iPi and iClone V6

Snapz · **Posted:** Wed Jul 29, 2015 10:12 am

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Link for enhancements in iClone V6: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CM7328frqSI

As I stated in another post, the BVH export of mocap from iPi to iClone works very well, as I am sure the FBX would also, but any export should look pretty clean first as far as jittering or bad frames to keep down the clean up in iClone (I couldn't find an animation "smoothing" option inside iClone, but if the export is fairly smooth, it can be edited inside iClone in many ways).

I am not sure about the finger transfer from the iPi gestures, I imported with new characterization with finger bones added and gestures still didn't transfer, could have been me of course also, not being familiar with it.

They got me on limiting the exports out, so I can't continue testing that, but really the expanded better exporting feature hasn't been released yet, due out in V 6.2 3Q 2015, which is almost here, but won't know until it's actually available for use.

So, right now they just teased me, haha, Email said early access special only available until July 31st, but until it leaves the website, I would think it's still available, and you get all the upcoming V6.2 updates free, I am going to contact them directly to be sure, since this trial was so limited to what I wanted to test.

The export out to other 3D software has been available since V5, but the new version is supposed to make it much easier. ????

You have to purchase the 3DXchange V6 Animation Pipeline, not just the 3DXchange Pro to get these updated export features, but worth it I would think, since you can export any imbedded content, 3DX Pro limits the imbedded exporting ability, as I understand it

In my cases, I would still need to smooth the iPi exports first to my liking in another editor, then export to iClone, do the character motion refinement with multiple clips and export back out as one clip, if thats even possible, I couldn't get that far in this trial, wasted several exports on worthless attempts that didn't work, just to get the BVH animation back out, (my fault probably), but I don't think one blended file can be exported out, it breaks them back up into individual files for export, they are listed as individual files in 3DX, but would be the edited versions, I just didn't have time to fully find out.

You would still need 3ds Max, Motion Builder or Maya, in my opinion, but you really wouldn't have to upgrade, 2010 or up versions should work fine for now, most of the editing features in iClone are very substantial for editing Mocap better for a scene or characters and the masking feature is very nice, making one mocap simply change to another easily and many other features. (Some were in V5.5).

Any mocap or motion can be completely changed, which is very nice with built in smooth transitions, a pretty powerful system, for just the limited time so far I have explored it.

If you have your pipeline more conducive to work with iClone, the better it would be of course, and the new PhysX allows cloth and hair properties to be added and controlled on meshes, as well as weight map image options, drag and drop material changes and material/mesh property editing.

Creating your own personal content would still have to be done in an external 3D editor and imported, but the features in iClone now for refinement and scene manipulation look great, much easier done than in more expensive software, or even V5 as I see in the tutorials on YouTube..

Of course for earlier version users, upgrading would be cheaper and probably work very well for animated shorts productions with higher end results much easier than Maya, though I don't believe it would work for full length movies, you would need additional software for that.

For the price right now, I may have to grab it just to have it, I am sure I can manipulate it work for what I want and hell, it just has some really cool features.

I am more interested now in the anmimation end than the material content creation, but their marketplace has 1000's of high quality props cheaper than anyone could make them in production time, and can be exported and changed to better suit your needs anyway.

I really wanted to see if I could get the animation export flow better, but I guess I am stuck to buy it to find out fully and also try their Kinect Mocap capture plugin for basic animations, since being only a one camera system.

Hope this helps anyone interested in the V6 release of iClone. Check it out to see the new features on youtube!

Here is a basic unedited dance, right from iPi BVH export, imported to a basic scene using the supplied Hiedi character:

Link: http://youtu.be/UoPN868dqwg ... View in HD ... Sorry for the audio quality, its just a test video, was easily dropped right from mp3 file right into the scene timeline

though.

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Snapz · **Posted:** Wed Jul 29, 2015 1:17 pm

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Well, screw it, I went ahead and purchased the early access deal, really couldn't beat it with the 6.2 updates when released.

iClone 6.11 Pro
3DXchange 6.11 Animation Pipeline
Mocap Plugin Included (not sure about Kinects V2 yet), thought it showed a V2 beta, guess not.
Destructible Physics Prop V5 (free)
Bonus: Character Designer's Resource Pack V5 (free)
Other free stuff, but seems it is from V5 and forward compatable, so if upgrading, you may have this stuff.

I will continue to work with it and post relative aspects that work with iPi Studio.

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Greenlaw · **Posted:** Wed Jul 29, 2015 4:12 pm

Cool! Thanks for the update on your progress.

I need to save my money for a new computer (not to mention, get our current production finished first,) but what you've described is tempting. Might have to try it out that on our next film. :)

G.

Snapz · **Posted:** Wed Jul 29, 2015 4:41 pm

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Well, as expected by me, the Kinect V1 capture sucks, completely worthless for full body, maybe a one arm capture would work, not even worried about it, but those that had it in V5 already knew this.

Just happpened to come with the package, but not what I am going to use for mocap anyway.

I just bought it really for something to test a different avenue, didn't really need it, but didn't cost much at this point, and I will find a use for it in my animation process.

For CG production, it has many nice features now, the more I explore it, the more I will be able to do with it and show results with my iPi mocap imported and edited.

I will have fun with it and create some cool scenes to display my animations since it can create some really realistic looking scenes, with the new G6 characters and character creator coming in 6.2 patch, they should perform well, I will find out soon enough.

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Greenlaw · **Posted:** Thu Jul 30, 2015 9:19 am

Capture with a single original Kinect is probably about the equivalent of using two 2-D cameras, with the added benefit of not requiring special lighting. As such, yes, it's pretty limited. Better than using a single 2-D camera anyway. :p

It becomes significantly better with two Kinect devices--generally, the equivalent of 4 capture devices but with the added benefit of normal room lighting, regular fit clothing, and quick setup and take down. With three devices, it's at least as accurate as six 2-D camera. (I usually use 2 - 3 original Kinect for Windows devices, depending on complexity of the action I need to record.)

Of course, all of this assumes you're using iPi Mocap Studio to begin with. The realtime systems based on the MS Kinect SDK (like the one in iClone) may be fun for their novelty but they are generally not accurate and they tend to lose track of what they're following. By contrast, (as you already know,) that's where iPi Mocap really shines. Regardless of the which of the two primary device systems you choose to use with iPi Mocap Studio, its two step process allows the computer to use its full resources to focus on quality over speed.

Considering how long and how much work it takes us to create one of our shorts, I'll choose quality anytime. :)

G.

Snapz · **Posted:** Thu Jul 30, 2015 10:51 am

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I was referring to the iClone plugin, I have used 2 Kinects V1 in iPi with pretty good results yes, But I find the PS Eyes have better quality tracking for my needs and since they are permanently fixed, no sense using, or switching to the Kinects for me personally, I can record all motions at around 60 fps no fuss.

I don't see much feedback on the Kinects V2 here, but I am sure it has to be a bit better capture-wise anyway, even if fps is still only 30.

I would never have bought the plugin for iClone, it just came with the package, so I ran it to see and UGH, to me not even useful for anyone, but I know the difference that iPi can achieve with a Kinect.

iPi has an iClone skeleton export, but looks a bit different than the one I exported, they also have a file open for Daz3D BVH maybe I can export out of iClone as, which I think is the same as iClone skeleton, so I am going to test some of those options, since iClone has a preset characterization for Daz3D and see if the fingers transfer that way, or by manually adding them in.

Yes, I am generally happy now with the results I get out of iPi, I will sacrifice the tracking time and hope they can get it faster, or I update my machine later.

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Greenlaw · **Posted:** Thu Jul 30, 2015 11:39 am

I think the reason you haven't seen a lot of feedback for Kinect v2 is because it requires more resources to implement compared to the original Kinect. For example, you'll need to dedicate a computer for each Kinect v2 in your system--i.e., you'll need four computers to capture with the current maximum of four Kinect v2 devices. Additionally, all the systems need to be running Windows 8 or higher, and you'll need to be sure you have a USB 3 controller for each system.

In my case, I will also need to replace the multiple Kinect for Windows v1 devices I already own, and maybe (?) replace my cables for USB 3. It all starts to add up quickly. Luckily, we'll all be able to upgrade to Windows 10 for free during the upcoming year if we choose to do so.

All that said, I've been planning and saving up for the switch to Kinect v2. Maybe by the end on the year or so.

I think in time you'll see more users talking about Kinect v2 use because the original Kinect devices have become rare and insanely expensive. The Kinect v2 devices are actually much cheaper than Kinect v1 right now.

G.

Greenlaw · **Posted:** Thu Jul 30, 2015 12:29 pm

Yeah, we had the Kinect plugin for iClone 5 too, as it was included with the suite we purchased. Never got around to actually using iClone 5 or the plugin but, since we were already using the iPi system back then, we weren't particularly interested in the iClone Kinect plugin.

I'm sure if that's all an artist had to work with, he could probably make it work for him though. When we created 'Happy Box' a few years ago, we started with the then experimental single Kinect support in iPi Desktop Motion Capture. By the time we were finished with the film, we had switched over to the then experimental dual Kinect support, but we left some of the single Kinect captured scenes in the film. At the time, we really didn't see any point in recapturing with dual because it was all a little 'wiggly' back then--but we were still very happy with the results. :p

Kinect support in iPi Mocap Studio is much better now of course. :)

G.

Snapz · **Posted:** Thu Jul 30, 2015 1:01 pm

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You know, I havent even tried the Kinect V1 in iPi V3, ~shrugs~ Just put them up and forgot really, I have 2 I will have to test again just for S&G's.

Is iPi Win 10 capatable now?

I didn't get the windows update they say you need to get it free, I will have to look into that soon, really dumb its not directly available to reserve it now on the webpage.

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Greenlaw · **Posted:** Thu Jul 30, 2015 1:16 pm

You don't have to reserve the free upgrade, you can download a setup tool to create your own Windows 10 standalone installer on a USB stick or DVD. The setup tool is here:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/softwar ... /windows10

You need to be ready to insert your existing Windows license key of course.(Note: the 'reserved' install doesn't need the key since it downloads and installs through your existing Windows.) See the website for any other requirements.

BTW, you can still reserve it if you would rather do that. I downloaded because we have multiple machines to update (eventually I mean.) If you haven't reserved because you don't have Windows update active or you don't see the Reserve Windows 10 icon on your Task Bar, you may need to enable it. There are some tools available online which resets the appropriate registry entries so that the Reserve Windows 10 icon is enabled.

One user told me that his 'online' install failed him but he was able to restore to Windows 8 because he made a Windows 8 back up disk. That's probably a good idea before doing the install using either method.

As for compatibility with iPi Mocap Studio, I don't know yet. I also don't know if the upgrade is backwards compatible with the original Kinect, seeing that MS has technically dropped support for it.

Hopefully, somebody from iPi Soft can confirm either way?

iPi and iClone V6

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