Motion Capture
Boris Willis

Usage
For my project I used motion capture to create animations of a dancer and to make a Flash video game. The Flash game will be a part of a larger project in the fall as a part of a live video game for my Grad Project. Using Motion Capture for the dance animations was very great but the flash game would have been more precise had it been keyframe animated. It was difficult to make a looping animation with the motion capture data but I was pleased with the solution that I came up with. I won’t know if I will use it in its current state which uses a video transition until I do some testing and see how others play the game.
Why Mocap
I will admit that I don’t like using Maya but perhaps I need to take more time to learn the program. For me using motion Builder made the most sense. The Trax Editor in Maya would be good if I wanted to change my motions but as a dancer I figure out what I want to do while moving or I capture it again. If I was doing key frame animation then I could see the usefulness of the Trax Editor but I am more interested in capturing the body in motion than I am interested in keyframe animation.
What Went Well
I was pleased with the process of cleaning data and getting the motion into maya. I thought the process was very easy compared to last year. I learned how to do a lot in Motionbuilder such as adding cameras and lights. I am better at fixing movement and keyframing. Much of this came from learning Maya in the fall but I found it easier to do in Motionbuilder. I know that Maya is better at creating a final product but still I like Motionbuilder better.
Not So Good
The pose controls did not do what I wanted them to do in order to make a smooth transition between motions. It was clear that keyframing would have been better for the flash project. I copied the idea from Dancin Doughboy at the Pilsbury website. The cameras in Maya are more flexible and make better transitions. I also attempted to make the model talk but soon discovered that the mouth did not move. Although having a model was not as important as good motion I wanted to have a good looking model. I attempted to use models that I had been working with in Daz Studio. Eventhough I could export them as .fbx files they proved to be unusable in the end because of problems with the skeleton and textures.
What I learned
Taking the class a second time was very helpful as I was more familiar with the process and I was able to do much more than last time. I feel that I made a lot of progress in Motionbuilder and I am comfortable with the program which is a big step and next I will have to tackle Maya.