Digital Double, a motion capture and animation studio located in downtown Redmond, hosted the first session of its one-week summer immersion programs for teens from July 6-10.

“In one week, our students got to learn about art and animation theory and then got to apply it by designing their own characters, modeling, texturing and using motion capture to perform their character’s movements,” said Kamal Siegel, who is Digital Double’s founder and a Redmond Arts Commissioner.

“They even lit and rendered their animation to create a short movie clip. None of these students had any experience with animation before attending, so we were blown away by what they were able to accomplish,” he added.

“I’m not sure if there’s ever been a summer camp before, where teens go to use motion capture, probably because of the special suits most other motion capture facilities need to use. So this is pretty cutting-edge stuff that’s made available to teens.”

Digital Double, located on the second floor of 15814 Bear Creek Parkway, is equipped with STAGE, a trademarked system licensed from Organic Motion, to record three-dimensional movement of a person and map it onto a digital 3D character. This is the first, full-body markerless motion capture facility on the West Coast.

Siegel and his colleagues at Digital Double are skilled artists and animators with close ties to the renowned educational programs at Redmond’s DigiPen Institute of Technology.

There are still more opportunities for teens (ages 15-19) to participate in summer immersion programs at Digital Double. These are fast-paced, hands-on, 40-hour sessions where they can learn the basics of the production animation environment.

Session Three runs from July 20-24 and Session Four is July 27-31.

Total cost of each session is $950, which includes all materials, lunches and snacks. Students must provide their own transportation.

For more information, call (425) 867-0400 or e-mail info@digitaldouble.net.