So the only place I can capture performance without dragging my PC around the town is on my from yard/parking spot.

The question is how important is the lighting? Are there any specific hints/requirements that might affect motion capture with iPi and PS Eyes ?

If you're using PS Eye cameras, proper lighting is very critical. It's possible to shoot outdoors but the same rules for indoor shooting apply. Here's a quick review:

1. Avoid hard directional lighting (i.e., bright sunlight). Ideally you want the lighting to be free of dark shadows, so you will want to shoot on overcast days, early in the morning before the sun it too high, or shoot in a shaded area (which probably includes the background.)

2. Be sure to wear contrasting clothing as recommended in the wiki (black short sleeved shirt over brightly colored long sleeved shirt (i.e., solid red or green), dark pants (blue jeans are ideal.) Clothes should be close fitting and not baggy.

3. Avoid shiny and reflective surfaces like windows or mirrors.

4. Shoot in an area where you can prevent movement in the background.

G.

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

Watch a one minute excerpt on Vimeo now!

Thanks for the tips!

I was going to make a canopy using blue tarp in case it's sunny. I just wasn't sure if mocap needs contrast lighting or not.

Sure, glad to help.

Regarding contrast, you want the opposite--you want the lighting to be as even as possible because hard shadows may be read as motion and confuse the tracker. This also the reason for the black t-shirt--shadows across the torso from the arms are less visible against the black fabric. The colored sleeves allow the tracker to distinguish the arms form the torso. These are probably the most critical issues to be aware of when using PS Eye cameras.

Back when I was shooting with PS Eye cameras, I lit my environment using a couple of soft boxes, which worked really well. This was all indoors though. Nowadays I'm pretty much staying with multiple Kinects--it's much easier set up and it works well in a small-ish environment like our living room. Plus, no special clothing or lighting is required. However, you do need to minimize IR pollution from outdoor light sources.

G.

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

Watch a one minute excerpt on Vimeo now!

So in other words capturing outdoors with Kinect is a bad idea?

I could probably use Kinect indoors, but it sounds like PS Eye is better for action performance (plus it's significantly less expensive to use PS Eye than 2 Kinects).

Even indoors, I find that a sunny day can ruin a shoot with Kinect. If I need to shoot during the day, I'll cover up the windows with light blocking material (just look for light blocking material at fabric stores like Jo-Ann.) It's usually easier to just shoot at night though.

As for which is better for action, PS 3 is better for big and fast action because of the higher frame rate and larger capture space (if you have it available.)

Kinect works quite well for action too, although with two Kinects, occlusion can sometimes be an issue. Adding a third Kinect will nearly eliminate occlusion but I don't have much experience with this setup yet (I'll be using it this summer after my current freelance gig wraps.) FWIW, I've used the dual Kinect system for background characters in a couple of recent feature films and it worked out great.

For me, the main advantage with Kinect is convenience--it can be used in a smaller space, set up and taken down in a few minutes, doesn't require special lighting, and it's just much easier to use overall. Within reason, the quality can actually quite good and for many motions.

G.

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

Watch a one minute excerpt on Vimeo now!

Hmm.. Now you got me thinking :)

I am looking into mocap to aid my game dev, since I need quite a few anims. Just standard stuff like various motions for player/enemies, and acting for NPCs.

Do you get a lot of jitter that you need to clean up manually after mocap session with Kinect ?

IMO, not much more than you get with PS Eye. Most of the jitter you see after tracking (PS Eye or Kinect) gets cleaned up during the Jitter Removal stage.

With two Kinects, I understand that accuracy can be less than with six PS Eye cameras--two Kinects is supposed to be comparable to using four PS Eye cameras. I assume using three Kinects might be comparable to using six PS Eye cameras but in a smaller space. (Bear in mind that my experience with three Kinects is very limited at this time so I really am just guessing here.)

G.

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

Watch a one minute excerpt on Vimeo now!

3 sensors? How? Even standard edition only supports 2, based on the description.

Triple Kinect support has been available for some now. Here's the info:

http://wiki.ipisoft.com/IPi_Mocap_Studi ... _2.5.0.158

It's probably not on the official features list because it's experimental

G.

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

Watch a one minute excerpt on Vimeo now!