══════════════════

Introduction

══════════════════

The kinect sensor for XBOX 360 can detect the position/pose of a person standing in its field of vision.

The mcjKinectServer is a Windows application which can obtain those positions/poses from the kinect.

It can do this at up to 30 frames per second. The poses can be written to file or transmitted to a 'client' application.

The client application, a Daz Studio script, can record this animation and apply it to any Poser/Daz figure.

A $10 Power/USB adapter just like this one is needed to make your XBOX360 Kinect sensor compatible with a PC

══════════════════

History

══════════════════

══════════════════

Installing

══════════════════

Installing the Microsoft Kinect SDK V1.8 Runtime

The mcjKinectServer application is based on the Microsoft Kinect SDK V1.8.

The "Microsoft Kinect SDK V1.8 Runtime" contains drivers for the kinect

and support files needed by mcjKinectServer.

Here, from the very secure official site, you must download and install it

http://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/download/details.aspx?id=40277

Once the SDK-Runtime is installed, if you plug ( or un-plug/replug ) your kinect

Windows will detect your kinect and start installing the drivers that were in the SDK-Runtime

Supported Hardware

The server and client is compatible with the 'old' Kinect sensors which were sold with the XBOX 360 and compatibles

The new Kinect XBOX ONE V2 Sensors are not supported

Supported Operating System

Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows Embedded Standard 7

Software Requirements

Before installing the SDK-Runtime, make sure your Windows has

.NET Framework 4.0 or .NET Framework 4.5

Note that Windows Update probably installed this for you, automatically in recent months

Installing the mcjKinectServer001

The mcjKinectServer is a Windows 7, Windows 8 application ( .exe )

You may install it anywhere

example : in C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\mocap\

example : in C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\mocap\bin

Installing the mcjKinectClient001

The mcjKinectClient is a script for Daz Studio. ( like a program running inside Daz Studio )

The zip package is found at the bottom of this page

unzip it in a Daz Studio content folder,

typically

C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\Documents\DAZ 3D\Studio\My Library

or

C:\Program Files\DAZ\Studio\content\

or

C:\Program Files (x86)\DAZ\Studio\content\

or

once installed, it will appear in your Daz Studio content library

My Library\ / Scripts / mcasual

or

Studio / Scripts / mcasual

══════════════════

Use

══════════════════

Using the mcjKinectServer001 in Standalone mode

Running the server in standalone mode, default options

You can run the server in standalone mode ( without Daz Studio ) by double-left-clicking on the mcjKinectServer001.exe file

By default, in this mode, the motion-capture data it thrown away and lost

if you turn on the server's "Auto File" option, the mocap data will be written to a file with a filename corresponding to the current date/time example: 20150113125932.txt

This file will be created in the current working folder. By default this means the same folder as the mcjKinectServer001.exe file.

Running the server in standalone mode command line switches( advanced users )

remember that by default the server sends its output (mocap data) to stdout

piping the mocap data (stdout) to a specific file/location

mcjKinectServer001.exe >> "i:\aoa\mocap\caramelldansen.txt"

setting the mocap data fixed filename

mcjKinectServer001.exe -output:"caramelldansen.txt"

server will write mocap data to a file with a filename corresponding to the current date/time example: 20150113125932.txt

mcjKinectServer001.exe -output:Auto

setting the mocap data output folder

mcjKinectServer001.exe -workdir:"i:\aoa\mocap\"

server will not (also) write mocap data to the stdout stream

mcjKinectServer001.exe -stdout:Off

Using the mcjKinectServer001 under the control of mcjKinectClient001

the mcjKinectClient001 script should be in the Daz Studio Content Library panel under

Daz Studio Format / My Library / Scripts / mcasual

or

Daz Studio Format / Studio / Scripts / mcasual

Run mcjKinectClient001

The following only needs to be done once: click on the "Select Server" button in the Main Options" tab, browse to and select mcjKinectServer001.exe.

Click on the "Start Server" button.

The mcjKinectServer001 options and buttons

if you turn on the server's "Auto File" option, the mocap data will be written to a file with a filename corresponding to the current date/time example: 20150113125932.txt

if you turn on the server's "Delay" option, a 10 second delay will precede the mocap session. The count down starts when the 'Record" button is pressed and the kinect has detected the skeleton.

if you turn on the server's "Seated" option, only the upper torso, arms and neck joints will be tracked.

Use the "Start" and "Stop" buttons to start/stop recording

In this context, "recording" means, writing the motion capture data to a file and/or to the Daz Studio client.

Typical Motion Capture Session

A typical motion capture session would go like this:

- start the mcjKinectClient

- start the mcjKinectServer using the client's 'Start Server' button

The server initiated a 'conversation' with the Kinect sensor

The kinect sensor's red light should now be visible

The moment the kinect and the driver detects a human shape,

you should see a green stickman appear in the server's black screen

- click the client's 'Record' button

- move the server's window aside so it doesn't obscure Daz Studio's viewport

- turn on the server's 'delayed' option

- click the server's 'Start' button

- stand in front of the Kinect

- wait for the delay to elapse

- *** Motion capture session in progress ***

- click the server's 'Stop' button

- close the server window.

- close the client

we recorded the motions using the stickman in Daz Studio's scene

This could be a good time to save the scene to disk in case a crash occurs ( yes it can happen ! )

Motion Previewing

- start the mcjKinectClient

- start the mcjKinectServer using the client's 'Start Server' button

The server initiated a 'conversation' with the Kinect sensor

The kinect sensor's red light should now be visible

The moment the kinect and the driver detects a human shape,

you should see a green stickman appear in the server's black screen

- do not click the client's 'Record' button

- move the server's window aside so it doesn't obscure Daz Studio's viewport

- Click the server's 'Start' button,

the stickman in Daz Studio's scene will start moving.

but the timeline frame will not change ( we didn't click the client's record button )

so we are in a preview mode and not memorizing the poses.

Filling the blanks, The 'Fill Missing Keyframes' button

Sometimes the poses come at the kinect so fast, it cant keep up

and the stickman's animation has missing keyframes

The way Daz Studio poses the figures between keyframes produces major animation non-sense

so, immediately after motion-capture, you should click the client's 'Fill Missing Keyframes' button

The client script will then use 'Slerp Quaternion Interpolation' to fill the missing keyframes

Transferring the stickman animation to a Daz Studio figure

Select the target figure ( example a Genesis Figure )

Start the client

go in the "Stickman to figure" tab

select/unselect the joints that will be implicated in the transfer << THIS IS NOT OPERATIONAL YET

specify the range of stickman frames to be transferred and the starting frame for the figure

click the "Transfer This Range button"

after a few seconds the animation should be transferred

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The Hip Offset Option

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The position of a figure's hip bone relative to the root of the figure varies

from figure to figure and possibly from Daz Studio version to the next.

For Aiko 3 under Daz Studio 3, a value of Hip Offset = 120 should bring Aiko to floor level

For Genesis under Daz Studio 4.7, a value of Hip Offset = 0 is needed

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The Neck Bend and Feet Bend options

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The kinect-stickman's neck is almost always tilted forth,

using the Neck Bend option you can get the target figure's neck to follow the stickman's neck but with a bend-offset angle

The kinect-stickman's feet are almost always bent as if it was wearing high heels

using the Feet Bend option you can adjust the target figure's feet

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The no-feet-side-side and no-feet-twist options

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

The kinect doesnt track feet very well.

use these two options to keep the feet side-side and feet twist rotations at zero degrees

Loading Archived motion data

If you used the Server's "Auto-File" option or redirected the server's output to a file,

then you now have a text file which is a record of a motion capture session.

By default this file is in the same folder as the server application.

The file name reflects the date and time at which the mocap session started.

Using mcjKinectClient's "Load Mocap" button, you can load this data and apply it to the stickman

The stickman animation will be loaded at the current position on the timeline.

The result is exactly the same as if you recorded this animation using the client's 'Record' button.

Beware: the current stickman animation ( if any ) will be lost.

Here too you will want to use the 'Fill Missing Keyframes' button

then use the 'Transfer This Range" button to transfer the animation to the (selected) figure

Loading Archived motion data, only one frame

Same as before, but only frame 20 of the animation file will be loaded

and applied to he stickman, at the current timeline frame;

to do:

- better handling of bad kinect poses

- snapshot mode

- support 2 figures at once

- real-time mocap on figures instead of stickman

- better stickman

- better help and manual

- help, web-help, defaults, exit buttons

About mcjKinectClient_VeryBetaV002.dsa

This version for DS3/DS4 was introduced May 20th 2015

Very few tests were made and sometimes the results were odd(er than usual )

But if you have a fast PC it should let you Visualise the motion capture using the Daz Studio stickman or the selected Daz Studio figure

there's a "step" setting which allows you to reduce the frame rate of the Figure visualization

Note that if you use the Figure preview mode, during recording, the figure is now animated, but that animation probably looks awful

so you still need, like before, to use the "Fill Missing Keyframes" button, which corrects many problems on the stickman animation

then you should delete the animation of the figure

then you should use the "Transfer This Range" button to transfer the stickman animation to the Figure