No / In this paper we present a constrained inverse kinematics algorithm for real-time motion capture in virtual environments, that has its origins in the simulation of multi-body systems. We apply this algorithm to an articulated human skeletal model using an electromagnetic motion tracking system with a small number of sensors to create avatar postures. The method offers efficient inverse kinematics computation and it is also generalised for the configurations of an articulated skeletal model. We investigate the possibility of capturing fast gestures by analysing the convergence patterns of the algorithm with the motion tracking sampling frequency for a range of actions.