Motion Capture a juggler

[Namielus]

Hi!

I need some advice on how to capture a scene the best way.
A guy I know has an optitrack setup, but I want to try to find out as much as possible on my own, so that he does not have to waste alot of time finding out.

Does anybody know if a setup of 11 v100 OptiTrack cameras can capture the balls of a juggler, or if those have to be animated manually? I know the max height the setup can track is 2 meters/6.5 feet.

The equipment is not mine, so I will have to get back to you with more information if you need more.


Feel free to move this thread if its in the wrong place, i struggled to understand where it would be best suited.

[bsteagal]

Hi Namielus

Theoretically, there's no reason why it couldn't capture the balls, in practice though, it will be a lot trickier.. you have to setup markers on the balls, to make them a rigid body.. and that will be difficult to capture without obscuring them..

perhaps, if you use balls made out of mesh (so that the markers would be visible thru them).. this might make it easier..

Hope this helps

[Namielus]

Thanks for you reply!
If the balls are ir-reflective can't they be a marker themselves?

There is no need to track spin on the balls just the path they take. Or is the markers locked to one certain size?

[NaturalPoint - Mike]

It's not locked to any particular size. You could theoretically just cover them in a retroreflective tape and track them as single markers, however Arena does not like unlabeled markers. You could also use small dots of retroreflective material on the balls to create rigid bodies, then track those. Either way you'd have gaps in data you'd need to fill when they came to the juggler's hands, but those would be minimal.