Help please,
"for iPi or anyone who has had experience". :D

let's say We want to make the motion capture for 6 seconds.
With the same PC, the same rig.

comparison 1:
4 PS3Eye vs 1 Kinect

comparison 2:
6 PS3Eye vs 2 Kinect

the question :
estimation time needed (more or less) to iPi calculation (per frame) for each "comparison" above?.

Thanks.

Processing speed strongly depends on graphics card performance. What is your model?
On mid-range cards the average processing speed is about 1 fps, on high-end it can reach 5-6 fps.

Thanks for the reply,

my rig is GTX 460 with i3 and i5.
but still no kinect. :D

so,
if I want to make mocap like this,
(this video really caught my attention) :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJZabVZqCl0

How long it will take for "ipi" to process the motions above?
with "2 kinect" compare to "6 PS3eye", based on your experience.

.

I have a GTX 460 and use two Kinects and my typical tracking speed is about 0.67 seconds per frame, which, IMO, is quite acceptable for production work.

That's probably comparable to four PS3 Eye cameras, at least from what I recall. I haven't done six PS3 Eye captures in quite some time...I think it was slower to track but I don't recall it being too far off from that. I may be doing a six camera shoot in a couple of weeks, so I will let you know then how it compares.

In general, I don't think tracking times for each config is wildly different from the other if you have a reasonably fast GPU graphics card to track with. Naturally, fewer cameras mean less data to process and it will track faster but it's not hugely different where tracking is concerned. This is really more an issue of quality--six cameras will of course be more accurate than three PS3 Eye cameras or two Kinects, and depending on your production needs it may be well worth the slightly longer time.

G.

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

Watch a one minute excerpt on Vimeo now!

The calc time I get with 6 ps3 on a gtx560ti is around .9 per frame.

Thanks a lot for all the reply.

now, I already have 1 xbox kinect and 5 ps3eye, but when recording the FPS can be achieved only 30fps, with a resolution of 320x240. and sometimes below 30fps.
Do I have to replace my system to 64bit?
...
and for iPisoft, I have one idea if possible,
Could you add another time slider (in iPi studio) that point is to "speed up" or "slow down" the motion after processing (before exporting)? I think it will be useful for those who have a standard pc, and not able to achieve 60fps while recording.

""very impressed the first time to try kinect with iPi, amazing, so easy and fast. a lack of kinect is only able to record on a narrow range"".

:D

64-bit in itself probably won't make a difference--this mainly gives you is the ability to use more RAM, which probably isn't the problem you're facing. If framerate is the issue, the problem is most likely a bottleneck somewhere between the cameras and the computer.

First, make sure you have enough USB 2.0 controllers to support the number of cameras you want to use. The general rule of thumb is one controller for every two camera. Don't confuse the number of controllers with the number of USB ports you have because each controller can have several ports associated to it. This is no different if you plug a hub into a port--a hub only adds more ports, it does not add more controllers.

Most modern computers have at least two built-in controllers, but some older computers may only have one. On some computers (laptops in particular) one controller may already be in use by an internal webcam or other device, so you many need to disable the device. If you want to use five/six cameras, you many need to add a USB controller card. Check the wiki for more info on how to determine if you have enough controllers in you computer.

If you decide you need an additional controller card, go for a compatible USB 3.0 card. This should be compatible with the cameras and it will also allow you to use USB 3.0 devices. I think the wiki lists compatible models.

Second, if you use extension cables, make sure they are active USB cable, a.k.a. repeater cables. These cables have a box on the end and they are meant to boost the data signal. I typically use at least one for each camera, and sometimes daisy chain two or more for cameras that are far away.

Third, you need to be sure your hard drive is fast enough to capture continuous data from several cameras. A standard hard drive is fast enough for one Kinect, but for two Kinects or four or more PS3 Eye cameras, you will want a fairly fast drive. For five/six PS3 Eye cameras you may want to use an SSD or a USB 3.0 drive.

The fourth consideration is CPU. iPi recommends a six core computer for six camera capture but you may be able to make a quad core work if your drives are fast enough. (FYI, I've been able to capture from six with my quad core.) In general, you should have at least a quad core computer to capture from multiple (four or more) cameras. There's more detailed info about this in the wiki.

Good luck.

G.

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

Watch a one minute excerpt on Vimeo now!

Greenlaw's given very comprehensive answer.

It is a feature that should be available in 3d party animation editors. We do not plan to add many editing capabilities to iPi Mocap Studio, concentrating instead on doing a good mocap.

I would caution you to be careful with cables -- I ordered the cables recommended by IPI, and I got "not genuine Kinect" errors sometimes. (Though they worked fine with my PS3 Eyes) These errors seemed to improve when I switched to using actual Kinect extender cables as opposed to active extension USB cables.

FWIW, this is the active USB (a.k.a. repeater) cable I like to use:

GWC AR2500- 5M 16.4 ft. USB 2.0 Repeater Cable

I have several of these 16 ft. cables and have been using them for years with iPi DMC (since the 'Logitech' days,) and they work well with either PS3 Eye or Kinect. I have daisy-chained as many as three of them together and still get a good signal. (In theory, you can daisy-chain up to five of these cables but I've never needed a chain that long.)

These days I mainly record with two Kinects in my living room which are connected to a desktop computer in another room in the house, and I routinely use one cable (16 ft) for the 'near' Kinect and two cables (32 ft) for the 'far' Kinect. The cables are inexpensive ($11.95) and built reasonably well for the cost. They have a LED in the connector box to show when they are active.

I'm sure there are other models that work just as well (and obviously some that don't) but this model is the only one I've used with iPi DMC and, in my experience, it's worked perfectly.

G.

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

Watch a one minute excerpt on Vimeo now!