The next Avatar might just be created by a University of Houston student at a studio in Fort Bend County.

UH students will soon have the opportunity to learn the latest motion capture technologies at TimeGate Studios, developers and publishers of such award-winning video games as Section 8, F.E.A.R. Files, Kohan, and Axis & Allies. The studio is partnering with the university to establish a cutting-edge motion capture studio at its headquarters in Sugar Land.

The video game company will provide the space and commercial talent to operate the studio while the University of Houston System (UHS) will provide the equipment (state-of-the-art, I might add) and curriculum.

This is really cool news.

Students who actually work on a specific software product will get credit as part of the game's development team.

Motion capture technologies are used to record natural movements and render them in a computerized environment for games, animation and movies. The Na’vi race of people in the film Avatar were computer-generated through motion capture.

Rick Ferguson, executive director of the Houston Film Commission, thinks this match of TimeGate with UHS will be a “huge gain” to the Houston area and for students.

Having a skilled workforce at hand, and a talent pool that’s continually being replenished, is an attraction for other entertainment and technology-related businesses which might consider the Houston area for relocation.

In a statement TimeGate board chairman Alan Chaveleh said he sees this as “the beginning of a long-term relationship with UHS to develop a world-class Computer Science and Digital Gaming Simulation program right in our backyard.”

Upon graduation, UHS students will already have on-the-job experience at an award-winning company and possibly their name credited in the next red hot game.

A series of conversations between Jeff Wiley, president of the Greater Fort Bend Economic Development Council, and Chaveleh opened the door for the alliance. "Not many people are aware that Sugar Land is home to one of the best and largest video game developers in the world," he said in a statement.

That should change.

The pairing of the game developer and the UH system is a sweet deal for Sugar Land and especially the next generation of creative geniuses who will entertain us with worlds we cannot yet imagine.