Applications

Video games often use motion capture to animate athletes, martial artists, and other in-game characters.^[2] This has been done since the Atari Jaguar CD-based game Highlander: The Last of the MacLeods, released in 1995.
Movies use motion capture for CG effects, in some cases replacing traditional cel animation, and for completely computer-generated creatures, such as Gollum, The Mummy, King Kong, Davy Jones from Pirates of the Caribbean, the Na'vi from the film Avatar, and Clu from Tron: Legacy.
Sinbad: Beyond the Veil of Mists was the first movie made primarily with motion capture, although many character animators also worked on the film.
In producing entire feature films with computer animation, the industry is currently split between studios that use motion capture, and studios that do not. Out of the three nominees for the 2006 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, two of the nominees (Monster House and the winner Happy Feet) used motion capture, and only Disney·Pixar's Cars was animated without motion capture. In the ending credits of Pixar's film Ratatouille, a stamp appears labelling the film as "100% Pure Animation -- No Motion Capture!"
Motion capture has begun to be used extensively to produce films which attempt to simulate or approximate the look of live-action cinema, with nearly photorealistic digital character models. The Polar Express used motion capture to allow Tom Hanks to perform as several distinct digital characters (in which he also provided the voices). The 2007 adaptation of the saga Beowulf animated digital characters whose appearances were based in part on the actors who provided their motions and voices. James Cameron's Avatar used this technique to create the Na'vi that inhabit Pandora. The Walt Disney Company has produced Robert Zemeckis's A Christmas Carol using this technique. In 2007, Disney acquired Zemeckis' ImageMovers Digital (that produces motion capture films), but then closed it in 2011, after a string of failures.
Television series produced entirely with motion capture animation include Laflaque in Canada, Sprookjesboom and Cafe de Wereld in The Netherlands, and Headcases in the UK.
Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality allow users to interact with digital content in real-time. This can be useful for training simulations, visual perception tests, or performing a virtual walk-throughs in a 3D environment. Motion capture technology is frequently used in digital puppetry systems to drive computer generated characters in real-time.
Gait analysis is the major application of motion capture in clinical medicine. Techniques allow clinicians to evaluate human motion across several biometric factors, often while streaming this information live into analytical software.
During the filming of James Cameron's Avatar all of the scenes involving this process were directed in realtime using a screen which converted the actor setup with the motion costume into what they would look like in the movie, making it easier for Cameron to direct the movie as it would be seen by the viewer. This method allowed Cameron to view the scenes from many more views and angles not possible from a pre-rendered animation. He was so proud of his pioneering methods he even invited Steven Spielberg and George Lucas on set to view him in actio