The hardware cost isn't bad -- even with straps I think the entire cost was around $900 or so (I got it from Amazon).  I *think* you can even do it slightly cheaper if you don't opt for the head tracker (you can use the wired headset instead, but I didn't want to be wired nor deal with that thing on my head.  The head tracker I wear is so light I almost don't notice it).

For most it will be the software that is the deal breaker -- at current exchange rates (this is a Brit company) it's a touch over $500 per year.  IKinema has a history of letting prices go down, however, and for eventually making perpetual licenses, so both of those things are possible.  But for now, at least, we are looking at a payback for the PN at around two years and then this system gets more pricey.  But it wasn't total cost that drove me to this -- I still don't like the look of the PN "suit" and the magnetic interference thing is off-putting to me.  There is literally no calibration needed for this and while Kungfu says he is now capturing in five minutes with his I suspect that clumsy me would take far longer (and he has also spent more money for some kind of magnetic holder case, I think -- so payback might be another additional year).  Plus folks say there is cleanup that must be done with the PN capture and so far I don't think I'm going to do any cleanup with this capture (I am perfecting my capture process to that point).

I also look at this the way I did originally at iPisoft -- I bought into that system thinking that a year or two down the road something better would come along.  It did, but unfortunately it did *right* at the time I spent a lot more money on the iPisoft (bought a ton of brand new Kinects and converters, and paid a three-year license fee for the software).  However, I am way too smart to fall for the sunk cost fallacy (being old has a lot to do with that as well).  In another year or two something far better may well come along and I won't feel too bad about it (I suspect I'll be able to eBay the VR system and still get back most of my money for the hardware -- I hope I can do that with the Kinect, although my big cost is that three year license I haven't yet activated).

And Sonic -- my cave is just fine (it's a spare bedroom, with only computer furniture in it).  But the capture area is such that the dining room works better -- we just need to remove the table (a year ago my wife was after me to do this, so it won't be hard to convince her now).  I have my old computer set up there permanently, and yesterday went ahead and mounted the lighthouses on the walls so now I don't have tripods in the way.

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Alienware Aurora R16, Win 11, i9-149000KF, 3.20GHz CPU, 64GB RAM, RTX 4090 (24GB), Samsung 870 Pro 8TB, Gen3 MVNe M-2 SSD, 4TBx2, 39" Alienware Widescreen Monitor
Mike "ex-genius" Kelley

Sounds great Mike ....
Excellent idea about trying to 'perfect your captures' so that *ideally* no cleanup would be needed.
I reckon that's definitely the way to go. If you're able to 'live monitor' - (or have someone do that), it would mean you could just 'go again' after a bad take. Even if you ended up 'averaging' 2 or 3 takes per required shot, it could still be quicker than manually 'tweaking' things later. - You could get a lot done in a single session.
This is really exciting stuff! - And yeah - sounds like you need the lounge room *Full Time* Mike. I'd give that table the flick ... - do you have a wood fire?  :w00t: 
But anyway, sounds like you've got a good setup ......  :)

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Please be patient with me ..... I don't always 'get it' the first time 'round - not even the 2nd time! :(  - yikes! ... 

● MSI GT72VR Laptop, i7 7700HQ 4-Core 3.8 GHz 16GB RAM; Nvidia 1070, 8GB Vram ● iClone-7.93 ● 3DXChange Pipeline 7.81 ● CC-3 Pipeline 3.44 ● Live Face ● HeadShot ● Brekel Pro-Body ● Popcorn FX ● iRAY ● Kinect V2 ● DaVinci Resolve17 ● Mixcraft 8.1

That "two or three takes" is right -- I'm kind of doing that now, without even checking the takes.  I just keep recording (one of the bad things about the iPisoft system was that even though it produced really perfect captures -- the cleanup software it uses is just perfect -- because it used two networked computers it was hard to capture more than a minute or two without a failure.  Very, very frustrating).  I just love leaving the capture on and getting three or four (or more) minutes of capture, doing whatever I want.  The way it's set up is that after you make the capture you "record" what you've captured to a BVH or FBX file (I've been using BVH exclusively).  During this record process you can snip and edit whatever you want (you press record while the playback plays, and then stop when you are doing with that particular recording of what you've already captured, if that makes sense).  It's really nice to be able to tailor what you did in that manner.

And, truthfully, I haven't even taken much advantage of it.  These three tests are mostly just me starting the capture process and then stopping it.  I've only edited the beginnings and tails of it, and haven't done any editing at all in the middle.  So that will be my next step. refining the workflow so I can do it as quickly as I need.

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Alienware Aurora R16, Win 11, i9-149000KF, 3.20GHz CPU, 64GB RAM, RTX 4090 (24GB), Samsung 870 Pro 8TB, Gen3 MVNe M-2 SSD, 4TBx2, 39" Alienware Widescreen Monitor
Mike "ex-genius" Kelley

Hi, Would you say its better or easier to use than, say, iPisoft or Brekel using the kinect and playstation controllers?

Sounds more and more attractive, Mike. I bought the PN plugin for iClone when it was on sale, so the loss is not too bad when I abandon it. I do appreciate your jumping right in and do the research.

I have a question about export/import. Does the solver software have some generic 3D model that it assumes or can it be adjusted? I'm asking because I always thought the motion imports needed to be tailored to the target. (Excuse my inadequate terminology...:unsure: )

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There's no real comparison using Kinect with either iPisoft or Brekel.  Brekel's Kinect stuff is okay as long as you don't turn around or otherwise occlude limbs (so you can't put your arms behind your body and you must always be facing forwards).  iPisoft with two Kinects can handle occlusion properly, but it also requires two PCs running on a network and it's also finicky -- not awful, but more trouble than I liked.  Plus I kind of hated the calibration process.   I've never used the PSEyes cameras on either, so I can't speak to that but I'd guess it will be similar (camera tracking is always a bit problematic due to turning issues -- again, if you are *careful* and either face forward or turn slowly you can get some excellent captures.  With VIVE you don't have to worry at all).

To put it another way, I spent close to 1K on brand new Kinects and iPisoft software late last year (just before Christmas) and I'm spending more now on this solution.  It's much, much better and easier.

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Alienware Aurora R16, Win 11, i9-149000KF, 3.20GHz CPU, 64GB RAM, RTX 4090 (24GB), Samsung 870 Pro 8TB, Gen3 MVNe M-2 SSD, 4TBx2, 39" Alienware Widescreen Monitor
Mike "ex-genius" Kelley

It's real time capture, so whatever is being "solved" is done as you move.  You can adjust the model for your own dimensions, but there wouldn't be any special adjustments for a target character.  Now, they do provide a number of characters for you to map to, so perhaps that answers your question.  They are all pretty standard, though -- and there is some kind of pipeline where you can have them take any custom character you want and put it in (but at a cost).

I don't know if that's a particular issue or not.   Obviously extra long limbs or other body parts would map somewhat differently in any animation, but I assume you could easily adjust that inside of iClone with the edit motion thingee.  Do you have a specific case in mind I could test?  (Or, conversely, I could provide you with a BVH file and you could play yourself.  But they are pretty standard BVH files and I've used such files in the past with even fairly odd and specific characters, like monsters and such, and they work just fine).

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Alienware Aurora R16, Win 11, i9-149000KF, 3.20GHz CPU, 64GB RAM, RTX 4090 (24GB), Samsung 870 Pro 8TB, Gen3 MVNe M-2 SSD, 4TBx2, 39" Alienware Widescreen Monitor
Mike "ex-genius" Kelley

Whoa! 1K WHAT? Thats expensive,..

Why not just use 1 Kinect? Thats only $39. for the 3 month ipi license. And you can get a used kinect 2 and cord for about $80. ??

The 1 Kinect capture is crap.

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Alienware Aurora R16, Win 11, i9-149000KF, 3.20GHz CPU, 64GB RAM, RTX 4090 (24GB), Samsung 870 Pro 8TB, Gen3 MVNe M-2 SSD, 4TBx2, 39" Alienware Widescreen Monitor
Mike "ex-genius" Kelley

Without risk of being banned or getting in trouble... May I ask Why??  You sound so strongly opinionated...