CMU amc to fbx Conversion Tutorial
(acclaim to motionbuilder update 2007)
There was a thread back sometime ago and one of the users here (Onikaze) actually came up with a video tutorial for this. So, with all due respect to Onikaze, I took the time to write it up awhile back just so I wouldn’t forget the procedure. I know the video is still here somewhere, just do a search . If you want to use my documentation here it is :
Acclaim to MotionBuilder Conversion
Please note that this method is used solely for use in MotionBuilder. Obtaining this free data is courtesy of Carnegie Mellon University. Any type of commercial use must provide credits in this form:
The data used in this project was obtained from mocap.cs.cmu.edu.
The database was created with funding from NSF EIA-0196217.
Check the website for any further details.
Download some MoCap !
[color=yellow]CMU conversion pack download[/color]
Step 1: Navigate to the appropriate website http://mocap.cs.cmu.edu/
Step 2: Figure out what category will best suit your needs. For this tutorial will be using Human Interactions.
Step 3: Now navigate to a subcategory. In our case it would be two subjects.
You will now see a page that has a Trial # , Subject #, and Motion Description. You can navigate to the specific mocap either by clicking on a trial # or better yet the Subject #. A better understanding of this would be the subject representing the person/persons who perform the motioncapture and the trial as what action sequence or take as they call it in show business.
Step 4: Clicking on Subject 18 takes us to the data files ready to be downloaded. There are five columns: tvd, c3d, amc, mpg, Animated. There is another column called feedback if you wish to leave feedback concerning the mocap. The only two that we are interested in would be Animated, to give us an idea of what the mocap will look like, and amc which is the mocap data to be downloaded.
Step 5: Decide which mocap suits your needs. Next you will notice towards the top of the list an asf file in blue. Right click, save target as. Save to a subdirectory within the Templates folder in MotionBuilder. Do not rename file at this point. The asf file is the Subject mentioned earlier, sort of a source file for the mocap.
Step 6: Now decide which Trial# will suit your needs and right click, save target as over the appropriate amc file. Save to a subdirectory within the Templates folder in MotionBuilder. For this tutorial we will use chicken dance (2 subjects - subject A).
Apply and convert !
Step 7: In MotionBuilder Drag and drop the CMU_Character_Template from the CMU Conversion Pack into the viewport FBX Open > No Animation
Step 8: With your CMU_Character_Template in the scene drag and drop an amc file, in our case the chicken dance, to any joint on the skeleton.
Choose Acclaim Replace Animation
An import window will ask you to choose an asf file, in our case it will be 18.asf.
Important Note: You MUST match up the correct files in order for the mocap to work, in our case 18.asf would have to match up with 18_15.amc (original file names).
Step 9: Now we need to save this out as an FBX file to store and apply later. Simply Save as whatever you would like to call the file. The animation data is already applied to the skeleton so we do not need to construct a control rig or plot the data elsewhere.
Note: If you try to play the mocap, it will be slow, the next steps will fix that!
Step 10: Open up any character in the scene (Mia, Roger, Aragor, etc…), drag and drop the mocap you just saved onto the story timeline. Play the motion clip and the character still moves slowly. Select the clip and change the Loop/Scale Clip button to scale.
Step 11: In order for the motioncapture clip to play through normally (30FPS) we need to divide the total number of frames by four **.
Step 12: Play back the motion clip and your character should now be doing the chicken dance! Save, plot, export as any other clip.
** alternatively you can leave the clip “as is” (not scaling it) and just change the play speed from 1X (real time) to 4X ( 4x’s real time) on the transport controls.
I think this tutorial is pretty thorough and easy to use, but if you have any questions feel free to contact me on CGTalk.
Favian001
