008 - Motion Capture Software

We just recently got two copies of Qualisys Track Manager installed in our lab to process the 3D motion capture data we recorded. I've spent some time reviewing what we did and learning how to get the best output possible.

Me doing some contemporary dance movements

At first I though this was going to be a complicated process, but it's more fidgety and time-consuming than difficult. Every dot on my body that I wore during the motion capture recording is represented by a green or red dot in the program's view screen. Green dots are good because it means the software has automatically synced-up the correct positions. However if a red dot appears it means that dot has to be manually reassigned to it's proper body part.

Generating an 'AIM Model' can help in this process. Firstly you take a short piece of recorded footage from your data and correctly assign all the dot placements manually. Then you can export the model as an 'Aim Model' to apply to other raw capture data. The software uses the information saved in the Aim Model to automatically calculate and assign dot positions. It's not a perfect system as some dots lose their connections during complicated movements like turns and spins. However it does provide a good starting point to then get in there manually and fill in the blanks.

I personally like the feature of being able to add line streaks before or after the characters movement. It allows you to gauge the smoothness of limb movements and the quality of the capture. Jagged streaks would need some manual correction later on to smooth the end result.

The next stage will be taking this data into Autodesk Motion Builder and prepare it for connection to the 3ds Max character model.