MoCap Planning

Original Clip, just something short that will be clear if things go right...or more likely wrong.

77 frames long - 3.2 (ish) seconds

The length isn't so important for matching but it gives me a rough idea for timing when directing the shots. The ability to move as sharp as the lamp can when keyframed might be another issue that is flagged up by this. As usual I'm filling in a shot list so that everything is pre-planned before going in.

Obviously it's just the one shot but I'll need the information there anyway so there's no need to cannibalise what I already have.

The prop to signify the ball I was thinking could basically just be someone giving a visual cue, as it's not being recorded I can add in a virtual ball after. This means I'll need someone else in the room helping me other than charlie in the suit which is common place during regular shoots.

I'd also like to take in a tripod to film the shoot to help show the difference between what was actually captured and what the result was but I'd presume I'll need to get charlie to sign something stating that he is ok with this. 

Mocap suite visit 2 - Human template

I had a few ideas on how to get the custom VST working and calibrated to the lamp setup from last time but after spending a good while on my lonesome in the mocap suite turns out everything I read wasn't quite going to cut it so i gave up on creating a full custom setup and started to try and get the human template to work with the markers I had.

Turns out it can be quite tricky mapping the custom skeleton when many of the markers are different, you have to consider how they are connected to one another and also consider what movement I'm needing to capture.

Below is the information I have available to me, the top is the naming of the markers for the human VST and the bottom is the actual structure of the VST that then would be calibrated to the markers.

I thought maybe adding in extra unnecessary joints to help with the naming conventions might be an option in order to get the markers to link up in a suitable manner however this would give the skeleton a way of bending in a way I don't want. There might be a way of countering this by adding in an extra stick (green and yellow lines in the top image) which seem to be able to restrict movement somewhat but this will need to be something I test when next in the mocap suite. If this doesn't work then I can probably just try and fix it in the retargetting phase but this may be a massive pitfall for the project.

After careful thought I'm going to attempt the setup which involves using the knees as the main bend. The marker setup within the human template will allow for better data capture and range of movement.

The final setup of markers I will be using for this project will be as follows:

This setup allows the human layout to be applied with ease but not sacrificing movement. However the capture will be more difficult to direct as the knees will need to be reversed during retargetting.