bvh data - which flavor?

[Hirazi Blue]

While looking for a set of free mocap data sets I (a mocap NOOB) encountered this page, offering a large enough set (for my testing purposes). But this page confronts me with a riddle, I am unable to solve: it offers a "3dsMax-friendly version" of the data set and a "MotionBuilder-friendly version". So now I'm already at a loss. Would Softimage's usage of bvh files necessitate a 3dsMax-friendly file or a MotionBuilder-friendly file? And while we're at it: what would be the actual difference?

[Kerro Perro]

I grabbed the same collection a while back, my reasoning was this:
Since SI has a bunch of motionbuilder presets and afaik no max ones i chose the mobu friendly one.

Buttt, when i tried to apply the bhv directly to a species rig i got all sorts of odd flipping (it broke my characters spine basically ;) ) so i ran i trough mobu and output it as fbx wich worked perfectly.

But that was just a single try and afaik it should be possible to apply the bhv directly, probably needs some experimentation with the tagt template in MOTOR..

The collection is definitely worth it though - lots of interesting stuff in there for mocap noobs like us! ;)

[Hirazi Blue]

Thanks for your response. Sadly I don't have the luxury to run it through MotionBuilder (I'm a "Vanilla ICE" user, eh, Softimage-only user, I mean), but at least you spared me a longer session at downloading the stuff. Now I will go have a look if I can find a similarly enticing (and free) collection of FBX mocap files.
;)

[Kerro Perro]

Woah hold up! Just because i in my laziness couldn't get it to work on a Species rig doesn't mean it can't be done. I didn't even try this: http://softimage.wiki.softimage.com/xsi ... m#Rde72453

If you don't want to download the whole thing i can send you a few loose bhv's so you can try?

[Tekano]

I downloaded a sample set (of the motion builder version) and they seemed to work fine with file > import Biovision = the data came across ok. was too lazy to set up the tags on a rig though

[Letterbox]

OR you could probably import them in either blender and daz (both free i believe), then export out as fbx. But again you're going to have to tag stuff.

[Mathaeus]

While looking for a set of free mocap data sets I (a mocap NOOB) encountered this page, offering a large enough set (for my testing purposes). But this page confronts me with a riddle, I am unable to solve: it offers a "3dsMax-friendly version" of the data set and a "MotionBuilder-friendly version". So now I'm already at a loss. Would Softimage's usage of bvh files necessitate a 3dsMax-friendly file or a MotionBuilder-friendly file? And while we're at it: what would be the actual difference?

Max friendly or DAZ friendly, probably means BVH that completely fits to Max Biped or appropriate DAZ thing. For Max Biped, you just load BVH and skeleton moves. In case something doesn't match, Max tries to find the best solution - if Max can't , you're getting the character head in place of chest or like. Usually problem is (always arbitrary) number of spine segments, the way of chest to shoulders connection, so on. In short, if BVH is not-Max-friendly, you have a problem which can't be solved in Max.
XSI import is way more generic, you get independent hierarchy, tagging and transferring is your job. You'll have a lot of small problems, but you'll be able to solve them, one by one, even by old-fashion route, using only constraints (same method belong to science fiction in Max, considering 'consistency' and stability of entire rigging in Max). Nothing and everything is SI-friendly.

[Hirazi Blue]

Thanks Mathaeus, that seems to solve the "friendliness" riddle quite nicely.
I've started to test some files now & will probably come running back with more questions soon...
;)

[Nick3d]

My two cents

I tried different solutions about mocap using the 3ds max friendly

As far as my test went here are the results:
- I tried on a rig that I build by myself, and as soon I applied the BVH file everything worked properly: I just used MOTOR to tag the skeleton of the BVH file and then apply the animation. I followed one of the Digital Tutors creation Rig, so that was my base for the rig.
- Exocortex Species plugin: I tested this autorig a lot with BVH files, and if I remember correctly one of the BVH files that I used was exactly one that is in that motion capture collection.
Same thing: import the BVH file, tag the skeleton via MOTOR, apply the BVH animation via MOTOR, everything worked properly
- Kinect motion capture (iPi motion capture ): I tested this amazing software and I tried two solution: one was the simple BVH export that didn't work properly ( SI crashed ), the other one was the "3ds BVH export" that worked perfectly in SI ( it recognize even fingers ), so I followed the same procedure using MOTOR

You can see some of the tests done with Species plugin, how to import, apply and export animation for UDK/Unity in m tutorials, here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Nick3d/vide ... rid&view=0

Since I tried the custom rig with motion capture files a bit ago it may be that SI2012-2013 could have some problems related to import/rig not properly setup, but right now I can't test it...or if I'll test them it would be with the Species plugin, since I got it I become too lazy to build a rig from scratch

[Mathaeus]

I've started to test some files now & will probably come running back with more questions soon...
;)

btw there is a number of free or cheap BVH viewers/editors, like BvHacker, for faster process. To say it honestly, in case BVHs are ordered, 'Max Biped friendly' could be synonym for way batter processed BVH file, simply because (usually) there is no TD on user's side, so it should work without assistance. But I'm not sure for free stuff.
Getting a believable motion in BVH seems to be entire art, similar to motion tracking. That's a place for fancy full body IK solvers, after all. I'd say, for free stuff, if you have a lot of samples, just try all of them