Archive for the ‘All’ Category

Inside Tips of Mocap Acting

The Mocap Vaults founder, Oliver Hollis-Leick, is a 13-year mocap acting veteran that has worked on over 80 videogame and movie titles, with roles in such films as Iron Man 2, Stardust, Total Recall, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Godzilla, Hercules, Fred Clause among many others.

In his interview to Digital Production BuZZ he talks about the challenges that motion capture actors are facing and about the new opportunities that iPi Motion Capture provides for them.

“There is actually a revolution happening in motion capture, thanks to the companies like iPi Soft. I can take a Kinect camera, and just put it on a tripod in a room with actors. None of them need marker suits. I can record their performance and the key see it on screen within a minutes on a character.“

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iPi Soft Partners With Acting/Filmmaking Education Resource The Mocap Vaults

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Fine actor adjustments included in the latest release of iPi Mocap Studio allow to change actor’s proportions:

• Legs length
• Arms length
• Head size
• Feet size
• Shoulders width

These new features allow to increase tracking accuracy due to more precise adjustments of actor model used for tracking.

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Since the release of iPi Biomech Add-on a year ago, many customers requested us to extend the list of formats available for point cloud export. MATLAB and PCD formats were convenient enough for researches, but  not for animators.

In animation, point cloud can be used as a video reference, which makes life easier in many cases. iPi Motion Capture is the only commercially available product so far, that allows to obtain point clouds recorded with multiple Kinect sensors. Now you can use this product feature to its full extent.

New! The latest release of iPi Biomech Add-on (included in iPi Mocap Studio) supports export to  Krakatoa PRT, PLY, OBJ, Leika PTS formats that can be recognized by various 3d packages, including 3ds Max and Maya. Read More>>

For more information on iPi Biomech Add-on, please refer to its User Guide. Please be aware that iPi Biomech Add-on requires separate license. 30-days free trial is available.

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Engadget website has just published  a round up story on using Kinect devices to create motion capture content.

What they think of iPi Motion Capture:

Another mocap dev that exploits the Kinect 2 is Ipi Soft, which supports multiple sensors. The app, plus a Kinect 2, will never beat a full-blown studio, of course. But if you stay within its limitations and keep square to the depth sensor, you can capture full body performances for games or animated shows. After a bit of cleanup, the results were very usable.

Read the full article>>

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Randi Altman’s PostPerspective published a chat with Ghost Town Media’s creative director/lead designer Brandon Parvini.

We are proud to have Ghost Town Media among iPi Soft customers.

Read the article>>

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iPi Soft Unveils Biomech Add-On To iPi Motion Capture

New Tool Designed For In-Depth Biomechanical Analysis Of Human Motions Includes Visualization And Motion Data Export To Excel, MATLAB

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MOSCOW, RUSSIA, 19th June 2014 – iPi Soft, developers of the iPi Motion Capture line of markerless motion capture technology, has unveiled iPi Biomech, a new add-on software tool for the biomechanical analysis of human motion. iPi Biomech extends the functionality of iPi Motion Capture for markerless tracking and visualization of motion capture data for medical, sports analysis and movement science applications.

The iPi Biomech add-on extracts motion and plot motion data for selected bones using convenient coordinate systems (so users can select how coordinates are measured). Tracking data can be exported to various formats, including Excel or MATLAB.

Since its introduction into the marketplace in 2009, iPi Soft motion capture technology has been gaining rapid adoption predominantly by filmmakers and videogame developers as an accurate, easy-to-use and affordable motion capture solution for animating believable humanoid motion characters. Although it has been in use as a motion analysis tool in other industries – including medical, sports, movement science, ergonomics, military, kinematic and others — the supported export data formats (designed primarily for animation) were not familiar to scientists and doctors.

“We’re excited about the potential that iPi Biomech technology brings to professionals across numerous vertical markets to analyze motion data,” Michael Nikonov, iPi Soft founder and chief technology architect says. ”Since iPi Motion Capture does not require clumsy sensor suits or uniform backgrounds, doctors, scientists and others can conveniently set up a motion capture system in their offices. The ability to export bone motion data to Excel or MATLAB using our Biomech add-on, means that users will not have to spend time converting data and can get access to it right away.”

Dr. Mario Petersen, a developmental pediatrician based in Eugene, OR, who specializes in children with physical development disabilities has been using the iPi Motion Capture system effectively and notes that it was particularly useful in a recent case involving a two-year old boy with mild cerebral palsy.

“We used iPi Motion Capture without the iPi Biomech add-on to create ‘before and after’ footage to compare the child’s posture using specialized body tape designed to improve posture and then without it,” Petersen says. “The mocap data clearly showed a positive changes in his posture when he had when the tape was applied. With the new iPi Biomech add-on tool, we would expect to see even more functionality and dynamic data tailored specifically for biomechanic use.”

iPi Biomech Add-on Feature Highlights:

Working in conjunction with iPi Motion Capture, iPi Biomech will provide customers with linear and angular quantities for selected bones, including:

• Linear coordinate, velocity, acceleration
• Euler angles, angular velocity and angular acceleration
• Quaternions and rotation matrices

Users are able to:

• Select convenient coordinate systems
  • Linear: Absolute (relative to floor), Relative to parent joint, Relative to center of mass
  • Angular: Absolute (relative to floor), Relative to parent joint
  • Select Euler angles system
  • Plot values of selected quantities for selected bones
  • Export bones motion data to tab-separated text for Excel or MATLAB

Press release in PDF>>

About iPi Motion Capture

Introduced in 2009, iPi Motion Capture has been gaining momentum as a professional and reliable alternative for capturing human motion data without the need for expensive facility space, clumsy sensor suits with reflective markers or a team of technicians. The software uses sophisticated image processing and computer vision algorithms to recognize and track the human body and lets users shoot video using up to three MS Kinect motion sensing input devices or up to eight Sony PlayStation Eye cameras.

Pricing and Availability:

iPi Soft makes available three editions of its iPi Motion Capture markerless technology – Express, Basic and Standard – that differ by the set of available features and complexity of motions that can be tracked. The new iPi Biomech add-on is now available directly from the iPi Soft web site and its worldwide distribution channel at a cost of $495. It is available with numerous bundle options available here.

About iPi Soft:

Launched in 2008, iPi Soft, LLC is the Moscow-based developer of iPi Motion Capture™, a markerless motion capture software tool that uses sophisticated image processing and computer vision algorithms to recognize and track the human body. The company’s breakthrough technology digitizes the movement of a human skeleton, rendering it in expressive 3D characters for video games or computer generated films. Recent projects that relied on iPi Motion Capture include the hit feature film “Now You See Me” and the upcoming horror classic reboot “Night of the Living Dead: Origins 3D” and the acclaimed videogame “Halo 4.”

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Media Contacts:

Vicky Gray-Clark, Ambient PR vicky@ambientpr.com 408-318-1980

Ray Ecke, Right Word Media ray@rightwordmedia.com 973-726-3797

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Using iPi Motion Capture for “Night of the Living Dead: Origins 3D” is highlighted by www.indiewire.com - news, information, and networking site for independent-minded filmmakers, the industry and moviegoers alike.

“Night of the Living Dead: Origins 3D:” Motion capture software doesn’t seem easy, but IPI Soft has a program that helps you “create realistic animations in a matter of minutes.” It was used in production of “Night of the Living Dead: Origins 3D,” which premieres at 2014′s Cannes Film Festival.

Author: Taylor Lindsay

http://www.indiewire.com/article/5-daily-tech-stories-filmmakers-and-film-fans-must-read

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iPi Soft The Focus Of “Trends in Markerless Motion Capture” Event at DMA/LA’s March Event

By Ko Maruyama

LOS ANGELES, CA April 4, 2014 – In late March, Digital Media Artists of Los Angeles (DMALA) hosted their monthly user group meeting, which focused solely on the iPi Soft and its markerless motion capture software solution iPi Motion Capture and its use in film, television and personal projects. Moderated by myself, the panel featured professional animators David (D-Lew) Lewandowski, Don L. McCoy, Anthony Hoit, and LA Siggraph’s Mike Amron.  Each spoke to the audience about how the adoption of iPi Motion Capture has changed the way they approached animation and production.

If there was one overarching theme to event it was how the landscape of motion graphics and motion design has changed quickly in the past few years thanks to a combination of accessible software and hardware that has allowed digital media artists to create new and innovative animations.

That combination includes the availability of affordable markerless motion capture that has changed the way smaller studios, individuals and students consider their approach to character animation. Specifically, iPi Soft software — in concert with over-the-counter video cameras — is letting digital artists from many disciplines incorporate motion capture into their creative pipeline.

Hoit, Lewandowski and McCoy each noted that they were encouraged by the ease and ready supply of support hardware. Motion capture requires cameras, and although iPi Motion Capture can work with several types of cameras, the panel found success using a simple Microsoft Kinect camera setup.

Case in point was Hoit’s work on the new Night of the Living Dead: 3D Origins – a completely 3D animated reboot of the horror classic set for release later this year — that used iPi Motion Capture with just 1 Kinect camera (it supports up to 3) on all of the film’s middle and background action. Hoit also offered attendees a preview of some select scenes in the film.

Following the Q&A, attendees were able to sample iPi Motion Capture’s ease of use first-hand thanks to three separate demo mocap workstations. The casual setting with professional users was the perfect way for attendees to see how easy it was to setup and capture data. The user group setting was a perfect place to showcase the ease of use and the calculation workflow.

For Ron Magrid, noted technology writer who attended the event, said that the event was different than he expected, which was more of a manufacturer driven show and tell.

“Instead, it was an insightful presentation from people who worked with motion capture for a living and used it to create some impressive effects,” Magrid said. “I loved the stories and the know-how they offered, and how freely they shared it. My guest and I, up and coming filmmaker Richard Gale, were stunned at how relatively easy to use and inexpensive iPi Motion Capture is.”

Given the interest in markerless motion capture I’ve seen among creative professionals and students in my classroom at Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, CA, coupled with the advancements iPi Soft has made to iPi Motion Capture, it’s clear that markerless motion capture will grow as a creative force to be reckoned with among filmmakers, videogame developers and animators for years to come.

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Rodeo FX Pulls a Crowd with Mocap & Compositing Workflow

Adriene Hurst’s story in Digital Media World on Rodeo FX’s use of iPi Motion Capture on “Now You See Me”. Read article>>

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