Performance capture is only limited to the three hour battery life and a wireless connection - if you want to capture motion in your living room or garden, it’s possible. The only way to collect character animation was to load an actor up with colored tracking patches and translate their movement into a 3D program using advanced cameras. Because the Rokoko suit uses inertial motion capture instead of optical or video suits, it’s a mobile motion capture system that you can take anywhere. In the past, motion capture was limited to a professional studio. You don’t need dedicated studio space to set up a motion capture system Unity - A great place to learn how game creation works.Unreal Engine - The software of choice for virtual production.Cinema4D - Rokoko’s favorite software due to its ease of use.

Autodesk Maya - The industry standard for animation projects.Blender - A free all-rounder used by pros and beginners alike.And good news here for the indie creators - a lot of the software has a free version or can be picked up for an affordable monthly subscription.Īll round 3D software for films & shorts: But when animation is not all you want to achieve, there’s some excellent alternatives. You can pick up the free version of Rokoko Studio here. It’s packed full of motion capture features, pre-recorded movements, and functionality to stream data live into other tools (such as Unreal Engine). Over at Rokoko, we’re focused on movement above all else, and our 3D animation software Rokoko Studio reflects that. The best software for motion capture animationĬhoosing software is all about your personal preference and technical needs. “The new Azure Kinect DK also works but is a more expensive version at $399, unless you have the budget stick with the discontinued Xbox Kinect and Kinect for Windows.” - James West.Check out Leigh Williamson’s $116.90 setup: A PC (or MAC with Windows installed using Boot Camp), Kinect 2 Camera ( ~$40), Kinect 2 USB Adapters for Xbox One & Windows ( $18.24), and a Camera Tripod ( $58.66) “I found a great DIY motion capture rig to be iPi Soft mixed with Xbox Kinect Cameras”.Here are some options that people have had success with: While that’s infinitely cheaper than the tens of thousands that a mocap studio costs, you might still want something a little cheaper. The above setup can set you back a couple thousand dollars. A powerful computer with the following specs At least 16 gigs of DDR4 Ram, Intel Core i7 3.00GHz, A mid to high range GPU.Hardware for professional motion capture at home:

Additionally, a motion capture suit can provide you with superior animation that requires less editing in post-production. Investing in the best software is one thing, but if you don’t have enough computing power to render computer graphics, you’ll waste hours waiting on renders. The better your hardware, the easier your life will be. The hardware you need to do motion capture at home However, we’ve also included some more amateur software solutions for the ultra-budget conscious. But this isn’t pure self-promotion - we just couldn’t find viable options for mocap suits that produced animation at an acceptable quality for professional work. Full disclosure here, this article mostly highlights the technology built by Rokoko (the people writing this article).

This home setup also speeds up the workflow of solo content creators and indie studios by eliminating the time-consuming process of animating by hand. For animators working from home, a few clever tools can save you a drive into the office. You can capture the animation you need at home using a simple setup.

Motion capture in games