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My budget is about $20K.

I have a house and a room of this size:
460 x 390 x 225 (width/length/height in centimeters)

If it's necessary I can destroy a wall and double the length, i.e. dimensions will be: 460 x 780 x 225
Also I can remove a decorative ceiling and get additional +20cm. If needed - I can remove a roof and make a ceiling as high as needed.
But ideally I'd like not to reconstruct a house and just place cameras in the room and record mocaps.


To save money I am okay recording only a single person at first. But in a future I'd like to improve my setup (buy more cameras?) to record two and then three people.

I will record dancer(s) (male and female) and then retarget their animations to 3D characters.

A single female dancer will dance two types of dances:
1) Modern choreography, fast dances. Like this: https://youtu.be/NeRZ_tdD8KM
2) Dances on the floor: https://youtu.be/kVGjLTNFdEw

Two and three dancers will dance regular dances and "contact" dances where they hold each other: https://youtu.be/qk00gbDwGqM

Thanks!

HI Upstream99

You could do this with the flex3 or flex13 cameras which would be in your budget, but your biggest challenge is the space, even with extending your room. Ideally, you should have around 7x7 meters, which will give you a roughly 4x4 meter capture volume (where you best capture your dancers).

So you if you expanded your room, you would get approximately 2x4 meter capture volume which is not very much and you would need to have as many cameras as possible (16-24, which is the max)

What if I buy 8 PrimeX 13W cameras instead? They have wider FOV and capture volume will be bigger? How big will it be in this room? 460 x 780 x 225cm

Optitrack support team told me during a phone call that they do not recommend Flex cameras because they will not be supported in upcoming Motive 3.0 and dances can have fast movements and Flex refresh rate may be too slow.

Hi Upstream99

Prime13w's have a limitation, at distances greater than around 5meters, the distortion of the lens, for body mocap, creates issues, so you would ideally need a combination of prime13's and 13w's. As far as them being too slow for dance, might be the case for flex3's which are only 100fps, but the flex13's have 120fps, which unless the movements are extremely fast, is more than sufficient.

8 prime13's or prime13w's, once you add markers, suits, etc, will put you past your stated 20k budget and would only allow 1 actor

Now, that the flex series cameras will not be supported in 3.0 is news to me, so I need to confirm that.

But here are some examples of dance captured with Flex13's here's one from 2012 from Optitrack https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsA1852ZdzM
And one that I was involved in 2015, with a Michael Jackson impersonator, which was done live with 12 cameras in a small booth (with creative placing of cameras) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHHATqM7E38 There's areas where you can tell the space is a limitation due to the popping/snapping of the secondary characters in the background

and here's another example, Maya Kodes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nHZhnenpN8

Also using flex13's and is a live show

I came across your post about cameras for recording dances from a couple of years ago and wanted to offer some advice.

upstream99 wrote: ↑Thu May 06, 2021 2:25 pm What if I buy 8 PrimeX 13W cameras instead? They have wider FOV and capture volume will be bigger? How big will it be in this room? 460 x 780 x 225cm

Optitrack support team told me during a phone call that they do not recommend Flex cameras because they will not be supported in upcoming Motive 3.0 and dances can have fast movements and Flex refresh rate may be too slow.

Thank you for your advice. I have decided to purchase eight PrimeX 13W cameras instead of the Flex cameras. Their wider field of view and larger capture volume will better accommodate fast movements in my room (460 x 780 x 225cm).

Hello Upstream99,

Achieving your goal with flex3 or flex13 cameras within your budget is possible, but the primary hurdle lies in space constraints, even with room extension. Ideally, a space of around 7x7 meters is recommended, providing a capture volume of roughly 4x4 meters—optimal for capturing your dancers effectively.

Expanding your room may yield only an approximate 2x4 meter capture volume, which is somewhat limited. To make the most of this space, you'd need to maximize the number of cameras, ideally ranging from 16 to 24, reaching the maximum capacity for effective coverage.