let me know how these things fare. I've already bought the logitech 9K's but if they are that much better I would like to know.... although I think I'd like to wait out for Microsoft's Natal and see what kind of support that gets later this year.
edit: Also does the PS eye have exposure controls? That's one thing I really liked about the logitech 9K and it doesn't seem like that would be controllable via PC for a "console-based" camera.

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Guys, any updates with the PlayStation Eye Cameras?

Got my PS3 Eyes this week. I haven't tried them yet. maybe this weekend.

Greenlaw

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

Watch a one minute excerpt on Vimeo now!

...or maybe not. My progress with getting my garage ready for iPi DMC shooting has been a lot slower than I expected. I did get lot got done today though and with luck my new shooting space should be ready in two or three more weekends.

In the meantime, I may try another session in my living room sometime this week, this time using the PS3 Eye cameras of course. I'll post what I learn from that experiment soon after.

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

Watch a one minute excerpt on Vimeo now!

Your garage? The place I have been successful shooting DMC is at the cemented parking space outside my house. The only catch is you will need to wake up early in the morning to set up your equipment (that could take an hour) and shooting the calibration video while its still dark. Then when the sun is rising with balanced illumination, you shoot the actual mocap. Try to do it while the sunlight is not yet shining directly at any part of your body making bright spots and shadows.

Yes, it's a two-car garage. My goal right now is to eliminate the tedious set up time, and since we don't keep our cars in the garage, it seems like the ideal shooting space. For the past two years, my garage was mainly used as storage space for a bunch of stuff we don't really need or want, so I just need to get rid of it. Unfortunately, getting rid of it all responsibly is taking longer than I like. Right now, it's almost 2/3 clear, so I'm making progress. When I'm done, I hope to have the PS3 cameras more or less permanently fixed, and my softboxes and green screen backdrops always set up to shoot whenever I need it.

I previously shot iPi (as well as green screen) footage in our living room, which is just barely big enough for iPi mocap sessions, but it was too much trouble to keep setting up and taking down the system (i.e., lighting, cameras, cables, computer, etc.,) every evening. I also tried shooting in the cafe area at work at night, which is a much larger space but I found the floor there too reflective and there were too many reflective surfaces (stainless steel and glass) in the background. In my own garage, I'll be able to control all that.

Shooting outside like you do was a consideration when I first got iPi DMC, but at the time I felt there were to many variables to deal with. I'm glad to hear it's working out for you though. It's pretty awesome, in fact, since you don't have to worry about evenly lighting the space and subject. Please keep us informed on your progress. :)

Greenlaw

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

Watch a one minute excerpt on Vimeo now!

PS Eye camera is not dramatically better then Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 and will not magically cure all motion capture problems.

But still, it is noticeably better.

PS Eye camera has exposure control, but as of now our driver does not support a UI slider for adjusting exposure. Instead, our driver operates PS Eye camera in auto-gain/auto-exposure mode. So that exposure is configured based on selected frame rate. This works very well at all framerates including 30 FPS and 60 FPS. Latest version of iPi Recorder also provides special "Calibration Mode" checkbox - when checked, it reduces exposure so that your marker becomes much more visible then most bright objects on background.

The only significant downside of PS Eye camera is that it does not have any kind of clip for fixing it to things, and it is not tripod-friendly (does not have a tripod mounting screw). So you may have to use some kind of do-it-yourself solution for fixing cameras to tripods (use sticky tape etc.)

Michael,

Thanks for the updated info about the PS3 Eye camera. (Thank goodness for plastic clamps and gaffers tape.)

I'm going to try this out this week for some quick and simple tests, and I'll post a report shortly after.

Greenlaw

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

Watch a one minute excerpt on Vimeo now!

Well good thing my Brother-in-law works at Gamestop. He should be able to keep an eye out for me and snatch up some used ones at a nice price.
Good to know about the exposure control.
60 fps is a major plus that the logitechs 9k can't achieve.

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There is no problem with the PC recognizing all four PS3 cameras? I was a little concerned that they weren't going to be PC compatible only PS3 compatible. That is good news if it works out because they are cheap enough.