Affordable Motion Capture at Domicile

Microsoft Kinect v2

Microsoft Kinect v2

Technology has made things more user-friendly and affordable with fancy devices that keep coming out into the market that are more mobile than models from previous years.  Motility capture is now possible in your living room with simply a few hundred dollars. That still might be high for some, merely if you compare motion capture a couple of decades ago information technology will really put things into perspective.  And cost cannot beat a setup that can fit in your living room, the convenience is just too good to turn down.

Cost

A very basic motion capture setup requires a depth camera, a PC, and software that is compatible with the respective camera.  This might come up as a surprise, but the almost costly part would probably be the software if you want product level quality out of the box.  If yous are ok with decent quality then the camera may cost the most for your setup.

Open up Source Software (Blender rant)

Blender with Motion Capture Plugin using Kinect (Nimate, plugin)

Blender with Move Capture Plugin using Kinect (Nimate, plugin)

Blender should exist the kickoff thing that comes to mind when on the topic of open source 3D software.  It is probably the near comprehensive free software for 3D computer graphics. Blender can do it all, not merely manipulating 3D geometry, Blender can do compositing, blitheness, rigging, procedural scripting in python, CAD, high quality rendering, node based cloth workflow, and a bonus information technology has a built-in game engine.  The game engine isn't very popular though, because information technology's not portable exterior of Blender, and so if yous release your game made with the engine, you lot need to ship it with the unabridged Blender software.

Mocap Open Source

A free Mocap plugin for Blender is bachelor that I take used and even so occasionally turn to for a quick blitheness.

https://ni-mate.com/

It merely works with Windows 10 and Blender 2.79 currently.  But it is a very capable software. It might not deliver the loftier quality production right out of the box, but information technology comes very close and information technology's gratis!  So this tin exist a very skillful entry level for those trying out the mocap earth to see if this is interesting. Y'all can ever add more plugins to enhance the features and tweak Blender to suit your needs, just this will require some research and hacking.

Kinect v2 on a tripod

Kinect v2 on a tripod

Depth Camera

The Kinect has aged very well.  Microsoft doesn't produce many products that I actually savor using, but the Kinect should exist something they definitely can brag about.  It get-go came out in 2010 for the Xbox and it was very advanced for its time back then. And then in 2012 Microsoft released the 2nd generation for the Kinect which is the one I own.

The SDK for the Kinect is probably the all-time part of the Kinect allowing coders to hack equally much as they want.  To this very mean solar day (at the time of writing this post) the original start 2 generations of the Kinect is still being used for many dissimilar projects and move capture is simply the tip of the ice berg. From autonomous R/C cars to robotic artillery, the Kinect was used in a lot of projects for professional research purposes by the many educational institutional staff. University professors were using it in their research projects because of the crawly SDK and precision of the device (at the time).

My twond gen Kinect bought online used was in very dainty condition. If it wasn't labelled as "used", I seriously wouldn't exist able to tell. Unfortunately Microsoft discontinued manufacturing the Kinect and all the accessories, and then consumers need to resort to after marketplaces to go dwelling-made cables for the Kinect.  The original packaging of the Kinect doesn't come up with USB cables for the PC, because it was originally intended for the Xbox exclusively until Microsoft realized the hacker community was obsessed with it. So y'all need to purchase a special cablevision for the Kinect to piece of work with the PC. Information technology'due south an adapter that links the Kinect to the PC through a USB iii.i plug. And so the PC needs to have a USB 3.1 peripheral plug or yous tin always buy a PCI USB iii.1 carte du jour on Amazon and upgrade the PC. I'chiliad not certain what y'all would do for laptops though.

Kinect Market

Affillate Link (Paid Link)

Today nosotros accept a lot more choices, simply at the price point of the Kinect, there aren't many that can compete with the toll.  Even subsequently the Kinect market started jacking upward the prices afterwards Microsoft appear the discontinuation of production, it is yet the most affordable and about uniform device for movement capture at domicile.  A lot of commercial motion capture software still crave the apply of the Kinect for live mocap recording.

The Amazon item shown on the right is the Kinect that I bought USED. Information technology's used because Microsoft discontinued the product many years agone and the just way to get the Kinect now is through the refurbished market.

The links on the right are Amazon affiliate links.

Affillate Link (Paid Link)

Kinect Adapter Cable for PC

You besides need a special cable that will allow a Windows 10 PC to communicate with the Kinect. This cable is absolutely necessary to capture and record the motion to a 3D application on your PC.

The Kinect Adapter cable Amazon item shown on the right isn't the 1 I bought, but it'due south the same blazon of cable. The one I bought hasn't been in stock for awhile now, so I have added a different Amazon item link.

Unlike the Kinect device, Adapter cablevision is brand new, but is Not manufactured by Microsoft. Microsoft does offering an Adapter cablevision with Microsoft'southward proper noun slapped on the box, but information technology's insanely expensive. Specially at present that they discontinued the Kinect, information technology's fifty-fifty more expensive, almost half the cost of the refurbished Kinect device! So I recommend getting the Kinect Adapter from other manufacturers, similar the 1 from the Amazon link on the correct.

Kinect Captured Blitheness

As a examination, I used the Kinect to capture some random movements and transferred the motility to a very uncomplicated mannequin 3D model. I and then added some simple particle effects in Blender. The particles are constrained one paw of the mannequin. The prune was done a long fourth dimension ago then the special effects is quite simple. Merely the primary idea was to test the Kinect for motion capture in action.