College Instructor, looking for some help with MOTIVE

[Apophis775]

Hi,

We recently discovered a motion tracker set from an instructor no longer with us and I've been given the job of seeing if it works and what we can do with it. I know a bit about using motion tracking equipment, however, most of the time, the equipment was already setup to track a volume, and mounted to walls. We are using a series of 6 tripods and share the room with a performance class.

With out situation, I'm having trouble trying to get the equipment setup and tracking the volume. I was wondering if there was a guide or anything anywhere, on how to do this, as the quick-start guard simply says "Make sure that the markers can be seen by at least 2 cameras", but nothing about where I should place the markers, I can't even figure out, the diameter of the volume I can have.

Here's our equipment list:

6 Flex 1 V100s
2 Rigid Body Markers
2 sets of 5 markers, 7/16
6 tripods
Laptop
Motion Wand (with 1 marker)


We've also got the USB Hubs, and all the cables we need (I have no problems, getting the cameras working with the software, but I can't get them tracking in the volume, or even gathering samples).

I would REALLY APPRECIATE any help you can give me. Thanks!




If anyone has any advice, guides, or tutorials on this, I'd be very appreciative. I have some experience with motion tracking, but never in a setup with the older Optitrack V100s, mostly when I've worked with Motion Tracking, the volumes and cameras were pre-rigged in a lab. However, we share a lab, so I'm pushed into tripods with laptops. So, I'd really appreciate any help I could get with this for the basics.

[steven.andrews]

Hello Apophis775,

If you have already seen this quick start guide, I'm afraid there isn't much more documentation I can offer at this time.
http://wiki.optitrack.com/index.php?tit ... tart_Guide

In Motive, the Skeleton creation window should show you the marker positions once you select the skeleton setup you will use. I would be happy to help with any problems or questions you might have. Please feel free to submit a ticket at help.naturalpoint.com, where I can better address your questions.

Cheers,
Steven
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Steven Andrews
OptiTrack | Customer Support Engineer

[Apophis775]

Thanks.

I've looked through all that documentation.

Maybe you can tell me though, if we are using six cameras, what setup should we use? also, how far apart should each camera be, and what direction should they have?

[steven.andrews]

Hi Apophis775,

With a 6 camera system, you would want to arrange the cameras around the perimeter of the capture area. You can probably start by placing one camera on each corner and the additional two cameras on opposite sides of the capture area.

The Flex:v100 cameras have a range of up to 6 meters, depending on marker size. You would want to place the cameras so that the edge of the capture area furthest from the camera is no more than this distance.

Cheers,
Steven
--
Steven Andrews
OptiTrack | Customer Support Engineer

[Apophis775]

Few quick questions:

1. Any shape?
2. Do the cameras have to see each other (could I do an L shape)?
3. do I have to input the information into the system?

I tried earlier today, where we had the cameras in a line, but still didn't get the camera to perform sampling.

[steven.andrews]

Hey Apophis,

1. This is the guide for an older piece of software, but the picture at least shows you how we would position the cameras. The usual setup only consists of the upper row of cameras, usually mounted along the walls, but you could put the tripods in a circle if desired.
http://www.optitrack.com/static/documen ... 0Guide.pdf

2. The cameras do not need to see each other. In theory, the cameras could be setup in an L shape. This depends on the software you are running, though. If you are running the latest versions of Motive, I trust that the cameras would calibrate with such a setup. With some of our older software I am not so sure.

A layout in which the cameras are positioned all around the volume helps to insure that markers are trackable regardless of occlusion. This is especially true if tracking humans, in which case I would say you need cameras all around the volume looking inward.

3. I'm not sure what information you are asking about here, or where you are trying to enter it.


If you need some further assistance, I encourage you to open a ticket with us at help.naturalpoint.com so that we can better address any issues you are having. We should sync up regarding the software you are using and how you are attempting to calibrate your system.

Cheers,
Steven
--
Steven Andrews
OptiTrack | Customer Support Engineer

[Apophis775]

For number 3, As in, do I have to manually input the size of the volume?

Also, should any markers be visible when setting the cameras up, before entering with the wand?

[steven.andrews]

Hi Apophis,

You do not need to put in any information such as the size of your volume. When you calibrate, you do need to make sure you have the correct size set for the optiwand.

Before calibrating with the wand, no markers should be visible. You will want to mask out any reflections that are being seen before wanding begins. When calibrating, only the wand should be visible.

Cheers,
Steven
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Steven Andrews
OptiTrack | Customer Support Engineer