Using Motion-Capture Data

Besides animating a biped with footsteps or with keyframing (freeform animation), you can import a motion-capture file.

The overall workflow for motion capture is straightforward:

• Import the motion-capture data

  See Importing Motion-Capture Data.

• Filter the data

  Motion-capture files are typically dense, with keys on every frame. Filtering the data reduces the number of keys, resulting in an animation with better performance. You filter the data with the Motion Capture Conversion Parameters dialog. This dialog can reduce large numbers of keys at once. It is displayed when you use the Motion Capture rollout to load a BIP, BVH, or CSM file. Once you have loaded a motion-capture file, you can filter the data further by clicking Convert From Buffer (also on the Motion Capture rollout), which also displays this dialog.

  See Filtering Motion-Capture and Marker Data.

• (Optional) Edit the data

  Once you are happy with the converted animation, you can use the freeform animation tools to make specific changes.

  Tip: The Motion Mixer provides another way to edit motion-capture data.

Motion-capture files can be one of three file types: the native character studio BIP format, the BioVision (BVH) format, or the Character Studio Marker (CSM) format.