MocapX sample data and project files
Both raw MocapX data and baked animation files are included
New sample data – Lucy
TUTORIAL – Eyes connection
Tutorial – How to connect MocapX facial motion capture data to the eye controller on a rig
In this tutorial, we are going to take a look at how to connect MocapX facial mocap data to the eye controllers in Maya.
1) First, create a demo rig. Just click on the icon of the head in Mocapx shelf and the head rig is created in the scene. Notice that this rig has aim controller for eyes. If your rig has a different eye setup, please check our advanced tutorial on eye connection.
2) Next, create a clip reader and load a clip. Then open a PoseLib and use an auto-connect to connect all poses quickly. So now we do have an animation on the face. Now let’s open the connection editor. On the left side, we are going to load a clip reader. We are going to scroll to the eye rotate attributes. These attributes are responsible for eye movement.
The problem is that a rig has aim controls that have only translate attributes. So what we need to do is to create a locator that will help us to transfer the animation. If we look at the outliner, we already have a locator in the scene. So If we select the locator and rotate with it, the aim controller is moving as well.
3) Next, let’s delete these locators and start from scratch. Create a locator and give it a name. Move it into the center of the eye and adjust its size. Now we need to select the locator – shift select the aim controller for the eye, and then we go to parent constraint -> option box -> let’s restore to defaults and uncheck the rotation. So now if we rotate the locator, we are also moving the aim.
Let’s do it the same for the other eye. Duplicate the locator and create a constraint. Now we need to take both of these controllers and group them. Then we need to select the head control and shift select the group with locators and do parental control, but this time we want to do translate and rotate. So now when you move with the rig, the locators follow. The last step is to load the locator on the right side of the connection editor. And then we connect the rotation attributes from a clip reader to that locator. Let’s do it for the other locators as well. And now we have movement of the eye. So let’s add the head rotation. Load the head controller in the connection editor and connect head rotation from clip reader to the head controller. And now we have both head and eyes movement.
TUTORIAL – Head connection
Tutorial – How to connect MocapX data to head controller on rig
TUTORIAL HEAD CONNECTION – Connecting MocapX facial motion data to the head in Maya
In this tutorial, we’re going to show you how to connect MocapX data to head rotation and translation.
1) First, create a demo rig by clicking on the head icon on the shelf. Then create a clip reader and load a clip. Now open a PoseLib editor. Use auto-connect to connect all poses to clip quickly. Now we have animation on the face, but we need to add the rotation and translation for the head.
2) Let’s open the connection editor. On the left side, we’re going to load the clip reader, and on the right side, we’re going to load the controller for the head.
Select the one that is responsible for head rotation. Now connect the rotations from clip reader to the controller. Now the rotation of the head works.
3) The next step is to connect the translate of the head. Let’s select the controller and connect the translate from the Clip reader. Now you can see that we have the movement of the head.
In this case, the motion is really small. So let’s make it bigger. First, we’re going to bake this controller. In graph editor, we’re going to scale the curves. By doing this, you can control the amount of motion. Also, you can do the same for rotation.
VIVALDIANNO RELOADED
Visual effects company PFX used facial motion capture solution from MocapX for delivering animation content to the world renowned show Vivaldianno Reloaded. Breath-taking multi-genre show spearheaded by composer and producer Michal Dvořák. The task was to create nearly twenty minutes of animated content in three weeks, which would have taken several months without the MocapX. But it simply had to be done, as the revamped premiere of a world renowned show was at stake.
Michal Dvořák, Composer and Producer
Michal:
Vivaldianno Reloaded is a slightly different take on your average multimedia show, using modern arrangements of Antonio Vivaldi’s classical music. I think that it also draws heavily from the story written by Tomáš Belko. What makes Libreto so captivating is that it tells the story of Vivaldi’s life through the eyes of his contemporaries and friends and others who played a role in his life. We discovered that merging this story with modern arrangements and the visual element, consisting primarily of animations which complement the music or tell their own story, resonates very well with audiences all over the world. We’ve played in South America in Buenos Aires and Santiago de Chile. We’ve played in Asia, including five back-to-back concerts in Seoul in the city’s largest concert hall for 4500 people. We played sold out stadium shows in Israel. We’ve played almost everywhere, proving that this concept that we dreamed up together is intriguing for audiences, as it gives them the chance to see something they’ve never seen before.
Jiří Mika – Producer and Partner PFX
Jiří:
About three weeks before the premiere, Michal wrote us that their supplier was not able to deliver and that they still needed some animation content for Vivaldianno. MocapX saved us a huge amount of time, meaning we were even able to re-take some of the shots and make the necessary edits. This was only possible because the entire application works in real time, meaning we were able to preview animation directly on rig in Maya and showcase to client how the finale result will looks like. We managed to record the entire 16 minutes worth of content in just two afternoons. Without MocapX we would have had to turn down the job.
Michal:
I thought it was fantastic how quickly everything was done. It really came to show that this technology could save a show just three weeks before the premiere. It was very well received. The audience was thrilled. We had never had such a positive reaction to our show on the local scene before. The most important thing for me is that the people who flew from all corners of the world were impressed with the show.
