I've been watching some of the tutorials on the mo-cap process, where the recording begins with a T pose, then once finished, lined up the mo-cap data figure with the 3d model provided in the ipisoft studio program.

My question is; Are both these steps necessary to complete every time a recording is made?

thanks!

Jeff

To begin tracking, iPi Mocap Studio needs the actor's model to be roughly aligned to the actor in the video (either image or point cloud). Then you do the initial Refit Pose and start tracking process. This is done at least once for every record, usually once for every take within the record. Technically, a T-pose is not required for that. It's just a very basic pose to align with and to catch up for tracker. But you can start tracking from any considerably simple pose.

Another thing you need to do usually once per recording session (which can include many records) is to setup the appearance of the actor's model to match the actor. That is, size parameters like height, body mass etc, and clothes' colors (when using color cameras). The appearance can be saved in a separate file and reused in multiple mocap projects.

Thanks for the detailed reply, vmaslov

Is there a way to save the recorded data + ipisoft model position refit as a preset? ( assuming the actor stands in the same position for each recording.)

Also, many of the tutorials show the initial recording process beginning with the Background analysis.. Is this step necessary every time a recording is made, or can this be saved as a preset?

Thanks

Jeff

You can save a pose of the model in a file (excluding position and rotation in the scene), and later load it to any frame.
However, the initial aligning using the Move and IK tools does not take much time once you get used to it. Preset actor's model is usually the most you'll need to speed up the tracking process.

Usually, background evaluation should be made once per recording session, unless the lighting conditions or the scene configuration changes during the session.
If you are talking about several "clean" seconds at the beginning of each record - that was used in V1, and is not required in V2 anymore. The background is evaluated separately, before taking real records.
The software does not allow to save the evaluated background for later use. That is to force an adequate background for each session, because often important changes in the environment may be simply not recognized by the user. Evaluating the background takes only several seconds + a time to get all the people out of the scene.

Thanks again for the reply, vmaslov

Cheers!

Jeff