Partial Mocap

If you want to quickly motion capture some upper body or movement about the scene, you can do so with just the headset and controllers.

NB - Use additional trackers for your waist and feet to create full mocap.

Partial is good enough to block out scene movement, but full body will deliver more accuracy and better performance.

Place a character on stage

  1. Press both Menu buttons to go to the Asset Library
  2. Point at a character to highlight it, then use the Trigger to pick the character up.
    You will now return to the stage with your character in hand, whether you hold the Trigger, or not.
  3. Click or release the Trigger to place them.
  4. Using the navigator tool, aim at the character and hold the trigger to 'take control'.
  5. To leave, press the 'B' button

Note - Characters will collide with the ground for easy placement, but if you keep pushing down, they will sink beneath ground level.

Calibrate your head and hands

Before you can motion capture, FirstStage needs to map your body dimensions to the puppet's skeleton by aligning your head and hands to the appropriate head and hand bones.

Note - You only need to do this once, as FirstStage will remember your physical dimensions and align it to any puppet you select from then on, no matter what size.

  1. With the Navigator selected, point at the character and 'Perform' will highlight above them, then press the Trigger to 'take control' and enter Mocap Set Up.
    You will arrive facing your character.
  2. Calibrate your head                                                                                                                                                                                              Click the 'Recalibrate' button located to your left.
    Stand straight and look at the red target (align the two targets) until it turns green to calibrate your height.
    Your eye height will be displayed on the left UI panel.
    Click the Recalibrate button to repeat the Head set up process.
  3. Calibrate your hands
    For normal human characters, your controllers should be correctly seated in your hands, but if they need adjusting, use your other hand to proximity grab a controller (an orange ball will appear when ready to grab), and position it to better align with your hand

Select Body Parts for motion capture

See Layered Mocap

Select Body Position

Click the Tick to start motion capture.

Click the red Cross at any time to return to the stage without saving your changes.

How does partial mocap work for full body animations?

Partial mocap just tracks your head and hands and uses the puppet’s inverse kinematics (IK)  to manage how the body flexes and moves between those points. If standing, the feet are assumed to be a body length directly beneath your head, and the engine will try to maintain that.

However, your feet are not always in the same relative position to your head, and that is why there are three body position calibrations available:

  • Standing
  • Seated
  • Prone (lying down)

But if you want to accurately capture where your body parts are with full mocap, then you need the additional trackers or a smartsuit, and we are delighted to say that we support Rokoko Smartsuits, which now includes hand and facial capture!