Mo-cap on a budget! - Using the Kinect to Animate Characters in a Video Game

The End: Final Artefact

demo

animation

After many weeks of trial and error, I arrived at the end of this project. The last blog entry contains a demo and some final thoughts.

Alternative: Rokoko Vision

animation

integartion

budget

alternative

It is a free AI motion capture tool that can convert recordings up to 15 seconds into animations. To record longer animations without restrictions, the licences start at $20…

Alpha Artefact & User Feedback

demo

animation

testing

The alpha artefact is progressing smoothly on the software engineering and sound design end. A beta version should be ready for the symposium.

Two more animations: Idle & Swinging

kinect

animation

integration

For both animations, I followed the process I defined in the previous blog. I took the Brekel animations into Blender to fix up what I could and then imported them into UE5.

Brekel: Improved MoCap at increased cost

budget

setup

kinect

animation

integration

After evaluating my options, I decided to opt for paid software. Between iPi and Brekel, the choice was obviously Brekel for the price. For the pricing of iPi, I would start…

Failed eldrich horrors made with free software

kinect

animation

Opening up the Kinect SDK and KinectAnimationStudio I was able to very quickly export a walking animation to an fbx file. This is unfortunately where I hit my first road…

Animation Sources

source

animation

To create any 3d artifacts we need to get source material. These sources will help me understand how the animation should look after its produced. I will also be able to…

Outlining Project Artifact

idea

kinect

The last two weeks has been spent outlining the artifact for the project. As part of the artifact I will create 4 animations for my game “A Walk in the Park”.

Positioning for full body capture

setup

kinect

I’m going to solve the easier problem first. The positioning of the Kinect.

Setting up the Kinect

setup

kinect

The first step to using the Kinect for MoCap purposes is to Install the drives and then plug it in (Microsoft, 2022).

Kinect Price Analysis

budget

kinect

When it comes to the Kinect there are two options, the Kinect 360 and the Xbox One Kinect. So one question arises. Which one do i use?

Motion capture on a budget

idea

kinect

Motion capture is expensive. The most well known consumer grade MoCap suit costs €2,453.85 after tax without any extras like hand tracking (Rokoko, 2024).

Brainstorming Ideas

idea

I spent a lot of time going through interesting ideas for this project evaluating all possible angles, all the way from pre to post production.