Advisory Board

  Nolan Ryan
  Randy Johnson
  Cole Hamels
  Mark Prior
  Robb Nen
  Orel Hershiser
  Dave Dravecky
  Bobby Valentine
  Dusty Baker
  John Young
  Tom House
  Karl Meinhardt
  James Evans
  Greg Rose
  Robert Yang
  Jim Brogan
  Glenn Fleisig
  Todd Durkin
  Alan Blitzblau
  Arnel Aguinaldo

  Dr. Lewis Yocum
  Dr. Rick Heitsch
  Dr. James Andrews
  Dr. John Conway
  Dr. Hank Chambers
  Dr. Todd Lanman

As progress is made in the digital imaging technology world, the sports industry is seeing a lot of companies and coaches turning to video as an assessment tool. High definition cameras can now capture video footage at higher rates than ever before. This a great thing when it comes to viewing frames of footage showing athletic motion. However, we noticed an increase in marketing approaches by some coaches and academies that are suggest that they are doing motion analysis with these cameras. Granted on some level they are doing analysis, but assessment might be a more realistic term here. It is important that you understand the difference between video analysis and motion analysis.

Since the eye and brain can only ingest a little less than 30 frames a second, the ability to 'stop motion' any athlete and see what is happening can be very helpful. The arrival of HiDef video cameras has made the views into athletic motion even more granular by offering frame rates of 72 frames per second (fps). This is vast improvement over the 29.97 fps that regular video affords our eyes.

But even at a solid 72 fps athletic motion will have blurry images through time sections of the motion in which the body is moving very quickly. It is inevitable due to the number of frames available in a second. Granted the time slices for each frame are smaller offering an opportunity for a more finite look at motion, but there are and will continue to be gaps in the view of the motion.

There are several other shortcomings with video analysis. The biggest is that you only get to view the motion from the angle that the footage is shot. You can’t move the point of view at all. It is completely static. And it is only a two dimensional view. There is no depth. Any information to be gleaned from anything other than the flat plane of the image has to be interpolated or assumed. While many video analysis packages give you the ability to draw lines on the video and measure angles between the lines, they are ultimately an approximation of what is really taking place. Motion happens in three dimensions, not two.

Three dimensional motion capture (3D MoCap) is a completely different beast. It is not digital image based like normal and HiDef video cameras are. 3D MoCap cameras are capturing 1000 fps; a substantial increase over 72 fps. More importantly what they are recording is data points moving through a defined space that are created when the reflective dots reflect infrared light to the camera. This means that the motion is well defined as data, not as images.

Having motion represented as data has huge advantages over video based motion recordings. The most useful advantage for assessing motion is the ability to change the point of view of the motion. Since the motion is just data representing the coordinates of the motion in space, we can easily change our point of viewing the motion in space. This enables us to look at the same delivery or swing from any angle; front, side, at a 30-degree angle off-center, top, back…it is possible just by changing the coordinates of the point of view.

Very granular coordinate data also affords 3D MoCap the ability to take very accurate measurements of aspects of the motion. Basically it gives us the ability to measure the angles and distances of rotation, travel, velocity, stress, and other aspects that make up a pitch or a swing! The ability to measure these variable gives us the power to assess and do research of motion.

Ultimately 3D MoCap is a measuring and research tool. It gives us the data of motion and gives us the power to do accurate research…research that can identify efficiency, strength, and performance. Video analysis can be a great assessment tool. It can provide a view into what could be happening in motion, but it is just that…an assessment. Every dad should have a HiDef camera to film their athlete! But if it is research into the efficiency of motion in an effort to reduce injury, it’s 3D motion analysis you want.