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Motion Capture

Description

Motion capture (sometimes referred to as mocap or mo-cap, for short) is the process of recording high-resolution movement of objects or people into a computer system. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robots.

Solutions

MetaHuman Animator Markerless Motion Capture Plugin AI, Markerless, 1 camera - Free

File formats

Wiki

BVH stands for Biovision Hierarchical Data, which was developed by a motion capture company called Biovision. The BVA format (also developed by Biovision) is an older format which was the precursor to BVH. The BVH format is mainly used as a standard representation of movements in the animation of humanoid structures. It is currently one of the most popular motion data formats and has been widely adopted by the animation community (probably because of its simple specifications).

This file format allows renaming the segments of a BVH file to match the convention used in Autodesk 3D Studio Max. The name defined by the user is associated to the predefined label for the biped segment. eg. Humerus = L UpperArm

This file format also allows renaming the markers of a CSM file to match the convention used in Autodesk 3D Studio Max. A name defined by the user is associated to the predefined label expected by Character Studio. eg. LeftShoulder = LSHO

The MBX format is a binary hierarchical skeletal format that is exclusive to the Noitom Perception Neuron motion capture system. Files can be loaded into the Noitom Axis Studio software and then exported to BVH and other formats from their software.

The MVNX format is a human-readable open XML based format for storing Xsens MVN motion capture data. The format contains the 3D positions and orientations of all segments captured with Xsens MVN. In addition, the format includes several other variables to be exported such as joint angles, segment velocity and free acceleration, center of mass trajectory and calibrated sensor data of the individual motion trackers. MVNX data can also be imported into leading software programs including MATLAB and Excel.

The format is a variant of the BVH file format developed by Biovision. The ASK file (Alias Skeleton) only contain information concerning the skeleton and, as a result, does not contain any information about the channels or the movement. The offset coordinates are absolute, unlike the BVH in which they are relative. The SDL file associated to the ASK file contains the data of the movement but it can contain much other information concerning the scene than the very samples of the movement.

Adaptative Optics is a company dedicated to the creation of hardware support for the motion capture. This ASCII file format simply describes the captors and their position at each sampling period.

This format was developed by Acclaim, a video game company. Once entered in the public domain it has been used by Oxford Metrics (Vicon Motion Capture Systems). The Acclaim format is composed of two different files, one for the skeleton and the other one for the movement. The separation between these two types has been done because the same skeleton is often used for numerous distinct movements. The file containing the skeleton description in the ASF file (Acclaim Skeleton File) and the file containing the movement data is the AMC file (Acclaim Motion Capture data).

The format is uniquely used by the motion capture system Ascension Technology “Flock of Birds” developed by LambSoft. It allowed stocking the data coming from a magnetic motion capture system.

The GRC file format is file format to store motion capture data from Synertial mocap system. GRC includes RAW data from inertial sensors (such as rotation, acceleration, and magnetic field strength), skeleton details, absolute position of the skeleton root and various metadata (notes, TimeCode, ..).
Thanks to the fact that the RAW data from this file are read by Synertial SDK and the skeleton structure is recomputed each time they are needed, the file format is memory efficient. GRC file format data are compatible and can be exported into BVH and FBX file formats using Synertial software tools.

The HTR format (Hierarchical Translation Rotation) has been developed as a native format for the skeleton of the Motion Analysis software. It has been created as an alternative to the BVH format to make up for its main drawbacks. A HTR variant exist which is called the GTR format (Global Translation Rotation) and is the same format less the structural information.

The Tak, pronounced "take," file format is used by the Motive software developed by OptiTrack. The file can contain information on:

The TRC file format is another file format from Motion Analysis. It contains not only the raw data from the full body motion capture system they developed but also the output data coming from their face tracker.

The TRC file format, conversely to most others, is not skeleton-based.

The CSM format is an optical tracking format that is used by Character Studio (an animation and skinning plug-in for 3ds Max) for importing marker data.

The V file format is a binary motion data format developed by Vicon Motion Systems. This file is normally used in conjunction with a VSK file also developed by Vicon Motion System. The VSK file contains the skeleton Hierarchy.

The C3D file format is a public domain, binary file format developed in the mid-1980s at The National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. It stores 3D coordinate information, analog data and associated information used in 3D motion data capture and subsequent analysis operations.

The C3D file format, conversely to most others, is not skeleton-based, and is binary.

The GMS (Gesture and Motion Signal) format is a low-level, binary, minimal, but generic, format for storing Gesture and Motion Signals in a flexible, organized, optimized way. The GMS format takes into account the minimal features a format carrying movement/gesture information needs: flexible dimensionality for the signals, versatile structuration, flexible types of the encoded variables, and spatial and temporal properties of gesture and motion signals. GMS received the support of the FP6 Network of Excellence IST-2002-002114 – "Enactive Interfaces".

The GMS file format, conversely to most others, is NOT skeleton-based, and is binary.

A closed binary file format developed by House of Moves for use in their proprietary software called (at the time) Diva. This file format is essentially a dump of a Diva scene. It includes all translational marker data as well as all rotational bone data in the scene and more.

The FBX proprietary file format (.fbx) owned by Autodesk since 2006. The Blender Foundation has published an unofficial specification for binary FBX.

The PZ2 format is used by the popular 3D figure software Poser and DAZ Studio. The format can encode both body and facial animation, and can be applied by dropping the file onto the character in the viewport. It is text-based, akin to XML in structure, and can be easily edited. There is also a face-only variant (no neck) called FC2. Motion capture software that can output PZ2 includes Zign Track, F-Clone, Kinect Capture, Brekel Face, and Faceshift via a free script.