The question I was trying to answer for my Motion Capture project was: Can I use motion capture to successfully animate a non-human character?
The answer, much to my surprise, is YES!
It’s safe to say this motion capture final render won’t work its way into any award shows, however, I realise that I shouldn’t be so hard on my self. I took a risk and tried to achieve something that was outside my comfort zone, so it’s also safe to say I actually managed to pull it off, if not somewhat awkwardly.
This is one project that I will be spending more time on though, so check back later and hopefully, Vardo will be doing some pretty inspiring things.
What I have learned throughout this experience is, that I have managed to create a solution that will work for previs, I have a way to go before I can call this avenue of research finessed enough to satisfy me. I need to create a solution that will keep the wheels reliably on the ground, and also have them move more easily with the body, I need to figure out how to add doors, and windows to Vardo that are able to be keyframed and move seamlessly with the Vardo’s body.
I have concluded that the best, and a somewhat easiest way to achieve a good result to have the motion capture actor stand with their feet together. This way, when weighting the skin to the foot controls it is easier to maintain an equal distance from the wheelbase.
While running my tests I compared both methods, and although I do love the way Vardo jumps all about in the version where the entire mesh is parented to the rig, I much prefer the usability of having the wheels and base separate. Going forward, I will consider trialing a blendshape, or ncloth simulation.
Overall, I am happy that I made it work to a satisfactory level, but I would love to see this through to a more usable and versatile solution.
Below is a comparison of the two different models I trialed.
I have a tendency to overdo things, so after my first few trials, I realized I had to pull it back to be able to test my mocap without taking HOURS repainting skin weights. Below is a super sped up video of the modeling process.
I do have footage of how terrible this model worked out and will include it in my making of the video, one thing I soon realized what I wasn’t going to be able to make the wheels, doors, and window shutters move independently of the while ensuring the travel with it in a seamless manner.
Below is a schematic of how I finally managed to put Vardo together. But parenting the wheelbase to the foot controls I could move the entire vehicle with the main character controller, and by parenting the wheels to the base I could place keyframes on them.
UPDATE I just had a brainwave about how I could make this better!
I am quite fortunate to have a friend named Jenny who was happy put on the mocap suit not once but twice. For some reason we had technical difficulties with the first capture session so had to go back. In preparation for my trails, I asked her to do a series of basic moves: Happy, sad, angry, etc, as well as a hip bend and turn.
Here is a photo of what such a good sport she is.
Then after collecting the data off, I take it to the cortex suit. Fixing the data is something that does actually get easier in time, so I managed to clean all my data in a few hours. If anything can be said about it, it’s tedious and requires high attention to detail. I can’t record the screen so you will have to settle for this low budget cellphone footage. however, it does the job.
Then it’s off to motion builder where you retarget all the motion points to a character. Which led to some interesting results to start with.
Somewhere between my last post and this one my experimental motion capture project took a bit of a left turn. In part because of time constraints, but also because another avenue took my interest.
I decided to combine my Animation Capstone Vardo with my Motion Capture in an effort to create a way I could use motion capture technology to create a pre-vis in preparation for creating the keyframed animation.
I wasn’t entirely sure I could achieve this, which worried me. I don’t take failure well, especially when I am sure that I can figure something out so I doggedly started my research into how I could proceed.
After casting a google net I realized that there isn’t that much research into this practice yet, and although plenty of people are making arms longer to create an ape, or applying the data to a monster character there hasn’t been too much experimentation using it with vehicles.
The anthropomorphized Vardo of my Capstone is inspired in part by the Pixar animation Cars, but you can learn more about my project by watching my video essay on the subject of using an anthropomorphized non-human character.
Below is the video that inspired my own search for a solution to my problem, and although they are using methods that outweigh my current knowledge with time and practice I believe I will be able to come up with an appropriate solution.
