At the company I work we use a decent sized mocap system (Optitrack Arena, w/24 cameras).
I've been doing some research for new options for mocap since it does not work well with rolls
or any movement that includes laying on the ground (sensors get covered)
I've been looking at iPiSoft and finally gave it a shot.
So far I've only been able to track down 1 Kinect but hope to try 2.

So far Recording is great. Super fast. No problems. But when I track it's ridiculously slow. It takes roughly 6- 10 seconds per frame.
The system we're using normally bangs out a 7000 frame capture in 10-15 seconds.

Right now I've got it installed on a computer running

Windows 7 64bit,
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 2.50 GHz (4 CPUs),
8 GB of ram, and a
GeForece 8400GS card (DirectX10 and Shader Model 4.0).

Have not yet checked up on the video driver status but will update if needed.

Last question, will it work faster if I use 2 Kinects? Im guess more data is either more processing, or makes it easier to figure out the actor position (faster).

Thanks.

Hello.

Definitely, motion capture utilizing markers outperforms any markerless system because it's a lot easier to determine actor's pose by good visible markers. Yes, our motion recognition software is far from realtime now. But it's more convenient for actor (no special suit), is less expensive, and allows tracking nearly any kind of movement. That is why you are considering it right now.
Sure, you need more powerful hardware to employ iPi Studio at a more comfortable speed. The crucial component is video card, which performs main computations. GeForce 8400GS seems outdated, you'll need more modern model. See our comparison chart of video cards: http://wiki.ipisoft.com/Cameras_and_accessories#Video_Card. (Chart was actual on Septemper 2010, now prices has lowered, and more productive models are available at the same prices.) For example, processing of 1 Kinect frame on "ATI Radeon HD 6670 DDR5 (about $100) / Intel Core i5-2380P / 8Gb" system is about 0.7s.

With two Kinects processing time will be approximately two times greater than with one. But using two sensors provides better accuracy and allows for tracking more complex movements, such as full 360 degrees rotations.

Thank you for letting me know. It makes total sense that markers would allow faster recognition of body part movement.
I will definitely check to see how it can perform with up to date system to. Thanks for linking me to the comparison sheet.
I like what you guys are doing and hope development continues well into the future. Not having to get suited up for mocap
is something I've been hoping for.

FYI, be aware that your graphics card is on the far low end of performance for iPi DMC tracking purposes, which relies heavily on GPU processing. Here's iPi Soft's comparison chart from the Wiki (scroll down to Video Cards):

http://wiki.ipisoft.com/Cameras_and_acc ... Video_Card

Your card would fall just below the slowest card on this list, so 10 seconds per frame is not surprising. This was essentially the performance I was getting about three years ago with a similar card, and IMO it's not suitable for production work with iPi DMC.

These days I use a GTX 460, which sits just above the fastest card represented on this list, and my typical iPi Studio tracking speed is 0.67 second per frame--definitely useable for production. This model is almost two years old, so if you can get a more recent GTX cards your performance will be even faster.

Hope this helps.

G.

Edit: Whoops! I see that iPi Soft has already responded with the same info. Nevermind. :p

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Thanks again.

I'm about to run a new test using 2 kinects, an i7-2600k 3.40GHz (8 CPUs), 16GB RAM and a GeForce GTX 560 Ti.
I don't know if it supports directx10. Guess I'll be finding out as soon as I can figure out why only 1 kinect is working.

You don't need to worry: all modern cards support DirectX 10. This specific model supports DirectX 11 as well.
Usually second Kinect does not work properly if you plug them both to connectors belonging to the same physical USB controller. Try to plug one Kinect to front-side connector, another to back-side.

Got distracted by something but I'm back at it. Got both cameras to work. Just had to plug in each one individually without the other connected. After that they can both be plugged in and work fine.

One thing I noticed right away is the resolution looks pretty bad compared to when I used the older computer. I don't know if that matters at all. Just going to go for it and see what happens.

Hmm. Ok. So the license activation process is a bit buggy.
I just activated iPi Studio 30 day on the new computer a little while ago.
After finally getting both kinects to work I tried opening iPi Studio again and it wanted to activate again.
I used the same info and it tells me the license was already activated on March 3, 2012 and the trial has expired. That doesn't make any sense. The computer itself isn't even that old. And the 30 day trial I started on the other older computer was not activated until a few days ago. So not sure what that's all about. I've never attempted using iPi Studio on either computer before this either.

Well that throws a wrench in the machine. Hopefully I get another chance to get this going before Monday. At that point I will need to return the Kinects to the owners and may lose the chance to convince my employer to make the investment. Of course that also depends on the results of this test.

So far you've been a great help and I really appreciate it. If someone can help me get this worked out in the next few hours that would be great.

Thanks.

Does anyone have a solution for the instant 30 trial expiration bug?
Today is my last chance for running the test so I want to take advantage of it.
Thanks again.

Hello!
Have you received e-mail from us two days ago? We have answered to you on Saturday.