Research Artefact 4: Mocap Tests with Suit

This artefact tests the motion capture suit made in the previous artefact and shows the benefits of its use through different movements. Movements decided on were chosen for the ease in which the cameras can process the movement. Camera positioning was altered for this capture session to allow a central position for the actor to limit the amount of undesired reflections. Initial tests were made with simple arm and leg movement, which the cameras picked up with improved accuracy over the previous lab sessions without the use of a suit. Still some problems remain as other reflections were still being picked up and were corrupting the correct data. Another test with the same movement was performed but now with lower lighting and exterior reflective objects covered. This showed an improvement in the results with less reflections being picked up and improved stability of the reflective markers. Another capture was performed using a simple walk to see whether this can be performed with the same accuracy. Results showed limited reflections but some cleaning of the data was required as elbow markers got confused with hip marker due to their close proximity. The next capture performed was to analyse whether the system could now handle rapid movements produced from fast punches and kicks. Results showed a disappointing capture as rapid changes in direction resulted in prolonged marker disappearance. This caused the automatic cleaning process to fill in the missing markers with undesired translations and caused deformed movement. A solution to this problem can be found when the motion is plotted to a character, as then the motion is converted to key-frames and can be animated.