Low-cost Motion Capture?

[jtaddei]

have you tried doing some rotoscoping while keying about every 3 frames? Really only need to have 2 (top and front) video cameras and a good backdrop. The cameras really don't have to be stellar quality either, logitech quickcams may suffice. Seems like a good cheap way... i mean you wouldn't have the mocap bvh file but i guess you'd have a decently key framed "traced" animation

[shokan]

No, I haven't tried rotoscoping yet. In that vein, the utility I will be trying is called VisualMarker, authored by a Russian and sold at Renderosity (about $50). He has own website, too. I think it's called OtherWorld or something like that. As you mention, it uses two to four videos and enables you to match up video body points with a 3D figure, frame by frame. I read in a forum about a guy who has used it and says it works OK. I'm going to give it a try sometime down the road.
BTW, do you know if Cinema 4D has this ability within the program? I just bought the studio bundle r10.5.
I just found this from a ToolFarm thread:

What you'll want to do is setup up a few DV cams. One from the front of the human model and one from the side (then a third from overhead if you're feeling spunky).

Lay down a slate clap so you can sync the 2 cams. Roll video of your human model doing the motions you want to copy.

Sync the videos in an edit program based on the clap mark. Then save them out as 2 separate Quicktimes. Load the side shot into the Left (or right) C4D camera as the background image. Then do the same in the C4D front cam with the Frontal DV shot. Now you can match your characters to the video from the front and side.

Poor man's roto!

Thanks for your reply.

[aarathi]

The VisualMarker is powerful and inexpensive ($37,95) optical motion capture software. VisualMarker can use up to four video streams for motion capture. VisualMarker is a fast and easy to use utility for converting 2D marker positions to skeletal based models. The real-time calculations provide full visual control at any stage of the capturing process. VisualMarker can use up to four video streams for motion capture, and does not require special camera calibration or large specialized room placement. VisualMarker supports not only the industry standard BioVision BVH format but also a native format for game development.

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