When the boss of an Oxford-based company said he had video footage of Robbie Williams and Wayne Rooney prancing around in tight black Lycra, I thought I had stumbled upon the scoop of the year.

But in fact, the reason the international pop star and one of the world's best footballers had dressed up like ballerinas was perhaps even more interesting than anything my imagination could conjure up.

Rooney and Williams, it turns out, are just two out of dozens of top performers who have been converted into computerised skeletons' by Audiomotion, a company tucked away at the back of the Osney Mead industrial estate.

The movements of both men have been recorded by a circle of 50 hi-tech Vicon cameras and converted into a raw stick-man image on a powerful computer.

This is where technology helps to make the impossible seem possible and the unbelievable seem very real.

"I must admit, it's not a bad way to earn your living," admits Audiomotion managing director Mick Morris, who joined the company in 1998 before buying it in 2003.

Last year, England star Rooney ditched his football shirt and shorts to don a tight-fitting Lycra suit and tiny reflective markers were placed at key sites all over his body.

Red light-emitting diodes next to each of the £15,000 cameras bounced beams of light off the markers on Rooney's body directly back to the cameras to track his movements down to the nearest millimetre.

The moving marker points were converted to points on the super-computer and each of the points was joined up to the point next to it, dot-to-dot-style, to create a human skeleton.

Rooney's passes, headers and famous right-foot shots were all captured in this way for client Sony's game Fifa 2007.

Animators added the footballer's stocky build and facial features to the skeleton and the end product was a 'person' who not only looked like Wayne Rooney, but also shared his movements.

In Robbie Williams's case, the process was used to help create the skeleton for his video Rock DJ, in which Williams strips off until only his skeleton was left dancing on the stage.

Audiomotion filmed the pop star dancing and then an animated skeleton was layered on top of a stick-man base to create a skeleton image. It was so realistic, it won Audiomotion an MTV award.

Mr Morris said: "We've done stuff for all sorts of things here. I suppose the main thing is video games and we have done hundreds of them - everything from shooters to sports games. It's great fun, although Steve Davis wasn't too keen on wearing a catsuit when he came down to be filmed for a snooker game.

"I think he was expecting to wear a waistcoat and bow tie. He just said you'd not get Jimmy White wearing Lycra'."

Each of the members of the re-formed Take That also descended on the studio last summer to motion capture their dance moves so they could be screened behind the band during shows on their UK tour.

Mr Morris added: "This is the biggest system of its kind in Europe, but it's all for nothing if the guy out there isn't at the top of his game. That's why we use the top performers for everything we do.

"There's an argument for calling it performance capture, rather than motion capture."

Audiomotion has also helped to create the illusion of thousands of people in Hollywood blockbusters including Gladiator, Enemy at the Gate and The Poseidon Adventure.

"Rather than having hundreds of extras, the film company just hire a few people, motion capture them and then kit them out in different gear for the background shots.

"Joe Bloggs watching in the cinema would have no idea that it's the same people generated over and over again.

"The most recent example we were involved in was the Lynx advert, when a man is on the beach and sprays himself with Lynx. Hundreds of thousands of bikini-clad girls come running towards him.

"The vast majority of women in that were created using motion capture cameras."

The firm was also responsible for the human-like movements of the Citroen C4 in the advert in which a car transforms into an ice-skating robot.

To create the illusion, cameras had to be set up on a full-sized ice rink in Sheffield and Olympic speed skating gold medallist Nicky Gooch spent seven hours whizzing around the rink wearing Lycra covered in tiny reflective balls.

"If you want absolute realism, this is the way to go," said Mr Morris.

"Some animators still prefer the cartoon style and you couldn't, for example, motion capture The Simpsons, but the two methods can complement each other.

"Motion capture doesn't threaten the traditional method, it's just another tool for animators to have at their disposal."

The props room next to the hangar contains a plethora of big kids' toys.

There is every type of weapon available, from a small revolver to a hefty shotgun - all, of course, covered in the distinctive tiny reflector balls.

"There are also swords, all sorts of sports equipment and, the piece de resistance, two Star Wars light sabres.

Mr Morris added: "It does cost quite a lot of money but, boy, it's a lot of fun and, if clients don't leave here with a smile on their face, then there's something wrong."