Hi everybody ! The best Way for export in softimage XSI ?
FBX format ?
Work perfectly ?
Thx !!!!!



www.blackhouseFX.com

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Hi,

I am a new user of iPi DMC using 2 kinects and Softimage. I've had mixed results getting import/export to work, but it's mostly working and I suspect most of my problems are simply the result of me being new to the system and not yet working around the quirks. Please note I am more of a programmer than an animator (here's my background http://www.cosky.com/p/portfolio.html), and I may not have the best advice to go by but here are my experiences in case it helps someone.

Export to BVH seems to be the best way to go with Softimage. I was also able to export Collada and FBX and load the data into Softimage, but these methods were not as convenient as using MOTOR to import using MocapToRig because they seem to import point clouds or bone data that need to be manually hooked up to the bones. MOTOR takes care of some of the grunt work.

The MocapToRig feature of Softimage provides functionality similar to what the iPi Motion Transfer Profile appears to do and simplifies the process of binding mocap data to a rig. This is a good thing, because I had difficulty getting iPi Studio to import target characters correctly and I have not yet been able to get the Motion Transfer Profile to work with any data I have exported from Softimage. Exporting the standard Softimage character "armored man" to FBX or Collada from Softimage and loading into iPi Studio had mixed results. First problem is the mesh is huge, with no apparent way to scale it down within iPi Studio. The export scale within Softimage may be broken I suppose, but it seems like a numeric scale field would be a useful/simple thing for iPi Studio to include somewhere; either way the mesh is huge, probably 100x bigger than the actor model. Even if I ignore the size of the mesh, the bigger issue is the Motion Transfer Profie doesn't discover the bones that should be visible from importing a models from Softimage - only 3 bones are visible in the dropdown when importing these models.

Here's a screenshot that shows both issues:


The bottom line is I could never get the Import Target Character to do anything useful for me as a Softimage user. I can't seem to get any kind of model to export from Softimage and into iPi Studio for use as a target character. It's not a show stopper since Softimage is able to import the BVH data and remap the data using MOTOR, but it does mean I cannot preview the motion in iPi Studio applied to a target character. It would be really nice if the iPi Devs could document a workflow that demonstrates how to export a target character from Softimage for use with iPi Studio. I have to assume I am just exporting the target from Softimage incorrectly, but I've tried every supported format and a number of permutations of settings for each type with no success.

It would be really great if we could get support for the Softimage .xsi format that is automatically configured to work with a standard Softimage rig, that would help a lot with streamlining the work with iPi Studio.

Right now, to get a mocap from iPi to a final animated form in Softimage involves these steps for me:

• In iPi Studio, capture the performance and export as BVH
• In Softimage, go to MOTOR->Mocap To Rig
• Find, or create, a tag template which is what maps the BVH to the rig being animated.
  
• Plot the animation (step 5 in the dialog above).
• Select the branch containing all bones so you see all the keyframes in the timeline.
  
• Go to store->animated parameters and pick the name to save it as, etc, and be sure to remove original animation from the timeline.
  
• Animation action is now saved as a source. Drag & drop that action to the mixer timeline to use.
  

The good thing is, that works. It's a little cumbersome though, and it would be great if this could be changed to this:

• In iPi Studio, capture the performance and export as an .xsi format file.
• In Softimage, import the action.
  
  
• Use the action on the standard rig, or if using a non standard rig, use MOTOR's RigToRig feature to map it over

If we Softimage users were lucky enough to get support for the .xsi format, it would be a good time saver.

The dotXSI format uses the Crosswalk SDK, and more information can be found here http://softimage.wiki.softimage.com/index.php/Category:Crosswalk and http://softimage.wiki.softimage.com/sdkdocs/xwalk/html/ftk_AbouttheSoftimagedotXSIFileFormat.htm

Eric,

Could you maybe share your tag template?

I have a hard time trying to get this to work.
Softimage constantly crashes when applying, and somehow the standard templates don't match..

First time I'm doing this..

You won't need someone else template to do it. The way to do it in Motor is really simple.

First Open Motor and click Mocap to Rig

There you will see 5 step
In step 1 make sure biovision is selected

In step 2 specify the place where you saved your BVH
Now this is where it start getting trickier.

In step 3 if you did not do it before first do create. The BVH will then appear and it should be huge. Target the BVH and save is
tag template somewhere. Now the template for the BVH should write in your step 3.

Before doing step 4 you need to do this. Make sure you keep your motor window open.

select the model of the character you want to target. And in the left menu in motor chose Tag Rig Select the bone you want to target. In Motor you only have 2 chest bone you can select. So pass the middle one, the chest one should be the one closer to the head.

Once it is done save it somewhere and do apply.

Then go back to step 4 in the menu mocap to rig you had previously opened. Pick the model you did tag rig and do apply in step 5.

Remember to plot your animation.



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Once you did what I wrote before at least once here how it work for the other time. Because it gonna get much faster from now on.

In softimage you do in motor Mocap to rig

In step one you make sure Biovision is selected

Step 2 select the BVH you exported from Ipisoft

step 3 load the BVH template you based on the Ipisoft rig you created previously.

step 4 select the model you created and want to apply the animation. Go in tag rig again but this time load the template you created and do apply. Select the model in step 4 of Mocap to rig.

Step 5 do a apply and plot.

and that's it for motor.

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For exporting a model from softimage to Ipisoft you need to follow the same hierarchy that a BVH should use.

Meaning your skeleton should go as follow.

You have a Null which is going to be considered like your model.

Under it should be is COG

followed by the first controller for his legs and spine

then you go up toward the spine 3 or 2 the one you put for the chest and you should get the shoulder and the rest of the spine.

Basicaly this is what it should be like.

Null
- COG
--LLeg1
---LLeg2
----LFeet
-----Ltoe
--RLeg1
---RLeg2
----RFeet
-----RToe
--Spine1
---Spine2
----Spine3
-----Lshoulder
------Larm1
-------Larm2
--------Lhand
---------and L fingers
-----Rshoulder
------Rarm1
-------Rarm2
--------Rhand
---------and R fingers
-----Neck
------Head
-all the mesh