Tim Doubleday

The experienced product manager shares his insight into the world of visual effects and motion capture

Tim Doubleday is the VFX product manager at Vicon, helping develop their motion capture tools such as Shogun. We chatted to him about his career journey, studio setup, and predictions for the future of the industry.

What got you into the industry?

I feel lucky to have grown up alongside the introduction of the internet and PCs becoming available on a commercial scale. I remember the introduction of bulletin boards and the availability of early 3D rendering software like V-Ray and 3ds Max and being amazed at the possibilities that computer graphics could offer.

It wasn’t until a year of doing an Art Foundation that I realised how this emerging industry could not only be amazingly fun but also offer a potential career. This was further cemented while doing a three-year BA in Computer Visualisation & Animation at Bournemouth University. At the time there were only a couple of university courses and I delayed a year to do the Art Foundation to make sure I got a place. In hindsight this was the right decision as it introduced me to motion capture along with numerous other animation techniques.

While we didn’t have access to a motion capture system at Bournemouth, it was starting to be used more in videogames like Virtua Fighter and films like The Matrix. It was actually one of my lecturers, John Vince, who introduced me to Vicon and I owe him so much because of this.

What is your daily work life like?