Free Motion Capture Data

Kinect Motion Sensor

Microsoft Xbox Kinect motion sensor changed the method of game playing and brings more interaction with the game. You can clearly see the success of this new technology as it set a new Guinness world record for selling more than 10 million kinect sensors. This controller free gaming system is liked by many pro gamers and in near future you can see most of the games adapting motion capture technology for more interactive gaming.

Kinect Hacks

But besides all that motion sports and gaming what got my attention is the kinect hacks. Ever since the launch of Microsoft xbox kinect motion sensor, it is hacked to use with various other PC applications. There are many cool kinect hacks out there in various fields like gaming, robotics and computer graphics. But considering the nature of the device it can be a great use in the field of motion capture technology.

Kinect Motion Capture

Many motion capture applications keeps coming for kinect. Kinect motion capture system cab used by 3d applications for capturing motions for 3d animation softwares like motionbuilder, 3ds max, maya, poser, blender etc., And there are two successful motion capture applications using kinect motion sensor which enables animators to setup their own motion capture studio.

IPiSoft Kinect Motion Capture Application

Ipisoft comes with a first commercial kinect motion capture software. ipisoft released its desktop motion capture software a year ago. It uses markerless motion capture technology. You just need to record a video using webcam or their suggested sony play station eye for better results. Then their software process the video and converts it to motion capture files. Output supports various mocap formats- Biovision .BVH format including 3DS MAX .BVH,MotionBuilder .BVH,Endorphin .BVH,iClone .BVH,Blender .BVH, FBX,COLLADA (.dae),Valve Software’s Source Engine animation .SMD

Ipisoft’s desktop motion capture software now supports using microsoft kinect sensor and thus making motion capturing process more easier. Now it supports using only one kinect at a time and may be in future multi kinect support will be added. Apart from the costly motion capture systems used for commercial purpose, ipisoft software is the only one affordable by freelance animators. Their express edition costs $395 and its affordable for small motion capture studios. But before buying you can get a free trial for 30 days.

Download iPi Desktop Motion Capture Free Trial

Brekel Kinect MotionBuilder Application

Jasper Brekelmans,a senior mocap & character TD and custom tool/pipeline developer for Motek comes with a useful application called brekel kinect using Microsoft Kinect sensor, and PrimeSense’s OpenNI and NITE.It allows you to capture 3D objects and export them. It also does  skeleton tracking which can be streamed into  MotionBuilder in real time or can be exported as BVH files.

Download Brekel Kinect Motion Capture Software

Microsoft Kinect SDK , API & Drivers Official Download

Microsoft officially released its kinect sdk for windows 7 including kinect drivers, API and sample codes. soon we can see lot more useful applications with kinect.

Download Microsoft Kinect SDK beta & Kinect Drivers, API

Hoping to see more useful 3d mocap  applications using kinect motion capture sensor.