Hi

I want to know, which cameras will give me better performance given that I have roughly a 3-4 meter in width and 5+ meters in length room. I want to do complex actions.

Also, with the suggested cameras, what equipment do I need barebones to do this?

I would appreciate hearing from you and I would be interesting in conversing with you as well if you have the time.

Thank you.

For complex actions, recording with PS Eye will give more accurate results. This room seems to fit tightly the minimum space requirements for PS Eye (if width is closer to 4m). You can try with 6 PS Eyes, 3 per the long walls.
The recommended system is modern desktop with quad core CPU (i5/i7), separate SATA3 HDD for storing records (2 HDDs in total), high-end gaming video card (NVIDIA GTX 560/660 or higher). Additional PCIe USB controller may be required if you encounter compatibility/performance issues when connecting 6 cameras. For connecting cameras you will need several usual USB extenders (3-5m), and also active USB extender cables (repeaters, 10m). Also get a Mag Lite with candle mode or similar light source - it's required for calibrating the cameras.

Vmaslov, thank you for a detailed response. I seem to be at a hardware deficit, as I own a dv6t HP laptop, it has an i7, but the graphics card is not in the high end range. Do you think I could get by, if I just use 4 Ps3 eyes?

Thank you Vmaslov you are very helpful.

The graphics card is much more important for tracking than for capturing. What many people do it is capture with a laptop but process the tracking on a desktop with a decent gaming card. (In my case, I keep it all on a single desktop using a moderately fast GTX 460 for tracking.)

G.

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

Watch a one minute excerpt on Vimeo now!

I looked through specs of this laptop. There are some modifications, I don't know what's yours exactly.
They all have 3 USB 3.0 ports and 1 USB 2.0. That is, the laptop has 2 USB controllers (not considering dock station USB ports if any). Most probably, you will need USB hub to get at least 2 USB 2.0 ports, so 4 cameras will be connected 2 per USB controller.
The laptop's drive may bacome a bottleneck, if it's regular HDD (not SSD). Because it's a single drive and will also be loaded by OS tasks during recording. But I think it should handle the load, if you use more aggressive compression options.
If the laptop also has descrete NVIDIA graphics, you can also try to use it for tracking. But this will be a bit painful compared to mid-range desktop graphics.
The accuracy of tracking with 4 PS Eyes is comparable with the accuracy of 2 Kinects. So, considering your limited space, you may look for this option, too.

Okay, you guys are awesome. So incredibly helpful!

Thanks for the suggestion Greenlaw, doing the tracking on a separate computer sounds like a smart idea, I will buy another graphics card for my desktop computer and do the tracking there, if appropriate.

Vmaslov, I think I may try the two Kinect setup first considering my space challenges.

If I go the Kinect route, do I need an extra usb hub?

Would this also be better for the HDD problem? how does one use more aggressive compression option?

Also, I don't know if you guys could answer this one, but would the kinect work decently with more action like (Fast moving, punches, jumps, kicks, etc.) recordings? What would be the predicted result?

I am just enthused by how helpful this community is!

Thanks.

You won't need a hub, just ensure you have 2 USB ports available - 1 USB 2.0 and 1 USB 3.0. Recording with Kinects will produce less load on HDD.


There are compression options at the Record stage in iPi Recorder. The most aggressive option for color is JPEG, which has also a varying level of quality.


Dual Kinect configuration is pretty good at many kinds of motions. The main disadvantage is a limited capture area. The best results are achieved when moving body parts are visible to both sensors simultaneously. There may be problems with very quick motions due to relatively low framerate of 30fps. Kinect is also not good at tracking feet as they are too small for its resolution.

Re: Feet with Dual Kinect, it's a good idea to wear thick walking shoes or boots, especially if they elevate you an inch or more. This helps make the feet more visible to the system and improves feet tracking in Mocap Studio.

I normally wear my hiking shoes, which have very thick sole/heel, good bulk but light weight, and are very comfortable. I've also tried soft 'uggs-style' indoor boots. These have enough bulk, height, and are light weight and comfortable too. Get a cheap 'knock off' brand though--you don't need to make a fashion statement for motion capture. :)

G.

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

Watch a one minute excerpt on Vimeo now!

Awesome, thanks guys!

This is a bit off topic, but what do you guys think about the Kienct 2? from Xbox one. Will Ipisoft produce compatible software soon after it is released?

Yes, we plan to add support for Kinect 2 ASAP when it is available. However, it is unclear now how much improvements it will bring to the quality of mocap.