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Post by hamzah on Aug 10, 2017 8:17:16 GMT
Hi guys, I was wondering if I were to set up a mocap at home, what is the best possible mocap solution available and if i were to make animations of Kubold's quality what are the skills I need to learn before buying a mocap suit.
Thanks Best Hamzah
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Post by uberwiggett on Aug 10, 2017 9:15:51 GMT
ok so I had a look at MOCAP a little while back, I was using kinect 360 sensors. These are version 1 kinects and are useful for tracking a skeleton that can be translated into animation data and placed into a 3d animation system to produce the anim files compatible with unity. I bought 2 of them second hand for $20AUD each and relevant adapters, the 3d programs were free versions. Suffice to say, the quality of the track wasn't the greatest, there were hurdles to overcome to get a relatively clean sample animation. From there, you need to understand regular animation methods using your software to tweak animations. But if you're all over that it should be relatively easy to record your base animation and then modify it to suit and export to a useable humanoid skeleton.
My suggestions would be, for a home system, to purchase a kinect v2 (for xbox one) and have at minimum windows 8.1 (required to use kinect v2 sdk). Kinect v2 allows you to record the skeleton as well as fingers. Ensure you have a well lit and clear capture space in a room. My space had only about 4ft by 4ft of clear space but my desk etc got in between. You are best to use a full room (preferably 3m by 3m of empty space, this will allow you to set up your devices correctly to capture full body animation. Be aware that using more than one mocap device requires a second computer. programs are available to allow you to record from two networked terminals simultaneously. One device should be sufficient, and I believe the free or trial version of maya 2017 allows you to live record animations using one device, directly translated onto a humanoid skeleton. This is probably the best option, there are youtube tutorials covering setup and recording, and more teaching you how to animate in maya.
Also pre-learn the subject on youtube, pitfalls using one device are shadowing, which is when you have only one device, if you move your hand infront of your body, the camera can't see/track your body. There are ways around this and things like IK to handle when this happens, but for smaller parts like fingers etc you can get little glitches, and it's just something that can be worked around with some forethought.
I'd avoid using a mocap suit in a home setting. The entry price point is above the return value you'd have from it, unless you were going to mass produce and maintain an asset like animset pro, but you'd be competing with them and if your product isn't as great a quality then you're in the bargain bin and again your returns become minimal. I'd only advise going a mocap suit if you were a small company with office space and people trained in 3d animation on hand to understand the workflow of mocap, maybe it's something you can aspire to? Anyway that's my two cents.
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Post by sickscore on Aug 10, 2017 9:29:38 GMT
Currently I have the pleasure that I can use the Perception Neuron from a good friend of mine. "Only" the smaller one, but that thing is just incredible. At my "studio", I have a setup with 2 Kinect sensors (Xbox One) infront of an empty white wall ( Click me). Then I have 2 softbox lights infront of it for perfect lighting. This is working REALLY good! Just make sure you provide enough lighting for good results. Another nice feature is my wireless presenter. So I can record/pause without the need of moving at all (programmer) XD
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Post by sickscore on Aug 10, 2017 9:31:51 GMT
The only downside of this setup is, that the foot is sometimes flickering. But this can be easily fixed within your animation software.
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Post by hamzah on Aug 10, 2017 12:43:43 GMT
I'd only advise going a mocap suit if you were a small company with office space and people trained in 3d animation on hand to understand the workflow of mocap, maybe it's something you can aspire to? Anyway that's my two cents. This is really nice advise. Thank u so mch for ur support man.. really appreciate it..
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Post by hamzah on Aug 10, 2017 12:46:33 GMT
Thanks sickscore for telling us about lighting. I'll put extra care in that whenever I will setup my mocap
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Post by xenoblackinc on Aug 10, 2017 13:07:43 GMT
i have this set is nice and very fluid
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Post by uberwiggett on Sept 3, 2017 3:23:05 GMT
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Post by sickscore on Sept 3, 2017 9:41:17 GMT
Yeah, I know that video, but that's nowhere near "Indie Budget" IMO
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