Welcome to CS 527

Computer Animation

 


Announcements

3/31/08 - Added James' motion tracking documentation

Mocap manual - http://www.evl.uic.edu/sjames/mocap/resources/tutorial_022008.pdf

Motion Viewer - http://www.evl.uic.edu/sjames/mocap/motionviewer.html

Motion Capture data - http://www.evl.uic.edu/sjames/mocap/resources/cs527_test_capture.zip

Alternative format of motion data - http://www.evl.uic.edu/sjames/mocap/resoruces/khairi_ROM.zip

 Here is the list of file formats.
 .vsk / .v       : vicon native subject (skeletal info) file and motion file (marker, body info included)
 .c3d            : vicon marker data file
 .fbx             : kaydra filmbox format (motionbuilder's native file format). fully characterized.
 .bvh            : Biovision motion data format
 .csv             : comma separated values (local, global transformation for bones)
 .trc               : Motion Analysis
 .htr               : Motion Analysis
 .csm            : Optical data for character studio (3d max)
 .amc / asf    : Acclaim format

Better description about file formats - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_motion_and_gesture_file_formats

There are two very useful site for motion capture.

CMU Graphics Lab (Motion Capture Database) - http://mocap.cs.cmu.edu
Mocap Lab at University of Louisiana at Lafayette - http://www.cacs.louisiana.edu/labs/ecrg/

They have very nice Vicon tutorial which I am making similar one for our studio.
http://www.cacs.louisiana.edu/labs/ecrg/vicon/index.html

Other useful sites:
    Mocap Club   http://www.mocapclub.com/
    Motek Stockmoves http://www.e-motek.com/entertainment/stockmoves/index.html
    OSU Motion Capture Lab http://accad.osu.edu/research/mocap/mocap_home.html


Here is something from Matt Handley that might be of use:

Enclosed is a zip file containing the second version of the scripts necessary to export blender files to a format electro can read. There is scant documentation about how to use them, so I'll explain here. Expect more robust documentation in the future.

HOW TO USE THESE SCRIPTS:
  1. Extract the zip file.
  2. Copy the .py scripts to the appropriate .blender/scripts/ directory on your computer (On Mac OS X, it hides in /Applications/blender/Contents/MacOS/.blender/scripts. Be careful to not update blender!).
  3. Open Blender, and make a simple scene. The exporter supports exporting 1 camera, up to 8 lights, and any number of meshes (including UV texture coordinates, and full support for materials).
  4. When you are ready to export, in File->Export, choose Wavefront .obj (individually). In the dialog box that pops up, click the ... button next to Electro File and specify the name and location of the place where you would like the exporter to export the files. The buttons next to export only allow you to choose the set of objects that should be exported (camera/lights/meshes from the whole scene or just the selection). Once you set this up as desired, choose export.
  5. A moment later, you'll be back in blender. Quit.
  6. In a terminal, navigate to the place where you extracted the original zip archive.
  7. Run 'electro sampleMain.lua pathToTheElectroFileYouExportedFromBlender'
  8. If everything worked as expected, you'll see your scene, as you saw it in blender, from the camera's perspective.

blender2electro.zip

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