Hey everyone, bit of a problem working with iPi and Blender:

When I've captured my mocap data and exported it as a .bvh for Blender, I import the mocap to belnder and it shows the armature I was working with in iPi Mocap Studio, moving exactly like it did there.

My problem is I can't seem to parent anything to the armature. Also, when I switch between Object and Edit mode, the armature is in two different places. I'm aware that this could be part of the problem as to why I can't parent anything to my mocap data, but I've no idea how to fix this.

I think I read somewhere on the forum that you could only import animations from iPi to Blender to preview the movement, and that you couldn't interact with them. Is this the case? And if so, should I instead be importing a character model into iPi before exporting it for use in Blender?

I know this is a fair bit to ask, but I'm getting cracking on a fairly big project and I already have some brilliant mocap data taken, I need to get this sorted out at LEAST within the next week. So any help anyone could give would be massively appreciated.

I'm using Blender 2.57, and the latest iPi Mocap Studio and iPi Recorder as of mid January just gone.

Thanks for taking time to read, hope I can get at least a response or two to make some progress!

Luke

Hi
Seems no one is eager to help you :(
We are not so experts in Blender to give you straightforward answers, just speculations.
So I'd recommend you to go with these questions to Blender forums. Or try to contact directly with the guys that successfully use our software with Blender. There are some videos found on YouTube and Vimeo by "ipi soft blender" keywords - you can address their authors.

I'm not sure if this problem has already been solved, but I use Blender and have had great success with the motion capture data from ipi soft so far. You are correct that when you are in edit mode the armature origin is smack dab in the center of the X, Y, Z Axis, placing the pelvis in the center of the axis.

You can move the origin around in Blender, but do not really need to. I believe it does this because the ipi software calculates where the floor is and it is offsetting the bones so the feet are directly on the "ground" plane. I always keep the bones as they come in and move my mesh accordingly. There is a bit of a learning curve and I'm sure there are other ways to do it, but I've had great success so far.

It's nice because once the character is rigged properly, any motion created in ipi, I can use as an action for the rigged characters. It's fast and painless once you get it down.

I have spent many many hours on my current workflow, but it was worth it.

Hi do you mind explaining a bit more how you work around this? tx
Simone

Unfortunately, I do not have time to write or record a tutorial at the moment.

I can only give you tips and it will probably take some time to figure everything out if you are new to Blender, but it is worth it once you know how to fix issues that pop up.

Example of using a jump mocap:
0. Save your ipisoft file as "jump". Export .bvh file for blender as jump.bvh
1. Import your jump.bvh file from ipisoft into Blender
2. Save the Blender file with the bone structure now imported as jump.blend.
3. Open your character model in Blender.
4. "Append" the bones from the jump.blend file
5. Edit your character model and scale it to fit the bone structure. (IMPORTANT YOU SCALE THE MODEL NOT THE BONES)
6. Parent the character model to the bone structure with automatic weights.
7. Edit the vertex groups & weight paint area's that did not parent correctly (there will be some clean up every time)

One thing I forgot to mention. Once you complete step #2, you can use that "action" in ANY and ALL character models with the same bone structure setup.

You can move the origin around in Blender, but do not really need to. I believe it does this because the ipi software calculates where the floor is and it is offsetting the bones so the feet are directly on the "ground" plane. I always keep the bones as they come in and move my mesh accordingly. There is a bit of a learning curve and I'm sure there are other ways to do it, but I've had great success so far.

It's nice because once the character is rigged properly, any motion created in ipi, I can use as an action for the rigged characters. It's fast and painless once you get it down.

_________________
hanif