Performance Animation

Introduction to Mocap

Marker Placement:

The First step is to place 53 markers on the body of the actor from head to toe.

53-Marker set standard Vicon Front Waist setup is used in most case which is recommended as well. Follwoing is the way we can setup the markers on the actor's body:

5 on head (2 front, 2 back, 1 top)
2 on chest
2 on back
4 on shoulders (2 each, front/back)
16 on arms (4 each hand, 2 each elbow, 1 each upper/lower) On the hands the flat top two and two on the sides of the wrists. On the elbow close to the bone
6 on hips (3 each side, one front/back/side - pelvic bone)
2 on upper legs - one each leg (non-symmetric, quite different)
4 on knees (2 each side, offset slightly so not knocked off) these are close to the knee caps.
2 on lower legs - one each leg
10 on feet (5 each, 3 toes, 1 ankle, 1 behind) On the toes, make one in the front center of the foot, one on the Achilles heel, one just above the ankle bone

Front

Back

Vicon Eclipse Setup:

The initial set up includes us to get the equipment first these steps are:

1. We get the MoCap PC and suits from room BY.03.033 and take them down to room BY.01.009 on a trolley.

2. Then we get the side cabinet from gallery room next door to room BY.01.009. This cabinet includes the MoCap markers.

3. Now we need to plug in the 2 color coded network cables from the wall to PC.

4. Then we switch on the plug at wall to start up the Vicon system.

5. Now we switch on the Vicon PC/login.

6. Finally we startup Vicon Shogun Live on the PC which looks like the following.

Vicon Eclipse Setup:

We used Vicon Eclipse to save and manage following things during the Mocap session:

1. CAL (Camera Callibration)

2. ROM (actor range of movement)

3. AM (morning MoCap sessions)

4. PM (afternoon MoCap sessions)

Click the small Sun icon at top of the UI to create new session for day. See image on left.

Saving session steps in Shogun:

We now create 4 separate sessions by clicking the S icon at the top of the UI and name in the following format YearMonthDay_Project - 200245_AliKhan

1. CAL

2. ROM

3. AM

4. PM

For Example:

Camera Callibration:

We need to make sure that the Camera Calibration steps are done sequentially in order from the Camera Callibration tab in Shogun Live.

In order these steps are:

1. Start Masking

2. Start Wave

3. Start Set Origin

4. Start Set Floor Plane

Start Masking:

First step is to select Scene and change it to Camera from drop-down at top-left of the view port in Vicon Shogun Live.

This will show you view from each Vicon camera that’s switched on, which we can see here

Now after switching to Camera view, we can see some blue points from each of the camera’s, this indicates reflective surfaces which the camera’s are picking up similar to reflective MoCap markers.

As we don’t want these we need to click on Start Masking (All) from the right of the UI, then click ‘Stop Masking’ once process is finished. This tells the system to ignore these elements.

Wand Wave:

The wand needs to be turned on first as it should light up with small red LEDs.

Next we need to wave the wand around to test.

In Shogun Live, we will see the markers on the wand show up

Now we need to Calibrate the wand:

With the wand turned on, click Start Wave from the Camera Calibration tab.

With the wand held with lights pointing upwards we make a figure of 8 motion with the it.

we need to make sure to wave the wand around the whole of the active area we want to capture.

As we’re doing this, we will be able to see Wand Count updating in Vicon Shogun Live.

This process needs to be completed for whole area (wand count shows green)

Set Origin:

If we now go back to the camera view, we can see that the cameras are not positioned correctly in space, this is because we need to ‘Set origin’ as reference point.

To do this we will lay the wand flat on the ground with the top of the T shape towards back of room

And now click Start Set Origin then Stop Set Origin once finished.

Set Floor Plane:

Next we need to set the floor plane area.

To do this we will get five markers and position them as:

Four in each corner and one in center.

After doing the above step we need to click Start Set Floor plane and then Stop Set Floor Plane

Saving Camera calibration:

To save the camera calibration we need to click the save icon at the top of the Camera Calibration tab in Shogun Live.

This will make a window open allowing us to browse to save location.

Now we need to browse to the CAL (Camera Calibration) folder we created in Vicon Eclipse in the earlier step and save the calibration file.

Subject calibration:

Now from the Subject Calibration tab we need to set the Labelling template to FrontWaist and the Solving Subject template to FrontWaist

Next up we need to get the Actor to stand in A-Pose

Then click Create Subject

Now click Accept A-Pose

Next up we will click Start Calibrating

Actor performs range of motion(ROM)

Then we need to click Stop Calibrating

And Finally click onSave ROM file

Capture:

Next up we move to the main part which is to Capture. For this we need to go to the Capture tab at top.

We need to make sure Capture Name = Take01 and that Capture Processed Data on.

Then we click the Start Capture Button at the bottom.

Now we check file saved from Eclipse

Export to FBX:

Now we can export the capture by Start Vicon Shogun Post

In the Shogun Post click File>Import

Then we Import the capture file saved from Shogun Live in previous step.

In Shogun Post click File>Export

And finally Export file to FBX.

Human IK (HIK) Retargeting

Human IK (HIK):

With the use of HIK, we can re target the animation recorded in the mocap session to different characters rigs and models.

Motion Capture can be retargeted to character’s for game or film animation.

HIK Characterization:

In order to start the process we first go to File>Import and import the FBX file with Mocap data.

In Maya open the HumanIK window from Rigging >Skeleton>HumanIK

Next up we need to Go to Windows>Script Editor and load and run the attached MEL script - HIK_TPoseScriptMEL.mel The script puts our MoCap skeleton in the T-Pose (0,0,0) which is necessary for HIK Characterization. It also creates a new HIK Character definition with hips included.

Now we need to manually characterize our rig by selecting the joints in the viewport and then right-clicking in the appropriate joint section in the HIK Character Definition window to set ‘Assign selected Bone’.

HIK Retargeting

We can now re target the animation to our own character

We need to now go to File>Import and import our .ma scene file into the open scene.

Now with both characters loaded in the scene, we need to go to the HumanIK window to set the Character and Source. This will be Character = Character_BonyM Source = Character1

For Assignment 1 I was able to Achieve the following results:

Assignment 2:

For the assignment I have put another FBX import of the MOCAP and the skeleton model in the already existing Maya center. I used the FBX export of the MOCAP and use the time editor animator on it.

Using the editor I was able to find the following result I have turned a single jump of the mo cap actor into a number of jumps with different variations: