Starting with Motion Capture ( 4 poor indies )

Hi @all

Iam sick of buying animations never geting the one i want.
Not talking about getting bad quality. Iam simply up2 unique and selfmade animations.

So today i ordered some mocap - hardware - parts.
Ill give details, prices, products used etc asap in the next, let me guess, two weeks+- (one Adapter ships from USA dont know how long it takes ).

If iam able to build a good "poor - man - mocap - room" everyone is welcome to visit me ( Germany ) in the future to animate your hobby projects!

So please keep fingers crossed for me

Edit: Big thanks2 "MR Bausanierung" btw for sponsering the new computer for this project. Thank you, Mike!

Till then
Greets

Wow Cool...!!

If it's any measure I still waiting for a book U.K. to U.S.A over 20 days now. But I shipped it lowest priority.

Boahh! And in Germany post and Amazon are on strike...that sucks!

Cant wait any more! Last time i felt so i was a child waiting for ECTO-1 on christmas

please let me know if you start to make horse and elephant mocaps

lol. if i build it in my Garage, this would be no prob ...lets see.

First hardware installed, the new pc aka workstation to start with ( Microsoft says ):

() Windows 8 or 8.1
() 64bit
() 8GB
() Intel i5 or higher
() DirectX 11 graphics card
() USB 3.0
Price atm: 0.00€

cool idea, hope you're having fun with it

Thank you!

For now: "no" because the shop in Amazon failed totally. Today ive spoken with Amazon via phone. Hope they'll f* the a* of this so called "seller". In germany we call such Shops "Juicestore" aka Saftladen!

Now i ordered again, in another shop...+- 14 days shipment...again! Man this sucks! Lost a week cause of that m*****f***** !

Sry but iam really angry...i wanted to start Installation this WE

...well but i saved 15€ ...new adapter is a bit cheaper.

What kind of mocap system are you getting?
I've been looking into it a couple of times now and am still considering just trying one of the cheaper solutions based on kinect or ps eye, but I am not so sure if I will like the quality of the results.
Then again professional solutions start at 10k€ and I am totally not willing to pay that .

I am using iPi MoCap with 2 Kinects and it works like a charm! I did not expect that. You can try the 30 day trial.

Hi

is there a plug-in for mocap files for Wed.exe ?

sitrep I'm not sure what you are asking. Mostly mocap is assign to a bone struct of a 3d model within a 3d modeling program. Med.exe does not accept the data, WED does not accept the data. I program such as 3ds max will use mocap to animate a model that can then be saved as a FBX file and import to MED for transfer to a MDL file.

It is a game of hats and hoops lol

malice

i apologize, i meant Med.exe

are there any plug-ins that I can use to import BVH files or Mocap files into my mdl models?

I dont have Max or maya ..

Thanks

Blender is free and will do it..

MED - What can I say about a bicycle in a Race car world...

A easy way to get max or maya is to take college classes. If enrolled in any college you can get a 2 year education licence for both products.

Also there are actual modeling programmers that are affordable( MED is not a modeling program, more like a shell of a modeling program used on the original QUAKE game) .

Makehuman (Makewalk) + Blender is the choice.

Besides that I think Puppeteer wrote a bvh import tool for MED. Features unknown.
Actually I did quite some modeling, modifying and skinning in MED the last few days. It works better than I remembered.
No reaon to make this a habit, though.

@3run
It will be ( guess for now) Alibaba's version. Ive seen quit good results. Some german companies investing in this System too now. But ill tell more when i got the parts installed.

@Alibaba
Could u give some Infos about the workflow ? I mean IpiSoft has some Auto - rigging function is that right ?

@Firoball
Some workflow Infos about MakeWalk ? Is it for free ?

Asking about workflow, cause i hate rigging. I saw some vids, ipisoft mocap seams to have a very easy "auto-rigging" function ( Brekels Pro Body too btw [not free] ). U just place your self to fit the 3d model right?

About BVH Export ( worst case scenerio for me ) Milkshape could do the import - trick ( BVH - > MS3D -> 3dgs MDL ) btw ( guessing, not tested now ). Exporting mocap data seams to work with "Brekel's Kinect free mocap Version".


About results. Keep in mind what u pay for pro studio animations against the investment of this "poor" mocap version. Deep below 1000€, my guess for now.

edit: MS - verifier tool gives green light btw ( hardware check ok ). First good news Adapter arrives 6. Juli.
Now i dont know which Software...waiting for your replies now. First Brekel Kinect cause its free. ^^

thanks everyone for the reply

really appreciate it :-)

Yes. It comes together with Makehuman (also free) and needs to be installed as Blender Plugin (it is just a Python script).
You select the Armature, then on the left side you click "Load and Retarget" and then select a .bvh file.
It will try to retarget automatically, but you can select some predefined targets or also write your own mapping. And there are several more options.
I tried mapping CMU labs and Truebones to the Makehuman armature and it worked perfectly fine with two clicks. And Unity mapped the result fine to its own avatar system (which is also supported by Makewalk), MED imported an exported FBX without problems.
If you use some well known bone setup, you shouldn't have many problems, otherwise you'll have to tweak around with mapping files a bit. Important is, that the target armature is clean in Blender. I recently tried importing from a fbx exported by Cinema4D and Blender had the bones imported in a very strange (invalid) way. I wasn't able to retarget on that armature, but with other tries I went fine until now.

http://www.makehuman.org/doc/node/mhblendertools_makewalk_basic_workflow.html

Actually I looked at the Kinect Brekel method end of last year, but at the moment I cannot handle the investment money and space wise. ...and then Truebones became free again. Not perfect, but good enough. I'll never understand why there are always just two handed sword animations... endless many, but try to get a proper sword/shield attack animation...

Thank you for that great Information! Maybe i overread, can i stream from Kinect into Makehuman in realtime ?

In short words...i install Blender and the MakeHuman PlugIn. Thats all to get startet. And maybe Brekel Kinect to create the BVH file, if realtime data Transfer isnt possible.

edit: Feel free to visit me
edit2: www.mixamo.com could be interesting for some people btw

Ah no... this is just for mapping stored bvh data to models, so one step further.

Streaming takes at least Brekel or one of those Kinect tools... and I think Fragmotion is supported a lot for direct streaming. But it's not free.
I haven't downloaded or tried, but maybe it's worth something: http://www.cgchannel.com/2012/02/stream-kinect-mocap-data-into-blender-with-ni-mate/

The idea of Makehuman is to give you a tool for easily generating human like meshes where you just influence some parameters like muscels, belly, size, and you get a model ready to be animated. And then you have the Makewalk script which helps you getting you mocap data on it without wasting too much time.
Of course it will need some revamping like offset correction and making the animation loopable, but that's common.

Fragmotion? Really? Cool. Need to look. I love that app.

() Ok guess ill install "Brekel Kinect free Version" to create the BVH anm file
() Then ill use MakeHuman to "autorigg" the existing biped model with the BVH

Sounds pretty cool for free.

That was my plan when I started researching
As the Makewalk works with a few simple clicks it does not really annoy-up the workflow

That new computer is a rocket btw...damn! ^^

edit: while thinking about...i Switch the room and install the apps right now...maybe ill face some probs...
edit2: Man...only one monitor-cable...that sucks...ahhhrrgg

Oh, that's nice when things need to be done quickly

Installing right now, switched the machine
...better said, searching via Google for all apps

I registered for free. Downloaded the best Zombie ever ...for free?!? Felt like a pirate. Seams to be a great store / Service.

edit: Why is MakeHuman 180mb and Blender 60mb ? ^^
edit2: Brekel Kinect Software:
http://brekel.com/kinect-3d-scanner/download/

Ok ... lets say ive never used Blender. Now i have a MakeHuman.rar ... whats now ? ^^

edit: Forget about...its a stand alone app

Didnt u say it is a plugin? Now i have a great tool to create Bodys...but didnt find that re-target Thing yet.

Ok downloaded the MakeWalk stuff. Executed the copy2blender.bat. But cant find it in blender?

Yes, it's bundled with a plugin. The installation of Makewalk is included in the help.
http://www.makehuman.org/doc/node/mhblendertools_download_and_installation.html

Concerning Blender... it's creepy when using the firt time. I suggest taking the time and doing both gingerbread man tutorials (1 day). It will give you a basic understanding how the Blender Gui works, and the second part is about bones and animation.
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:DE/2.4/Manual/Your_First_Animation/1.A_static_Gingerbread_Man
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:DE...Gingerbread_Man
That's all you need for loading and retargeting animations. You can do unwrapping and texturing somewhere else.

Wow...yes creepy...finally thanks to that Installation doku i got it working for now. Next step ill do if i have a BVH created.

edit: Complicated like hell. Now iam thinking of investing in Pro Body or ipiSoft...

edit2: Every "test-dump" file opened with at least one error. Ok first test, anyway.

Not really. You will only need to retarget, and maybe fix the animation. Do the gingerbread man tutorials, and you'll have it easy on animation editing soon.

The interface is very logical, but it's not the Windows logic we're used to.

Ok for now i have no correct test data. But if i try to open a BVH file (created with MakeHuman) in Blender in the MakeWalk - Toolbox, i only get error Messages. Ill try again if i have "good" files. For now iam far away from the screens in the tutorial

Worked all well for me. For testing try animstreet or the CMU labs bvh files.
Didn't know Makehuman can crate BVH files
edit: ah, only the rig, not animation. Ok.

Btw did u manage to extract a model from MakeHuman with mesh and rigged bones ?

just use mhx export. When having installed Blendertools you can jsut import this format and it will load perfectly.

Ok first BVH added to a MHX export.

Cant wait to see how it works with one of my biped zombie models. Hope will work.

btw...
Is there any option like "Keep Model / Animation in place" ?

I couldn't find one - so I added a correction bone between the feet.
Then I added keyframes for this bone to make the model walk in place. It seems to be a rather common practice.
You can also try to modify existing keyframes of the root bone, but this can be annoying when there are many keyframes available, as you have to adjust each and every of them. With a correction bone you usually get away with less.
You can correct either in the 3d view, which can be tedious or you might want to try Blender's curve editor which displays all changes to bones and their properites (xyxz pos, rotation,...) as lines.... similar to the Unity animation curve editor.

That's the fine tuning which has to be done for nearly every animation. Especially walk and run, as capturing a walk in place aniamtion will deliver rather unrealistic results.

Maybe constraints can help there, but I haven't looked into that yet.

http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2...._and_Axis_Locks

Sounds not easy for animation noobs like me.
Maybe in Brekel's Kinect theres an option to "Keep mocap data in place" (?).

edit: If ive the first BVH please explain in detail then, iam sure ill have some questions then


edit2: Example BVH animations: http://www.cgspeed.com/

usefull links about MakeHuman MakeWalk:
http://www.makehuman.org/doc/node/makewalk_the_making_of_running_feet.html
http://www.makehuman.org/doc/node/mhblendertools_makewalk_basic_workflow.html
http://www.makehuman.org/doc/node/mhblendertools_download_and_installation.html

http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:DE/2.4/Manual/Your_First_Animation/1.A_static_Gingerbread_Man
http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:DE...Gingerbread_Man

Did some research...

Realtime Streaming into Blender seams to work with this Script:
"Delicode Ni Mate" - free

To keep the animation sequence in place the following tool seams to work:
"BVHacker" - free

Both not tested yet.

Edit: Email from Amazon. Maybe adapter arrives 2.Juli not 6th.

Very useful site: http://tali.appspot.com/bvh/bvhmirror.html

Indeed, thanks again!
For that purpose i can say Fragmotion is very usefull too.

Please some one help...i install the Kinect now my machine starts saying "Unkown USB Controller" ... nonstop.

Alibaba could u help install?


I read on MS site "installs from self" ...shit it does!

Verifier tool does nothing as soon the Kinect is pluged in.


So now iam stuck! Fuck!
I installed the Adapter with Kinect Xbox One Sensor. Nothing happens except of that "USB unknown Loop". So what now ? Who to call ?

I think you need the Kinect SDK

I installed it. Restartet. Depluged all USB devices. Still the same.

I tested the Kinect Device with my XBOX one, it works.

Man this totally sucks. Nothing(!) found via Google.

Verifier says all ok, until i plug the Kinect in. Then it crashes. And as said above the "usb unknown device" - loop

HAIL TO THE KING BABY!
Some stupid mistakes from me ( and shitty written Infos from MS page ). Grabed the 1.8SDK not the 2.0...damn!
Ok heres a working Installation guide:

Kinect Xbox One with MS-adapter:
() Download latest SDK from MS ( 2.0 not 1.8! )
() Deplug ALL USB ( yes all! )
() Plug in the Kinectdevice via adapter
() Install SDK ( with drivers in it(!!!) )
() Restart System
() Plug all your USB stuff in again

Kinect V2 will only work with USB 3.0!

Now Verifier tool gives all green light now! After work ill start with first tests / usage with Brekel Kinect Free.

You wont believe...

Now Brekel crashes direct on start up...

THIS JUST CANT BE TRUE NOW!!! Killed one prob, facing the next. But now i Need to go to that f* s* work first till 21h ...damn!

Any one had same probs using Brekel ? ...with using i mean starting brekel.

edit:
Ok heres the trick: Use "Windows 7 compatible mode" when starting from Windows 8. Then it works

edit2:
Now Software is open but...
Error with NI Drivers, cant create "depth blabla"...maaaaaaan aaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggghhhhhhhhhhh
edit3:
Häh? Now Verifier says, not supported USB Controller. funny. ok newstart 1000 now.

You also should install openNI because brekel uses that.

did you check which Kinect version Brekel supports?
There is Kinect and Kinect V2, not sure if free Brekel supports both.

Took half day Holiday...

Brekel works with v1 and v2 i checked.
Installed OpenNI and SDK 2.0.

When i plug out the Keyboard, restarting the machine, all works. Except of Brekel. Tells me "no usb port" found (while verifier says: all fine).


edit2: Maybe the frontside usb device is causing this strange behaviour? But backside's wont work, ive tested ...then the "unknown usb Loop" appears again btw.

Any tips are welcome now!


edit: And yes...i always wear a Darth Vader helmet
edit3: Pretty sure verifier talking shit and USB 3.0 device not supported. hell knows...works like s* !

Ok first animation recorded.
But with test Version of iPi Software. Brekel wont work for me, hell knows why.

@Alibaba
Is there no "direct motion to skeleton tracking"?
I need to record a vid, then "tracking" this to model ( takes minutes ).

Is there no simple Screen, showing a Skeleton moving to my motions in realtime?

edit: I want to use Brekel...

I´ll upload a video showing my workflow. Maybe it´ll help you. But keep in mind I´m using iPi.
EDIT: Let me say right away, forget brekel. It´s completely useless.

Yes would be nice. I read the same some hours ago. Pros were talking about Animation stuff, all said forget Brekel. iPi seams to be the choice what i read everywhere. iPi soft + MotionBuilder = MoCap std.

For me i can say, it works nice with only one Kinectdevice installed.
iPi works nice and logic.

Currently iam working on that Problem that mocap BVH riggs Switch 180° and grow when importing to game model.
Ill try to edit the BVH by hand (maybe ill write a tool) and ill test BVHacker. I read setting bone - angles in MOTION section of BVH all to zero in first frame solves the Problem and the BVH fits the game skelleton perfect.

edit:
Found the problem with target character...i guess

Thanks for any tips

Finally...working target character:
First animation on a ingame zombie model!

Now i can start smoothing the workflow ... cause i know one

Till then!
Greets

edit:
@Alibaba
But a Video from you wont hurt anyway...if uve the time

edit2:
Ill post the workflow i used...but not now...its simply to much to write for now

Did i saw that right iPi Soft want me to pay for every year 345$ ? A joke right...

edit:
http://ipisoft.com/store/

This is no solution. But i have to say, it works like a charm. fantastic, ill post some Infos and Screens soon.

Edit2:
Wow...the results are really great. More than i expected! Great! After a bit training i just recorded about 20 anims and a few minutes ago a first walk anm. Unbelieveable.

Sadly my trial version of mocap 3 is expired, it´ll take some more time since I am not on my regular PC.

Finally the MoCap report...and because iam a nice dude i share the workflow!

Wishlist / stuff to startup
() Windows 8 or 8.1 ...point!
() Kinect SDK 2.0 not 1.8 ( didnt work 4me ) from MS page
NOTE: Drivers are in this SDK
() 64bit of course
() 8GB
() Intel i5 or higher
() DirectX 11 graphics card
() big n fast(!) HD
() USB 3.0 ( carefull: not every device is working, google be4! )
direct connections!
() MS Kinect Adapter ( +- 50Euro )
() Kinect XBOX one or Windows V2 ( did not test Kinect360 ...maybe i will )
() 2nd Kinect for "360° mocap's" ( each +- 140Euro )
() iPi MoCap Studio ( free trial will work 30 days )
() iPi Recorder
() fantasy in your brain

Very usefull
() Fragmotion ( forget Milkshape in this case btw )
() BVHacker ( must have for basic n quick edits of BVH )
() (some) Knowledge about motion blending
( how to move correct 4ex walk anm: last frame same as first frame )
() Autodesk FBX Converter
( free, thank u Malice that u reminded me btw )
() Any Game Engine like 3dgs

Workflow
() Capture your movement ( iPi Recorder [depth 3d infos etc] )
40sec movement needs +- 15-30 minutes "rendering/tracking" time
() Track your movement ( render video to model )
() Postprocess filter is used to auto "cleanup" mocap data
() Retarget bones with your gamemodel ( nearly automatic done by iPi )
NOTE: I used FBX 2012 ASCII. model display sucks in Editor, but i
dont care cause bones are working
() Export MoCap data to BVH file
() If you want u can now edit the BVH file in BVHacker ( free )
Like "stick model to center ( walk animations )"
() Open a Editor like Fragmotion and apply the BVH
() Export to 3DGS MDL
NOTE: Save way: export to MS3D, open in MS3D, export to MS3D ASCII,
import in MED and save as MDL ( may fix nearly all possible errs )
() Thats it FREAKY !!!

After one day i was able to record about 30(![fact!]) animations. I tested
them ingame. Most of them i guess ill use later. So i did a fully
re-animate of a zombie model with 2200 frames in two days...gameready ( of course not MetricMinds Quality but... ).
Note: I resampled amount of frames down to 3 times with BVHacker, still
they look smooth and flowing. I was able to record with 30fps all the
time, solid. If you thinking about investing into a Kinect MoCap Device,
i can say: Do it!


Note about the videos below: Workflow is realtime! I only stoped and
restarted the vids cause of the rendering time! Everything else is chilled
realtime.


Video1
The motion capture depth video via iPi Recorder and only ONE(!) Kinect
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7-JDhPX_vk

Video2
The tracking aka rendering process ( depth video to 3d model )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvkUuUd9xOs

Video3
The "cleanup" postprocess and import into editor, finally export to 3DGS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qh-a-ELGjYo

If you have any questions ask. Next 27days ill record until my feet start
to blood...i mean all that shit, fu** animations, dance animations ahhhh
cutscene animations ahhhhhhh Alien Invasion Head Explode Animation

Bad thing btw: After 30days u need to pay iPi Soft in intervals
( 4ex 1 year basic : 345$ ... while thinking about, this isnt that
much for that GREAT Software ). I hope some free ( good ) tools will
appear next years. If not, guess iPi gots a new customer...me

edit: When recording its a good tip to ähm...do it naked btw! Dont wear gigantic pants, like i did in this Video

edit2: Note the model only "moves" in animation cause i did workflow for a walking animation. To keep model staying like in the BVH use BVHacker before merging the animation.

PEACE !

Let's get down to the important question: Can you make some sex mocaps now? Slin and I would totally license them if you can provide good quality. I know you have a dirty mind.

Of course i can and i will !
pm me your wishes please...if iam not working iam capturing every Minute.

But for now its a hard task with one sensor. but ill give it a try.
edit: and no Girl ...any Girl out there interested in sex mocap sessions? lol

Greets ^^

lol


Aside from that, I'm impressed with the result! Keep it up dude!

Best regards

Thanks!

Trying some XXX animations right now...this is tricky!
edit: a rope-chair-construction may do the trick lol

first result with the "construction" lol:

Haha oh boy.

I like the videos and the post with your workflow and setup, and I find it really impressive that this stuff actually works with only one depth camera/ Kinect and no other target markers.

Still looking fine...


Adults dont be afraid, no more Screens here

edit: The tricky thing is to move from T-Pose into such positions. Would be a lot easier with 2nd sensor.

edit: Damn...my neck already feels damaged...
edit 07.07.2015: if u guys would know what i just ordered for this topic

Now I'm really looking forward to the next Rayne tech demo.

You know that you need a second computer for a second Kinect, right?

gaaaanz falsch geraten

How do you know more than me!!?

Btw, inspired by this topic I decided to order a kinect too which arrived today
And because I am not fully convinced by ipisoft, I am currently considering to create a simple app generating bvh files with live preview on make human files using the kinect sdk tracking. I am just not sure if it works good enough for hands and feet, but it would have the advantage that I could also include opened and closed hands as well as basic facial expressions into the animations. And getting some first working version could probably be done in two days or so, which also makes it cheaper for me than paying for that other thing....

I hired Morbius.

Anybody ever used FAAST with Kinect V2 ?

..what kind of thing?

Er, no.
Mocap studio still active?