I see...

RL has the Xbox Kinect Mocap plugin, if that what you mean? I tried the trial, but to be blunt, it was useless.

Do you know any software for kinect v2 that can take advantage of its mocaping capabilities? Like facial, finger and full body in a decent way? Any other solutions, that is cheap a DIY Mocap studio? Any ideas?

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Best regards
Albin
(AlbinosGambit)

Mike Kelley would be more qualified to answer this as he has tried out many solutions over the years, but he would probably tell you that cheap Mocap (like for $100) that is NOT utterly frustrating and disappointing doesn't exit. I don't have body Mocap, but I would probably get the Perception Neuron suit. For facial animation I have Faceware, but the iPhone solution is better apparently and also cheaper.

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Well, since Job mentioned me...

Yeah, I've been through, if not all, at least all of the cheaper mocap solutions over the years.  The Kinect iPisoft was pretty decent (and still exists) and is at least worth checking out, but it was SO much work and still not great (but on a budget...).  If you don't have MUCH mocap (say just a tiny bit once a month or so) the phone capture mocap system looks worth investigating: however, it doesn't (apparently) work with iClone yet (at least check, a few months ago, the samples could not be used in iClone).

But other than that -- yep, biting the bullet and getting the PN suit (now discounted to around $1300 or so) is your best bet.  It's quality capture that consistently works, and the price will never be better (you do not need any additional software -- while you *can* use Motion Live, I actually get the best results using the software that comes with the suit on its own).  If you don't have that much (and can't save up for it) then don't mess with anything else until you CAN save up -- there is a lot of animation you can do without mocap (learning to use the editor inside of iClone will become a very useful skill).

For facial capture there IS nothing better than Live Face, IMHO.  If you have an iPhone it's a no-brainer (only a few hundred dollars).  Without an iPhone/iPad Pro it's more expensive, of course, but if you score a deal on a used XR (you don't need service) it would be worth it.

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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

Thanks Mike, for chiming in. Rather than trying to paraphrase you, I thought I might try to get your attention...:P

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Hi.

I was also considering to get Perception Neuron and thats the best value for money, but still expensive considering the difficult situation with Covid Virus.

Faceware how does that work? I thought that was the same as iPhone?

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WIN 10, COOLERMASTER MASTERCASE 500H, MSI GAMING PRO CARBON X470 RGB, AMD Ryzen 7 2700X CPU, MSI GeForce GTX 1650 GAMING X - 4GB GDDR5 RAM GPU, Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz 16GB RAM, SSD M.2 Corsair Force Series MP510 480 GB, SEAGATE BARRACUDA 3.5 HDD 4 TB.

Best regards
Albin
(AlbinosGambit)

Faceware (around $1300 for just the base software -- you still need Motion Live base) will work with almost any webcam of 720HD or more.

The iPhone solution for software is much cheaper (around $200 when I bought it) but, of course, you need the phone.  You can get a used XR (about your cheapest option) for around $600 when I last looked.  But Live Face performs better than Faceware, IMHO.

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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 Kelley.

You are so active and take the time to answer many of us and sharing your knowledge, I do really appreciate that, thank you!

So to use Faceware you need:
Faceware 1190USD
Motion LIVE 100USD

The Iphone solution, you need 
iPhone ( LIVE FACE ) 299USD +
Motion LIVE 100USD

You say Live Face performs better than Faceware? What is live Face? You mean the iPhone package?

How come the iPhone solution performs better than the more expensive Faceware?

So you recommend buying the iPhone solution? I am considering to buy a used iPhone:-)

I think RL´s webpage does a really bad job of explaining what you actually need to get into facial animation. You would also need 3DXchange Pipeline to get all this to work?

I am so confused by RL´s shop of explaining this clearly

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WIN 10, COOLERMASTER MASTERCASE 500H, MSI GAMING PRO CARBON X470 RGB, AMD Ryzen 7 2700X CPU, MSI GeForce GTX 1650 GAMING X - 4GB GDDR5 RAM GPU, Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO DDR4 3200MHz 16GB RAM, SSD M.2 Corsair Force Series MP510 480 GB, SEAGATE BARRACUDA 3.5 HDD 4 TB.

Best regards
Albin
(AlbinosGambit)

Yes, Live Face is the name of the iPhone software.

It performs better in some regards.  For one thing, it's nowhere near as critical in lighting (in Faceware you need very even light whereas with Live Face I can practically record in the dark).  I also can't wear my glasses with Faceware -- Live Face ignores them.  And I do think it's slightly more responsive -- not a ton, but just a bit better.  I have both and I rarely use Faceware anymore.

You don't need 3DXChange at all for this to work.  Essentially you bring up Motion Live, select the avatar, and then "attach" or activate the plugin you are using (either Faceware or Live Face).  You then record the mocap directly in iClone, onto your avatar.

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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