Another Newbie Question

[monte]

I've read through all the Forum Messages and the FAQ's. I'm interested in the theoretical concepts of taking the SDK data and presenting it in a format that would be more user friendly (e.g. for use with something like Maya).
I continue to see comments to take the SDK and build an application utilizing the real time data stream. For a Civil Engineer with no MoCap experience, but a desire to learn, what are suggestions for programming languages that would be appropriate in this situation.
I'm working with some very motivated but inexperienced high school students that would like to learn more about MoCap but without having to spend $20 to $100K to do this.
I'd like to take it one step at a time first with one to three cameras and SDK, and then utilizing the SDK data in some fashion to build very simple application. But my lack of programming experience is limiting what I can do. Any suggestions here would be helpful or other websites.
If you think I'm "over my head", please feel free to say so.

[Jim]

Hello:

I appreciate your willingness to give things a try and learn as you go. I would say that the best thing to do is download the SDK and take a look at it, see if it seems like something you can handle from a programming standpoint. We recommend C++, but you can also use VB. The sample application included with the SDK should just compile and you can use that to view the camera data, and then go from there.

[monte]

Thanks for the advice. I have access to a digital media center. Do You have a suggestion for a camera to run tests with SDK? I don't mind purchasing an OptiTrack for a test, but a temporary alternative would be helpful. I had a feeling I would need C++ sooner or later.

[Scruff]

Hi Monte:

Moderator - I'm including a link to an associated site. This isn't spam, and I intend to provide support for math/programming issues related to motion capture on that forum that have a broader scope that also includes OptiTrack.

I've started a new Yahoo group for motion capture system development at:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/motioncapture

I've posted some links in the links section to some mocap technology resources on the web (including one back here to OptiTrack). I'd be willing to field your math/programming questions on that forum.

Regards,

Michael

[ January 11, 2006, 12:20 PM: Message edited by: Scruff ]

[Birch]

Micahel,

That looks great, we hope that it becomes a useful resource for others looking to develop their own tracking solutions. Thank you for sharing!

[ January 11, 2006, 04:18 PM: Message edited by: NaturalPoint - Birch Zimmer ]

[Scruff]

Hi Birch:

My pleasure. I'm fairly familiar with Dr. Tomas Svoboda's multi-camera calibration Matlab toolbox (which is free use software). I use DV cameras, but I've looked at your OptiTrack cameras in the recent past. The principles should be the same for your cameras.

The main benefit of Dr. Svoboda's technique is that it simultaneously gives you camera position, orientation, and lens distortion with sub-pixel accuracy, and all you have to do is wave a laser pointer through the capture space. Since your system can track LED's, I think the general approach should work for them too.

Regards,

Michael Miles

[ January 18, 2006, 10:05 AM: Message edited by: Scruff ]

[ibi001@sbcglobal.net]

Looking for people to program the sdk
as well... Have you found any????

[Scruff]

Were you asking me, or the NaturalPoint people?

Regards, Michael