way back machine… motion capture from video…

Posted on May 21, 2010 by Jeff Thomann

funny how some keywords hit you years later and you find posts from yourself from long ago…

http://forums.cgsociety.org/archive/index.php/t-208448.html

found that from this google…

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22pixel+tracking%22+%2B%22motion+capture%22&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-us&sa=2

yep, that’s my post from 2005! Geesh… Too bad I didn’t keep up with trying to learn this stuff back then. I think I even created an open source project for this type of stuff, but it never went anywhere since I wasn’t great at programming and knew little about the algorithms and stuff needed…

What I was looking for back then, and that I don’t think anyone has created to date, at least, not cheaply… is a full scale 3d motion tracking system… What IS NEEDED IN 3D ANIMATION!…

D-Sculptor and programs like it use photogametry to calculate an images location based on a scale that’s below/behind the object being photographed. It uses the photos as textures to make a 3d model… the model is not very great as far as animation goes since it’s basically a static point cloud…

What needs to be done is someone needs to do something like that and make it so that the created model is animatable directly from the getgo- something that detects human forms, animal forms, etc… mixes and matches with bvh type files and fbx type files to make skeleton rigs that are ready to roll, and do all of this cheaply… and/or as open source/free…

What needs to be captured would be the base form, some math to change that in to a quad/plolygonal mesh that has skeletons inside… and even mix it to do motion blends and stuff… Rigging as things are now is still very old school for the most part and animators do most work by hand… we need to eventually get to where it’s all automated so animators can focus more on the craftmanship and the fine details that they usuaully only get to at the very end of projects now so that the craftmanship of the entire industry can go up a few notches…

motion capture cheap…

Posted on May 21, 2010 by Jeff Thomann

http://freemotionfiles.blogspot.com/2009/06/cheap-motion-capture-with-free-software.html

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22cheap+motion+capture%22&hl=en&rls=com.microsoft%3Aen-us&sa=2

Yes, Chris, and anyone else who cares to read this. I did post this and the last few posts. This is NOT a robot. I usually bookmark this sort of stuff with del.icio.us but since I don’t have the toolbar for that installed on this computer, I’m just posting it the stuff here…

Believe it or not (yes, you probably do believe since I”m a bit nutty sometimes), I had a jogging suit with pom poms sewed on way back 6 or so years ago when I wanted to get in to this d-sculptor, imodeler, and greenscreen junk. However, way back then the computers I was using were way too slow to do much… Aura 1 used to be in Newtek’s ftp site for free. Not sure if it still is. Newtek is the company that makes Lightwave 3d… There was some sort of a pixel tracking thing in aura that could be exported to lightwave… so you could record motion and create paths for it in 3d. Now that I’m starting to get back in to 3d and stuff mentally, a lot of this old knowledge is starting to flood back in to my brain… interesting stuff.

I have a couple of 1000 watt spotlights that are typically used for construction jobs in my basement. I was going to use them to make a homebrew photo studio, or greenscreen studio a few years back. Not sure if I will do that or not… never used the lights yet since I’m not sure how safe they are (warning label on the side of the box talks about lead)…

I might use them to set up as cheap homebrew strobes to shoot my portfolio in the basement someday.

Need to clean out the basement someday before all of that can ever happen though, or before I can convert the basement in to a descent painting studio like I envision it to eventually be… (assuming I can find some way to ventilate it).

It’s still got quite a few things in it that is a bit unorganized from last year, when mother-in-law moved and father-in-law passed away, and we inherited quite a bunch of odds and ends that are now in storage in the basment…

interesting reading – diy greenscreen

Posted on May 21, 2010 by Jeff Thomann

http://www.lifeisaprayer.com/articles/photography/diy-greenscreen

http://www.google.com/search?q=homemade+greenscreen&rls=com.microsoft:en-us&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&startIndex=&startPage=1

http://blog.mindbites.com/how-to-make-a-homemade-green-screen/

a few more…

Posted on May 5, 2010 by Jeff Thomann

————————————
===========CONFORM==================
————————————
Conform and get rid of your freedom.

Do things my way… the only way…
the way it’s always been done.
====================================

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
=======APPEAL===============
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
It can’t hurt to appeal.
Beg for more money.

You know you don’t deserve it,
nor does your boss!

but you do it anyways…
it can’t hurt to ask…
beg for more money…

Money they don’t deserve.

Money that they use
to make you serve…

Mammon is real and here now.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
+++++=========~~~~~
+++++dReAmS…~~~~~
+++++=========~~~~~
Living in the shadows
your dreams come out.

They are always beside you
but they don’t always shout.

They whisper silently
in your subconcious mind

Driving you ever closer
to the edge.

It is only when
someone you love
teases them gently

softly

that they begin to surface
driving you to become yourself
and start living your dreams.

one small sign of true love.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

=======================
Holy crap.
Screwed up so bad.
What are we going to do?

It’ll all work out.
It always does.

Maybe just not
the way you want it to.
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