View Single Post
  #1  
Old 07-07-2015, 10:08 AM
lafortuj lafortuj is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Mar 2015
Posts: 2
Motion Builder Without Live Characters?

Is it possible to do motion capture animation through Motion Builder without using Vizard Live Characters?

I want to animate several line dances for a research study. Our lab has six PPT trackers, two of which are fixed to a head-mounted display, and two cameras for optical tracking. I want to be able to record myself performing the dances, then animate an avatar based on the recorded data. I have tried using vizconnect inverse kinematics, but the movements are not very realistic.

I need the animations to be good enough for a novice to learn from. From what I can tell, Vizard Live Characters would be the best way to do it, but it's beyond our price range. I've seen demos of what Autodesk Motion Builder can do with even just a handful of trackers, and it seems like it would be a great tool that could be more affordable. However, it looks like all the tutorials out there use Motion Builder in concert with Live Characters. I want to know if it's possible to animate a Vizard avatar with Motion Builder without going through Live Characters. It does not have to be done live. In fact, I need to be able to save some kind of data file for later playback. Is there any way to do this?

If not, do you have any recommendations for other approaches to the problem? I can choreograph the dances to fit within reasonable hardware constraints, and I'm not too picky as long as the virtual instructor's movements are realistic enough for a novice dancer to pick up. Thank you for your help!
Reply With Quote