Lighting the capture area

[dtaylor112]

Hey all,

I just set up my 8 cameras and I ran the callibration wizard (2 Excellents, 4 greats and 2 goods) - now I'm running the Skeleton wizard.

When I placed the markers on the suit I realized I was short a few markers. (I have markers for the ankles but nothing on the shin - I also have no markers for the feet so I'm trying to use the "Marker Base: rigid body base" on my shoes.. I have no idea what else they're for and I have only TWO markers below the knees so I figured what the heck?)

Now I'm trying to figure out how much and what kind of light I should have in the room. I read somewhere that daylight was bad so I covered the windows... it's pretty dim in the room as my source light is in the next room. Are light bulbs and bad move as well?

I'm watching myself in the skeleton wizard and I see markers jumping all over the place as I move around and it's looking like I have nothing beneath the knees... is this light related?

(PS: I know the light is only one issue out of many I listed in this post, but I'm trying to take care of one thing at a time. I already sent an email about the missine markers... oy)

Thanks!

[dtaylor112]

One more thing, I can't proceed past the wizard because I'm reading that I don't have the minimum 34 markers present so that's where I'm stuck.

[Jim]

Hello:

- Overall, you want to minimize external light, especially sunlight.

- When you ran the Calibration Wizard, it should have shown you if there were external light sources in the room, you should then block them. Typically, you can't calibrate if there are external light sources showing during this phase of setup.

- If there are a lot of phantom markers showing up in the Skeleton Wizard, then you might have a poor calibration, or it is a lot of external light, this will make it hard to use the Wizard, as the it needs to see the correct number of markers, although you can select the markers by hand, to segment them from other background markers, if needed.

- You MUST follow the Skeleton Wizard exactly, that is why it shows you where to put the markers.

You will have 28 regular round markers, those are for the body. The plastic rigid bodies have 3 markers each, they go on the hands, that is 34 markers. The default setup is for only 2 markers on each foot, there is extra velcro with adhesive on the back to stick to some shoes that have no other reflective material on them. You place them on your toe line, as per the Wizard.

Please note, motion capture is complex and involves following procedures exactly as shown in online tutorials or the Wizards. Even for experienced users, it requires attention to detail. The more precise you are, the better your results will be.

Let us know how these suggestions help.

[dtaylor112]

Ahhh OK - that's what those markers were for. I'll be trying this again tomorrow.

As for the lighting etc. I did see some phantom markers and since I'm doing this in my living room (I have a huge living room) I assumed it was the lights from the cablebox/vcr etc. I have them behind the actual IR camera (I have the cameras about 15ft apart horizontally and a good 12.5 feet apart the other way and my tv etc. is behind that setup...

Maybe that's what's causing the phantom markers? My girlfriend has a framed painting on the wall and the reflection from the the glass covering could be causing phantom markers as well... I really had no idea these cameras could pick up such things...

I was getting at least 2 'Excellents' pretty consistantly but tomorrow I will try to get all excellents AND cover iup everything THEN put the rigid reflectors on (for all markers) then I will give it a go again.

I'm learning Visual Basic at work and this at home... my brain is getting larger, I can FEEL it!

I'll keep you posted.

THANKS