BVH export options in 3.0

Greenlaw · **Posted:** Fri Dec 19, 2014 12:31 am

Hi guys,

Quick question: in 2.0, we had a few options for exporting BVH, including a specific variant for Motion Builder. I noticed that in 3.0, we only have a single BVH option. Just wondering if this was an oversight or if it really matters?

This is probably a non-issue because the existing BVH export seems to work fine for Motion Builder, but I was just curious about the change.

Thanks in advance for any answer.

G.

vmaslov · **Posted:** Fri Dec 19, 2014 2:43 am

These different export options in V2 in effect modify or replace the target rig so that it matches the conventions of a specific application.
In V3, we tried to make this behavior more obvious by exposing these specific rigs as built-in target characters. So, basically exporting for MB BVH in V2 is equivalent to setting MB rig as target character and exporting to BVH in V3.
However, there is one downside in the new workflow: one cannot apply the proportions of a custom character to the built-in rig. We'll address this in the next update to Mocap Studio.

Greenlaw · **Posted:** Fri Dec 19, 2014 9:43 am

Ah, okay! Thanks for the info.

Sorry, I'm being pressed for time and I'm not being as diligent about taking notes lately, so some of my own info may be inaccurate. Hopefully, things will slow down for me after the holidays and I can take the time to test and use 3.0 without distractions.

I think I'll make some tutorial videos soon. We have so many more options in 3.0 now, and depending on the motion, configuration and environment, (2 vs 3 Kinect sensors, day vs night lighting, board vs light calibration, etc.,) I'm finding there are advantages and disadvantages with each that I'm sure other users will want to know about.

So far, it's working very well though--I like the many workflow/UI improvements. Looking forward to the upcoming features like the fully configurable actor. :)

G.

Greenlaw · **Posted:** Sun Jan 11, 2015 3:52 pm

Hi,

I have a question about the Export Animation command for Takes (right-click on Take). Is this command supposed to adopt the settings applied in the Export panel? I'm asking because at first the command didn't appear to be recognizing those settings but now it appears to be doing so just fine. I just want to be sure this is how it's supposed to work so I know what to expect.

The reason I'm asking is because in the last few sessions, I've been running into some inconsistent/unintended behavior, which has been confusing my workflow. Please allow me to explain:

I started by exporting a .bvh of a Take using the right-click Export Animation command. In version 2, I commonly choose the Motion Builder bvh option when exporting a Take.

Attachment:

FewExportOptions.jpg [ 159.21 KiB | Viewed 7638 times ]

Version 3's right-click command does not have this option, so I am assuming the option is drawn from the user's selections made under the Export panel. Is this correct?

Anyway, when I originally exported the Take using default settings for bvh, the resulting file was not Motion Builder compatible. So then I exported the file using the Export Animation command in the Export panel. This version of the export was MB compatible but the frame range was the entire scene instead of just the ROI (i.e., the current Take).

Next, I tried the right-click command on the Take again, thinking the settings must be taken from the Export panel. The resulting file was the correct frame range of the Take but the file was still not Motion Builder compatible. This made me think maybe the command wasn't supposed to draw from the Export panel settings but that didn't sound correct to me.

I wasn't sure if the program was not working correctly or if I was misunderstanding how the Export Take command was meant to be used in version 3.

This was getting confusing so I decided to quit iPi Mocap Studio 3 and try again.

After restarting iPi MS3 and reopening the scene, I made sure the export options were set for Motion Builder bvh, and tried the right-click command on the Take again. This time, the exported file did characterize properly in Motion Builder!

Hmm. So, now I'm assuming the right-click command does draw it's settigns from the Export panel settings, and it's working correctly now. In my previous test, the MB settings were apparently ignored but I'm not sure why.

Next I tried the Export Animation command from the Export panel and this time the correct ROI was exported and it was MB compatible. (But minus the 'Take' designation in the file name of course--I think that part is normal because Export Animation is not specifically exporting a 'Take' like the right-click version of the command.)

I'm guessing this is how it's supposed to work and that the weird behavior I was seeing earlier was a glitch. Unfortunately, I don't think this is the first time I ran into this problem, so maybe there's a bug here?

Sorry, I don't have solid steps for consistently repeating this behavior yet but I'll post more info as I work through this. Hopefully, this isn't going to be pesky random bugs that won't reproduce when I want it to. :)

In the meantime, if you have any ideas or suggestions for me to try, please let me know.

G.

Greenlaw · **Posted:** Tue Jan 13, 2015 1:45 pm

I think everything is okay here now. Not sure why I was getting those odd results earlier but in the last day I output several motions and the settings seem to work fine.

If it acts up again, I'll be sure to post, but for now I think all is good here.

I do have a request though: Every time I open a scene, I have to manually reset the Export options to my preferred Motion Builder settings. Would it be possible to make the chosen settings persist and become default until the user decides to change them? I'm wondering now if this was the cause of my problem earlier--I probably assumed the settings persisted but they apparently get reset when a scene is closed.

Thanks for listening. :)

G.

BVH export options in 3.0

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