Source: doc-ok.org

MoCap  Innovations…

Here Oliver Kreylos, a researcher at the University of California, Davis, places himself in a virtual boardroom using 3D video capture with 3 Kinects (3D cameras) and an Oculus Rift. You can watch his video here:

If you want to know more from the man himself go to his blog post ‘3D Video Capture with Three Kinects’: http://doc-ok.org/?p=965, which was also written up on BBC Technology.

As Kreylos says this is just the beginning. For more information you can go to his Homepage here.

Mocap for the rest of us

While waiting for Mr Kreylos’ innovation to become available so that we can insert ourselves into our own videos and games, here is some information on what you might need to get started or to keep improving.

iPi Soft

Motion capture for the masses

iPi motion capture tracks 3D body movement for animation.

A number of options are available: Trial of course costs nothing, the Express edition costs $295, Basic $595, Standard $1495.

Watch the short video ‘Motion Capture for the Masses’ below:

IKinema Action 3.0

for Maya Animators..

Source: www.cgchannel.com

Check out this video: http://youtu.be/lcOLMTEDDoU

IKinema Action 3 updates the Maya plugin for streaming and processing mocap.

Among others it provides tools to compensate for penetration of objects such as the floor, face rigging and solving for face body and hands. Most important for some of us, are the step-by-step guide and tutorials. You can select from a Professional, Student or Academic version for Windows, Linux or Mac. Mocap interface: Vicon, OptiTrack or Xsens. All this can cost around $890 for the professional version.

XSENS

Source image: http://www.xsens.com/functions/3d-character-animation/

Here you can find Xsens MVN, Inertial Motion Capture, which is full body camera-less inertial motion capture and MVN Awinda, which is completely wireless motion capture.

Here is a link to the video of using Xsens and Maya in the movie Ted: http://youtu.be/_1OL8MtVOto.

Vicon

The company has been in the mocap industry for 30 years and is present in 70 countries around the world. Their Quantic Dream can capture the movement of up to eight actors. Cara is for facial motion capture. For more info go here, you may need to register .

iClone 5

iClone5 is a real-time 3D animation tool with drag and drop editing and in-house motion capture.

You can download a trial version for 30-days. Their promo states, “You can skip to the fun part of animation by simply acting”.

You will find the iClones 5 mocap tutorial (around 12 minutes) here.

iClone 5 Standard costs $79.95 and the Pro version costs $199.95. This is for Windows platform only.

Watch the Tutorial: http://youtu.be/4ysV-6tnE00  

-Val Cameron/Dreamlight

PS: If You Want To Master The High End Features Of Lightwave, Such As Rigging, Fluids, Collisions, Fur, Flocking, Dynamic Hair And Clothing, Then This Step By Step Guide Will Rock Your Day…

Val Cameron