Interested to see how well this turned out... keep us updated! :D

The second we got back, I tried processing the shoot. It failed:(. One thing I forgot was how terrible terrible sunlight coming though windows is. Between trouble trying to calibrate starting at 10 cameras but having to pull back to 7. The result is not good. Too many cameras, too much sun coming in, distributed Recording didn't go as I hoped. It worked for distributed Recording using my iPhone as a hotspot but I think it's the the sun really killed me.

What I learned:
Get a space with light and if it is indoors, don't let sunlight in.
I probably could have gotten away with 6 cameras for 2 actors, but I tried too hard to have 10 cameras and some weren't synching right.
I completely forgot to calibrate the motion controllers and that was becaus I was busy scrambling around for a good calibration file.

I am going to try this again in the not too distant future. The space is great and I learned a lot. I didn't have more than 1 hour 30 minutes of time to set up. I shot 3 dances in that time but the avatars in ipistudio pretzel twisted because something was just wrong.

I'm going to try with less when it's dark out next time.
Sorry everyone. I blew it this afternoon.
A worthwhile experiment but next time I know I'm going to nail it

I feel bad for everyone who tuned into this forum post to not see anything. Please be patient. I will try this again soon only much better. Won't waste time mentioning what I plan to do. I'll just share a video here in this forum post.

This definitely isn't my first time shooting. It's just every time I set up to shoot the location changes therefore the conditions change.

No more excuses. Check this forum post again soon. Like maybe a month from now because it costs $ to rent the place and just used my month money for yesterday:(

Ugh, very sorry to hear that and I completely understand your situation. Going to a location where you can't completely control the environment is always a risk.

I've had a few failed shoots like that too. The first time was the cafe area at the studio where I worked at the time. I was shooting at night so sunlight wasn't a problem, but the floor was too shiny and there were too many glass and stainless steel surfaces around to cause trouble. Dimming the lights and focusing softboxes only in the capture space didn't help because the pen light still created reflections around the environment, and I couldn't possibly cover up everything there. I tried for three nights and didn't get much. Fortunately, it was just a test I was doing by myself so I didn't waste anybody else's time. (This was a long time ago, btw, before PS3 Eye cameras were part of Mocap Studio.)

That said, I did learn a lot from the experience and if I were to do try again in a similar space, I'd probably use a styrofoam ball instead of a bright self-illuminated light for calibration.

Anyway, since that shoot, I've preferred to keep my mocap sessions in our home or garage late in the evening. Since I use the same setup every time, it's been much more predictable and successful. Not a lot of space though.

_________________
Greenlaw
Artist/Partner - Little Green Dog | My Demo Reels (2013,) (2015,) (2017,) and (2019)

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Lucky for me, the dancers I shot in the place I shot them is literally a 90 second walk from the back steps of my home:)

I know I'm going to try this again. It almost worked Saturday. I'm still confident it's going to work next time under cover of darkness which is okay because the dance floor has tons of overhead lights everywhere.

Need to also check every wire, every PS3 cam, test distribute record, and overall have a checklist on a piece of paper in my back pocket so I know what I can check off as I do it.

PS3 can set up is a bitch but if anyone has ever done it, when it works, it makes the Kinect look like crap:). I still count on Kinect for stuff in a jiffy. Never tried recording 2 actors that way yet. I have doubts for dancers for a number of reasons. The most concern is fps which PS3 cams more than double the frame rate for. What a pain to set up though. But, I couldn't ask for a better space in a better place than the hometown I live in literally seconds away walking. Trust me, I'll do this again soon only smarter about everything:).