Hi, I'm using a 4-cam setup with an 8m by 6m space. I have already finished the calibration process for this setup. My issue is that when ever I try tracking or refitting a pose, the actor figure folds up or twists into a corner.Could anyone please explain what causes this and how I can fix it? I have a project I need to get done by the end of the week and this is holding me back. I also attached a picture of my cam setup (if that would help solving the problem). Thanks

My calibration was perfect (all green). I think my cloth is okay, the light is good as well or do i need more light? I just don't know what i'm doing wrong. After I take a test record into the studio and try to line the actor with the video footage, following the tutorials by the word, analyze the actor and when I click refit actor, it just goes bonkers and twists into a pretzel figure. It is virtually impossible to get the actor to move to the same location as me in the video and align them. What do I do? Please help.

Hi

First, check that you have the latest drivers for your video card and update if necessary. Outdated video drivers may be the cause of incorrect computations in some cases.

Next, check that calibration results are fine indeed. Loop through camera views in some action project (or calibration, if it is light enough to see cameras on video). Check that camera models appear in the same positions as real cameras on video.
Ensure that you've set proper scaling in calibration project. Check that camera heights match actual values - usually within 3cm for good calibration. Adjust the scale appropriately if needed.
With proper scene scale, the height you set in Mocap Studio for the actor's model should be close to the actual height of an actor.
When aligning the model to a video, do that cycling through different camera views, not the only one.

If none of that helps, you may provide us one of your action projects along with the video file for more detailed consideration. Use file sharing services like Google Drive or Dropbox for that.

My video drivers are up to date. This is what I'm using for my mocap.

2014 Mac Pro (running bootcamp for windows)
3.5GHz 6-Core Intel Xeon E5 processor
16GB 1866MHz DDR3 ECC memory
GPU: Dual AMD FirePro D500 with 3GB GDDR5 VRAM each.
Running Ipisoft Basic version 3 with 4 ps3 eye cams at 50fps (No frame drops)

For my recordings and tracking I turned off AMD CrossfireX and I am using 1 GPU as the tutorial requested. My calibration results came up perfect in all 4 cams and the camera measurements are a bit accurate. Below is my calibration file and pictures of my results.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/w7almwyvyzg0e ... Calib?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/6fg2cfnhomgop ... 1.JPG?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/v0emhnr38o2t6 ... 2.JPG?dl=0


This is the action project file.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/156l9lyqeuh46 ... Video?dl=0

I also tried your suggestions but was still having difficulties. Whenever I click the refit pose button, the actor does not align to me in the scene. Also, my camera 2 and 3 shows a smaller actor. I don't know if that causes this issue. Camera 1 and 4 shows the actor in relation to my height though. Here is a video:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/32ygdzh7hesyn ... s.MOV?dl=0

In this video, I noticed the actor's arms where sort of in line with mine but the lower body was messing up whenever I click refit pose. I decided to where dark socks to add more contrast to my feet but that did not solve the issue.

(This is unrelated but I just want to know if 4 Xbox kinect 2.0 can do accurate fast motions and rotating motions just like 8 ps3 eyes. The pro version of this software outlines fluid motions but I don't know if that applies to 4 kinect 2.0s.)

Thanks again

The camera heights in .iPiCalib file (2.3 - 2.6m) are substantially greater than I see in the action video (about your height). You should adjust scene's scale accordingly. After I've set the scale so that camera #1 height is 1.75m, the actor's height of 1.77m has matched the video.
However, when aligning an actor with the video, I've discovered that I could not do that in camera #2. Its image looks slightly shifted. I suppose you might have moved this camera occasionally while going to PC and back between calibration and action shoots. Be careful about that.

The worst thing with your action video is lighting.
It is too dark - you see, the image of the cameras are very noisy. The only acceptable image quality is in camera #4.
The scene is lighted from one side only - due to that colors in the opposite cameras #1 and #3 are barely distinguished, especially in shaded areas. You should avoid directional lighting to get good tracking. Light sources on the ceiling are usually the best option. If you cannot avoid directional lighting, use lighting adjustments on the Scene tab to take it into account.

I've attached an action project with correct scale for cameras and adjusted light source position to give you an idea. However, tracking still does not work nicely due to the problems stated above.

Also I recommend you to change camera positions. Specifically, cameras #1 and #3 a very close to each other, having almost identical point of views. The same about #2 and #4. You should place the cameras to get as many different POVs as you can.

Given your conditions - small room and poor lighting - Kinects may be a far better choice. With 2 Kinects in 180 degrees configuration the quality of tracking will be comparable to 4 PS Eyes with good lighting. The only drawback is frame rate of 30fps, which may be not sufficient for some fast motions. Using more than 2 Kinects does not have much sense for tracking a single actor.

I am still having the same problem after using a much bigger space. In my scene I used a 20 feet by 20 feet space with 4 ps3 eyes at 50 fps (No frame drops). Calibration went well but when aligning the actor to me in the action video, the actor does not align to me in all 4 cameras. I have attached a link to the calibration file, calibration video and action video.

Calibration file: https://www.dropbox.com/s/kp8xk9tkeizor ... Calib?dl=0

Calibration Video: https://www.dropbox.com/s/i107pqxuid0gz ... Video?dl=0

Action Video: https://www.dropbox.com/s/a6ogizxtkukup ... Video?dl=0


Please, if you can test and fix the issue on your end, can you send me a video of how you did it? Also, is it possible to direct me on how I can fix this problem via skype video call? Please let me know what time (EST) will work for you.

Hello

I've worked with your videos.
Now the lighting is much better, great! Tracking went very well, only a couple of errors that I was able to clean up easily with IK and Track Backward.
One issue is with the scene scale again. I don't know what the actual height of the cameras were, but the model height of 1.77m looks substantially lower than the actor on video. So I needed to increase it to 1.9m to make a match.
Usually height mismatch is caused by not very accurate scaling at the calibration stage. Unless you're doing some medical stuff where measures matter, you can safely adjust model's height to differ from the actual height of an actor. The main thing here is that the model aligns perfectly with the video. Then the tracking will go right.

I'm attaching the tracked project file.
A screencast with initial steps of creating the action project (adjusting the model etc) is on Vimeo:
https://vimeo.com/bassill/tracking-preparation-4cameras
It's voiceless, but contains some text notes (poorly distinguished though). Pay attention to the bottom.

The video you made helped a lot but I'm still having problems with camera 2 and 3 during alignment. Cameras 1 and 4 align perfectly but cameras 2 and 3 shows the model away from the actor in the video. It seems I am missing something but I can't figure it out. I have attached files for you to check out yourself.

Calibration file with correct height values: https://www.dropbox.com/s/z6vp5ct2dod25 ... Calib?dl=0

Other calibration files I experimented on with minimal change to scale:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/d15wl5m4duzc0 ... Calib?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ix17j0arwm1tu ... Calib?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/mgtukfzm7byr7 ... Calib?dl=0

Calibration Video: https://www.dropbox.com/s/4j2mm15u0trzq ... Video?dl=0

Action Video: https://www.dropbox.com/s/xhpnqlnd91gil ... Video?dl=0

Thanks for all your help.

Please make a video with your explanations as usual. Thanks

I cannot open your calibration project, because it has different number of frames than calibration video. You might have cut the video before sending. So I just handled the calibration video myself.
Your calibration video looks good, results of calibration are reasonable.
However, in the action video I see again that image of camera #2 is shifted compared to the calibration video. This explains your problems with alignment. Please remember,
Camera positions for an action video should be exactly the same as for a calibration video. You should not touch the cameras between calibration and action.
Otherwise, the calibration results are simply unusable. Making a couple of calibration videos - one in the beginning of a shooting session and another in the end - can help in case cameras have been moved once during the session.

Thanks for your help. I was able to track with no problems. There is one annoying problem I have been having problems with. I cannot export my animations. Whenever I chose to export my animations, it gives me this message":

Action Denied:
"Cannot export animation you are working with project in locked format (* iPiLocked) that does not allow to export animations. Please process your video with full version to be able to export animation"

I am using iPiSoft Basic version with 4 cameras and only one primary GPU. I don't understand why I can't export animations or why my animations are being saved in a Locked format.