Hi there, just got a quick question in regards to hardware specs.

I've been thinking of setting up a mini Mocap studio in one of my sheds for some game related work with 6 PS Eye cameras. I had a kinect lying around and I was impressed with the capabilities of the software after giving it a quick go!

I swear I read somewhere that you didn't really need a GPU for actually recording the data from the cameras and it was only required to have a decent GPU for processing the data with the iPi Mocap Studio? For the love of me I can't find what I thought I saw so maybe I'm going crazy!

I'm looking to setup an old PC for the mini studio and it's a mini-itx build so I only have one PCI Express card, meaning I can either have a GPU or an extra PCI USB card for the extra controller that I'll need (Only two USB controllers on this other PC I think).

Would integrated graphics from an i7 3770k be fine for recording? My workstation is fine for processing the data with a GTX 980Ti and i7 4790k :) Just the recording I'm worried about

GPU is not used heavily during recording, so an integrated one is OK.
Before buying a PCIe USB card check how many cameras can be handled by the built-in USB controllers. Maybe you'll need more than one additional controller. If so, consider PCIe cards with multiple USB chips. There are ones with 2 chips and even with 4 chips:
StarTech PEXUSB3S42V
StarTech PEXUSB3S44V

Thanks for the response, I might get the 4 dedicated USB chip card just to be on the safe side since I think it fits my budget.

Hopefully can get something good tracking wise while using props, need to be able to hold rifles or at least some kind of wireframes of props etc!

Ok, did some initial testing and quite pleased with the results. Only tried in my small workshop (just about had enough room for it as in just moving around in the same spot).

I'm looking to set this up in a shed now, before I dedicate time to moving stuff around does anyone have any advice on what way to go about setting it up correctly? It's about 32 feet by 25 feet of usable space so I've been trying to draw out some diagrams and see what works out the best. Done a bit of digging around the site but haven't really seen many posts about how people have setup larger areas!

Have seen that you need to give around 8-9 feet space from the camera to the actor to keep them within the view of the camera without clipping off heads or feet. Do I just go for an ellipse setup of 32 wide diameter and 25 feet height diameter and capture zone is 8/9 feet inside that area?




Ignore my paint skills but I came up with this and I'm not sure if I'm any close to something that would work, just want to get it setup as close as possible and minimise the moving around of kit and taking up time

I think it's better if the cameras aren't so perfectly angled and spaced--it's actually easier for the system to calibrate where the cameras exist in space when there's variation in their positions and angles. Your arrangement is probably fine since it gives you a lot of coverage but you will want to at least stagger the heights and angles of the cameras to give them some differences.

It's also good if you don't point the cameras directly at each other. (Your set up does avoid that.)

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Here would be my suggestion for single performer recording. (Note: The 2 center cams will face more downward on the performer, so the higher the better 10' if have it).

Remember to face cams at chest height and use a center mark on floor, (centered from front and rear cams, not center of room, unless that is where center falls), that can be seen in the view ports easily to get centering aim better.

You will have to sit in view if not the performer and your equipment will be in cam view, but that's ok, try to pick best area for that, back right or left corners works well and if not the performer, dress to match surrounding, which is better to be more neutral colored walls and floor.

Small lighting will need to be placed at each corner to uniformly ambient light the volume, don't need very bright lighting, more equally ambient works best, but bright enough to see full color tones of clothing in cameras in view ports, direct overhead lighting is bad!. You can filter light through white cloth or even white paper to give more of a soft light.

2 or 3 performers, you would need a few more cameras anyway and a bit different layout... OH, and the Pro version!