Mocap versus Traditional Animation

shxsy

Hey Polycount....
So I've started a game with a fellow artist and an engineer. We're quickly learning a lot about our weakness' in some areas, one being animation.

I've been tasked with taking the lead on animation and it's been quite fun learning how to rig and animate. However it's going slow. So we made a decision to try out some mocap software - ipi. We made this decision based loosely on the fact that we all know mocap is kind of an industry standard, for AAA anyhow, and if the tech is available to us, why not take advantage of it? Our thinking being that it would speed things up given that none of really have an animation background. It took a couple of weeks to ramp up, but we learning and got somewhat of a pipeline down. We are now acting out anims and able to get the raw data. Cool... So I thought.

Cleaning up and editing mocap data is extremely time consuming for me. It's almost, if not, more time to clean up mocap data than it is to do traditional key frame animation. Most of the time, it's negligible.

My question is - Has anyone had any similar situations? What did you do for your animation pipeline? What's the benefit/differences between mocap versus traditional? Does it make sense for a smaller team to use mocap?

Any help would be awesome as I'm pretty much a noob when it comes to animation pipelines.

Thanks!!!!

unit187

What you describe is normal for homemade mocap. Even professional studios with expensive hardware still need to clean up data. Homemade solutions produce much worse data and it not worth it to sit there doing one of the most boring thing in whole gamedev - cleaning shitty mocap

I'd say - do animation yourself, it will soon be even faster (because your skill improves) than cleaning that low quality mocap, and the result will be more impressive, again, because even professional mocap needs a touch of an animator.
If you have a few spare bucks, you might search the internet for already captured and cleaned mocap or just animation packs at stores like Unity store. It doesn't cost much but will save you weeks if not monthes of work.

thatanimator

yeah using the ipi stuff just gives you a floaty mess that lacs any kind of inpact or character..

I guess what you could use it for is to get a rough timing down, since you're new to animation I'd assume that's one of the difficult parts.

capture whatever animation you want..
then delete most if not all keys between whatever extreme poses you find nessesary, then move the keys around a bit to tighten up the timing, then start adding inbetweens.. that could work as a workflow..
not having to rely on lack of animation experience nor shitty mocap data, but using half and half

unit187

Imo it doesn't worth the hassle to capture mocap, then export it to your 3d animation software, then edit it... too much wasted time. If you really need reference, then just get off your chair and act your animation. When I was just starting my path in animation, I was doing it all the time and it definitely helps. And it is healthy to jump around the room once in while

naturon

Hey shxsy,
I was in a similar situation to you last year in that we didnt have an animator full time and needed a quicker solution, I also used IPI and found it had its uses.
I think it depends what you are using it for, like thatanimator said traditional animation is always going to give you better results and it might be that you use IPI's capture as a reference (of course we dont all have his skills in animation )

I was using for a top down zombie game ([ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwSTwxlOjjE[/ame]) and could therefore get away with it being a little janky sometimes which means less clean up. Also unitys mecanim system actually tracks the animation onto an avatar and helps a bit with clean up, especially if you have leg IK's enabled in engine.
But again it depends what your needs are.
Anyone looking for a similar solution I'd recommend Ipi for quick rapid prototyping or using as a base/ reference but I wouldnt use it as a be all end all animation solution unless you can get away with it.

Sorry this was a bit of a ramble

naturon

Hey shxsy,
I was in a similar situation to you last year in that we didnt have an animator full time and needed a quicker solution, I also used IPI and found it had its uses.
I think it depends what you are using it for, like thatanimator said traditional animation is always going to give you better results and it might be that you use IPI's capture as a reference (of course we dont all have his skills in animation )

I was using for a top down zombie game ([ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwSTwxlOjjE"]Dead on Arrival 2 - Multiplayer First Look - YouTube[/ame]) and could therefore get away with it being a little janky sometimes which means less clean up. Also unitys mecanim system actually tracks the animation onto an avatar and helps a bit with clean up, especially if you have leg IK's enabled in engine.
But again it depends what your needs are.
Anyone looking for a similar solution I'd recommend Ipi for quick rapid prototyping or using as a base/ reference but I wouldnt use it as a be all end all animation solution unless you can get away with it.

Sorry this was a bit of a ramble

cptSwing

Don't most of the programs used for capturing offer solutions for cleaning up keyframes?

slipsius

ipi is pretty good and clean. how do you have it setup? 2 kinects? 170 degrees from each other? 1 high, 1 low?