There was one tracking error that puzzled me a little: for a couple of seconds one arm seemed to lag behind unnaturally. Then it occurred to me that this was might be a motion blur error, which can be expected because the Kinect's frame rate is only 30fps.

Anyway, that's another consideration when deciding between Kinect and PS3 Eye setups: the PS3 Eye's framerate for iPi DMC is 60fps, which can minimize and even eliminate motion blur for many fast actions.

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

Watch a one minute excerpt on Vimeo now!

My Kinect tripods arrived today. The tripods are a bit flimsy for what they cost but they do the job. The Kinect mount was what I was most interested in and it will attach to any camera tripod. The design is good but unfortunately it's are made from a very cheap plastic that may break easily if you're not careful. That said, these tripods do work and this is better than resting the Kinects precariously on a chair or table edge.

After I'm finished with this project, I think I'm going to print out one of these on a Makerbot and see if it works any better:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:8569
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5110
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5601
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:11573

G.

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

Watch a one minute excerpt on Vimeo now!

Yesterday I began retargeting the new dual Kinect Sensors data to the characters. Here's a sneak peek at the first dKS motion applied to a character:

iPi DMC Dual Kinect Sensor Test for 'Happy Box'

Enjoy!

G.

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

Watch a one minute excerpt on Vimeo now!

For comparison, here's a motion test for the film using a single Kinect Sensor:

iPi DMC Single Kinect Sensor Test for 'Happy Box'

G.

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

Watch a one minute excerpt on Vimeo now!

I am confused about the 2 camera calibration...

Soo I create 2 clips.

1. I am holding the plane and moving it left and right.
2. I do nothing 2 seconds... make a t pose.. and then do my animation..

And then to load this I first load #1 and save the scene.. and then load #2 ? ? How does scene #2 pick up the calibration ?

After you calibrate a scene (#1), you need to save a Scene file. This file contains the camera placement, and this is different from saving a Project file (from the File menu) which has the video file and tracking data. To save a Scene file, click the button labeled Save Scene. You can use this same calibration data for all your motion files for the same session, so you only need to do this step once.

When you're ready to track motion (#2) you need to first load your motion video, and then load the calibration Scene file to position the cameras. To do this, click the Load Scene button and load your calibration Scene file. To see if the data has loaded correctly, you can rotate the scene and look at the position of the cameras. If they are sharing the same position, then you have not successfully loaded the scene data. (I'm not 100% sure but I think there is a bug that may 'reset' your camera positions and you may need to reload the scene file.) If the cameras are where you expect them to be, you can position your actor and adjust your actor, or if you've previously saved Actor settings, you can load that now. Now you're ready to track motion.

If you need more details, I suggest looking at the Dual Kinect Sensor tutorial in the Wiki.

G.

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

Watch a one minute excerpt on Vimeo now!

I read th ewiki.. the wording was confusing to me how the 2 scens I creataed were interacting... so anyways I ended up with two seperate people being tracked when I combine the 2 camera.. I am assuming that means I did not load the calibration scene before I loaded video #2... or else maybe the calibration was bad... how do you really know if the calibration is bad?? I was using a 2 by 2 foot piece of paper.. so maybe that was too small ... Ill try again today with something better

You can verify calibration by 'merging' the views of the point clouds from both Kinect Sensors. You do this by selecting Show Depth from All Sensors. If they appear to merge correctly, then you are calibrated and ready to track. If they do not merge correctly (i.e., you're 'seeing double',) then the Kinects are not calibrated and you need to reload the data. If it's still incorrect, your calibration data is wrong.

If you used paper, it might not be rigid enough to function as a flat plane. I use a sheet of foam core that's about 30 x 40 inches, which seems to be large enough and rigid enough to get perfect tracking results. It's also much lighter than a sheet of plywood. You can pick up a sheet at any art or office supplies store for a couple of dollars.

When rotating the board during calibration recording, hold the board so that the top edge is under your chin, and hold it away from you with arms outstretched. I find it helps to grip the board on the sides closer to the top than in the middle. This should set the board 'at center' for each Kinect (assuming your Kinects are about a meter off the ground). Also, make sure your two Kinects are aligned so that you are in the center of view for each device. You can align the cameras by having a person or chair in place as you adjust the Kinects. (If possible, use a person because you can check the height coverage at the same time.) Once the Kinects are in position, you can align the tilt using the remote control sliders in iPi Recorder.

Another important tip is to stay away from the back wall or large furniture when performing as it can interfere with generating accurate actor volumes for tracking.

And if you have cats or dogs, lock them up in a bedroom for about a half hour. With practice and a few rehearsals, that's about all the time you really need to record a bunch of motions successfully. :)

Hope this helps.

G.

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

Watch a one minute excerpt on Vimeo now!

thanks. ill show you all what I come with in a couple days with the ipisoft/evolver/3dsmax combo.. hopefully its enough to get an animated character in a game

YEs Practice your moves a few times first, I find that the faster I do the motions, the more I can make,

By acting out the motions faster it will give you a better sense of timing and acting. Try it.

For instance I am going to make a Halloween pak of Motions and I will do all the motions needed in one take.

After I practise in front of the ipi recorder a couple times.

More soon