So today when I'm booting up iPisoft (basic version, supports up to two Kinects) I notice that it now appears to support my new Webcam, the Logitech 922 (which I use for facial mocap).

Is this really true? And can using one webcam really be a viable thing to do? The Kinect at least has depth information, but my Webcam does not.

The reason I really am asking is that the room I use my two Kinect setup in has to use my two laptops to capture the video, and it's a bit of a PITA to setup (the laptops aren't normally there, so I need to drag them there, plug them in, connect them both... I don't do this unless I need to capture motion with my arms or legs behind my body). As a result I sometimes just use one Kinect in my computer room. It doesn't handle occlusion well, of course, but for mocap that is me mostly facing forward it works fine. But if I could use my webcam I wouldn't have to connect and disconnect one of my Kinects for this purpose.

I suppose I should just try this, but thought I'd get some answers first.

Yes, Logitech C922 is supported by recent versions of iPi Recorder. However, there are the similar limitations in place as for other color cameras (i.e. PS Eye). Specifically, Mocap Studio can track videos recorded with at least 3 color cameras, and 4 cameras is the recommended minimum for good tracking accuracy.

I see -- and since the version of iPisoft I'm using only allows two Kinects I'm going to guess it won't allow three 922s (let alone 4 of them).

Edit: Okay, I checked and I guess Basic DOES allow more cameras (just not more Kinects).

Am I right in assuming I can run these multiple webcams from ONE PC? Right now I have to use two for my Kinects, and that's the biggest PITA (and drawback). If I could run three or four webcams from just ONE PC I could even capture outdoors (lots of cables but those are cheap).

That's correct, Basic edition supports up to 2 Kinects (or other depth sensors) or up to 6 color cameras.
Actually, we've only tested 3x C922 with a single laptop, and they worked fine at 60fps. I suppose adding one more would not be much of a problem as a laptop we used had 4 USB 3.0 ports. Please be aware that because of higher resolution recording with C922 imposes higher requirements on PC performance than with PS Eyes. Therefore a low-end laptop is barely an option here.
To summarize, here are recommendations: sufficient USB ports (one per camera, USB 3.0 preferred), quad core Intel Core series CPU, SSD storage or separate (non-system) internal HDD for recording.

Thanks -- I have a high end gaming laptop that would work fine for that, but my bigger concern was trying to get the PS Eyes to work, because obviously those are a lot cheaper (I already have one 922, but even ONE more would be double the cost of 4 PS eyes).

But I don't know if I can run those Eyes on Win 10, and my Win 8 laptop is getting pretty old. I dunno, I might just stick with the two Kinects even if it IS a PITA to use distributed recording (you guys make it at least easier, but it's really a shame MS never released an SDK allowing two to be used on one computer). If I could just get a long enough cable for the Kinect I could use my desktop and my new laptop (but it would need to be 20-30 feet long. Hmmm, maybe an active USB will work for that...)

PS Eyes work fine on Win10.
FYI. Kinect 2 is an USB 3.0 device, so it requires USB 3.0 extenders. And USB 3.0 has some built-in limitations on connection length. I did not try it with active USB 3.0 cable as I have no one, but cannot make Kinect work with passive 3m extender.

Thanks for the info.

I think I'm going to try an active USB 3.0 cable -- if nothing more, I can always return it to Amazon if it doesn't work. It might not for me, though, since I have to make it go 10m (but it will be an interesting experiment).

So the Eyes DO work on Win 10? Hmmm, I might pick up three or four of them to just have in case I ever get around to trying them out (but you DO have to have active 2.0 cables for them as well, right? You can't just use regular extensions?)

You can use both active and passive USB 2.0 extenders for PS Eyes depending on the length required. General recommendations:

• Prefer active extenders
• Do not use passive extenders longer than 3m (10 feet), both per item and in total
• Better to use a single extender than to combine several ones
• When combining passive and active extenders in a single connection, use active at PC end and passive at camera end

From our experience, total connection length of up to 20m (2x 10m active extenders) works fine.

...

Just go with PS3 Eyes (4-6) 6 cams may require an add-on USB 3.0 card if you don't have enough controllers. (These cams can also be used with distributed recording, but correct a PITA).

10m (30 ft) active repeater USB 2.0 work fine and you can't go much outside this anyway away from any one camera with PS Eyes, or they loose their accuracy.

Minimum room size for a fully circular camera set up with Eyes would recommend 7m x 4m (22 ft x 12 ft) or you will significantly loose action movement volume, you need a min of 2-2.5m outside the edge of the capture volume to place the cams, you can raise the cams higher to get the feel of more capture volume, but the tracking may be impacted.

You may need to switch to a more semi-circle cam set up in the area you stated to give at least a little more forward motion capabilities.

Proper lighting, avoiding direct overhead lights, or strong direct lighting on the performer will be needed, as well as proper clothing colors and fit, loose clothing doesn't track well with PS Eyes, dark saturated colors work best.

PS Eye set ups have been gone over fairly extensively in other threads, maybe do a forum search with the Search tool and throw some key words and you should fine many already explained topics.

...

Yeah, I'm tempted (and may buy the Eyes just to have) but the space requirements mean I'm almost surely going to have to do this in my garage, which is only available for part of the year (just WAY too hot here in Florida to use it otherwise). My two Kinects, OTOH, work fine inside in my dining area (which is empty -- most people in Florida don't dine in "dining rooms" but eat in the breakfast nook or some such). It's around 12x10 and works fine for that purpose.

But it does mean I have to use distributed processing, which *might* not be as bad if I can use my desktop. I just got a 10m active 3.0 USB cable to try today, even though iPisoft says they had no luck with that length. I'll see -- if it works I'm in good shape, if not I'll have to use both of my laptops (not ideal but doable).

As much as I like iPisoft (and I do) the idea I'm "renting" the software for only another 14 months or so makes me think I'll end up with a capture suit anyway (some of the options are getting cheaper and cheaper, and better and better -- the one I'm looking at now is about on par with a three year iPisoft sub, which is what I've spen previously). So I guess I don't want to spend too much time or effort trying to nail down a solution when I'll be changing workflows soon anyway.