from day one," said Andy Lanning, the executive creative director at Magic Leap. "Seeing the result as Magic Leap combines forces with The Imaginarium Studios will change the way we see and experience entertainment in the future."

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Cover image via The Imaginarium Studios