Dog MoCap - Work In Progress
This has always been an interesting challenge I have wanted to tackle: quadruped motion capture. Currently a project I am working on while at graduate school, only as an independent study. All of this data was captured in a 37 Vicon camera volume, using a 40 marker set.
Current Status: Data Cleaned
Various runs, climbing up stairs, and walks were all captured. I have currently gone through the labeling process for a shot. For this data, I was unable to use the pipeline scripts in Vicon Blade. With this particular scene, I manually went through the timeline, labeling, and cleaning the data to get this result.
Canine Anatomical Study
Initially, I researched the bone structure of a regular canine figure to discover the best locations for markers. The dog we were going to use in session was a mixed- breed, so to get an accurate analysis of the subject, these images were taken.
The blue lines in these images represent the labeling bone structure to be created in Blade. Once the labeling bones were drawn out, I was able to determine the necessary amount of markers needed for the subject.
Drawing the labeling bones on these images, also aided with establishing the necessary degrees of freedom for the skeletal structure.
In Studio Footage
Once I determined where to place the markers based on my anatomical study, we had to determine exactly how can we place these markers on the subject.
Stockings, a t-shirt, and medical wrap were used to tape the markers onto the subject, and to ensure no tape got on the dog's fur. This created a nice, snug fit that allowed us to capture naturalistic movement.
Originally, we started out with 42 markers, but because of the size of the subject, we decided to get rid of two markers on the front paws.
Solving & Labeling
Based on the tutorial by Karl Abson, I created a quadruped labeling and solving setup using the Vicon Blade software.
The markers are color- coded depending on left, right, or center. The marker label names I created were named so they were easily identifiable, helping the labeling process to progress more quickly.
Degrees of freedom are locked in this process as well.
Inspired By Karl Abson & Others
My entire process for the quadruped motion capture is based off of this video tutorial from Siggraph 2014. While this is my main source, I also referenced video footage from Call of Duty: Ghosts and Motus Digital, for the marker locations on the subject.
