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Unusual bodies
https://forum.ipisoft.com/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=8771
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Author:  klaw12 [ Fri Aug 30, 2013 9:51 am ]
Post subject:  Unusual bodies

Before committing to buying a standard license, I wanted to be real clear on a couple of things.

Can we use IPI Mocap (or any other mocap software for that matter) to record animations for ''unusual'' bodies? For example, instead of having 5 fingers on each hand, having a pirate hook, or a wooden leg (no knee/s). Almost none of my characters have 5 fingers and a few have stiff limbs (they don't bend).

Should I do all animations manually or get a Kinect and IPI Mocap? I really want to avoid animating manually, although I'm used to modifying mocap animations.

Thanks in advance!

Author:  kungfukoi [ Tue Sep 03, 2013 11:33 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Unusual bodies

I'm new to the forum, but I thought I could help.

The short answer is yes. You can retarget motion capture data, ( in this case the iPi motion ) to any character using whatever software you have.
iPi, simple does the motion acquisition, and not the re-targeting itself. So once you have the capture data, output it to whatever software you choose. ( Motionbuilder, XSI, Maya..etc ) and re-target it to your 'unusual body' as you say. It's a pretty standard technique.

I'd recommend reading up on the technique... it's standard, but not trivial.

Another consideration is, to be sure your capture actor, 'acts' like they have a peg leg.. or you'll have to deal with that during re-targeting.. or post-cleanup.

Cheers!

kungfukoi
www.kungfukoi.com

Author:  vmaslov [ Tue Sep 03, 2013 11:42 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Unusual bodies

kungfukoi wrote:
iPi, simple does the motion acquisition, and not the re-targeting itself

iPi Mocap Studio has built-in retargeting tools. However, they may be insufficient in certain situations.
http://wiki.ipisoft.com/Animation_export_and_motion_transfer#Motion_Transfer_and_Custom_Rigs

Author:  kungfukoi [ Wed Sep 04, 2013 6:41 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Unusual bodies

Ah, look at that! See, I hadn't seen that yet! Awesome, thanks vmaslov!

I stand corrected.

:-)

Author:  klaw12 [ Wed Sep 04, 2013 9:03 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Unusual bodies

Thanks! That helped a lot.

Hopefully you won't mind a follow-up question: Should I go out of my way and create custom rigs? The only reason I did them in the first place was so I could have an easier time rigging and animating, but now that I've decided to use this software, should I just go with regular human bodies, and (correct me here if I'm wrong) let iPi Mocap take care of the rigging? It seems that by making custom rigs I ended up having to work harder, and I'm not that good at rigging, so if anything, I could just go with 3ds Max's biped. I love that thing.

What do you think?

Author:  vmaslov [ Wed Sep 04, 2013 9:17 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Unusual bodies

iPi Mocap Studio won't do the rigging for you. What it can do is to retarget an animation from the actor's model to an existing rigged character. Built-in retargeting is optimized for transferring to bipedal (usually human-like) characters.

Author:  kungfukoi [ Wed Sep 04, 2013 10:41 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Unusual bodies

Yeah klaw12.

You really should read up on re-targeting. You can keep the rigs you have... and re-target the default iPi rig to them.
So the motion of the iPi rig drives your rig. They offer several examples of it in the wiki.

Author:  klaw12 [ Wed Sep 04, 2013 4:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Unusual bodies

I misread one line in that wiki, but now everything makes sense.

Now, I don't wanna create another thread just for this, but a motion controller on the head is used to improve its tracking and on the hands to allow the software to track them when it rotates, right?

So in a fight scene, for example, you would need a few controllers to track both the hands (when punching) and the head (optional. When dodging).

Thanks!

Author:  kungfukoi [ Wed Sep 04, 2013 7:45 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Unusual bodies

The latest version of iPi does head tracking successfully.
And for arms and fists.. you're good right out-of-the-box.
It's when you want wrist rotation that you'll want to find a supplemental solution as you suggested. ( or you can just rotate the wrists by hand in your 3D Program )

Author:  argus1000 [ Wed Feb 26, 2014 8:16 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Unusual bodies

Quote:
The latest version of iPi does head tracking successfully.

I'm sorry to disagree with this. I have a dual Kinect Box 360 sensor setup. I've tried many angles, but I have succeeded only in tracking up-and-down head motions; Ipisoft doesn't track side-to-side head motions, at least with the kind of sensors I have.

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