Ecstasy Updates - Kinect Support, and more.
by Chris Calef · 06/06/2011 (3:57 pm) · 11 comments
Hi again!
Well, it took a little while, but we're proud to announce that we've pushed through the first round of data filtering from the Kinect, and dealt with the first bunch of crash bugs and other weird issues, and are ready to share! If you have a Kinect, and you have a PC, you can now start doing realtime motion capture in Torque, in your living room!
(If you have an XBox Kinect rather than a PC Kinect, however, you might have to buy this first.)
Of course, once it started working, we would be remiss if we did not immediately attempt to kill some zombies with it:
But why settle for watching us do it? Go grab a license and try it yourself!
In addition to the Kinect support, we've also got a couple of other goodies in this update... more crash bugs gone, plus a whole new Timeline GUI interface for animation edits and scene events! You can now see your edits on the timeline, and slide them around to move them, instead of having to enter the time into a text field. (What a concept, eh?)
Finally, we at last got around to replacing the main avatar with one of our new DAZ characters, just to bring our look up to a more current-gen feel. Here's a screenie to let you know what we mean:
That's all for now, but keep your eyes on this space, there is more to come!
Well, it took a little while, but we're proud to announce that we've pushed through the first round of data filtering from the Kinect, and dealt with the first bunch of crash bugs and other weird issues, and are ready to share! If you have a Kinect, and you have a PC, you can now start doing realtime motion capture in Torque, in your living room!
(If you have an XBox Kinect rather than a PC Kinect, however, you might have to buy this first.)
Of course, once it started working, we would be remiss if we did not immediately attempt to kill some zombies with it:
But why settle for watching us do it? Go grab a license and try it yourself!
In addition to the Kinect support, we've also got a couple of other goodies in this update... more crash bugs gone, plus a whole new Timeline GUI interface for animation edits and scene events! You can now see your edits on the timeline, and slide them around to move them, instead of having to enter the time into a text field. (What a concept, eh?)
Finally, we at last got around to replacing the main avatar with one of our new DAZ characters, just to bring our look up to a more current-gen feel. Here's a screenie to let you know what we mean:
That's all for now, but keep your eyes on this space, there is more to come!
About the author
#2
That's just my 2 cent anyway.
06/07/2011 (3:35 am)
I'm pretty sure with the high end mo-cap, you'll still need to clean up a lot of it's data. I think the purpose of using low or high end mo-cap is just to speed up the process of animating animations, at the end you'll still need to get your hand dirty and clean the mocap data or make the animations more appealing when used in any game or animation.That's just my 2 cent anyway.
#3
That being said, it does actually capture what you're doing with _most_ of your body, most of the time... and keep in mind that the prices for "real" mocap systems range from $6-$7,000 for the absolute cheapest option possible, straight up to $50K or $100K for the more "professional quality" systems.
In _that_ context, we're very excited to hold this out as a way that teams with indie budgets can have a stab at getting some real life movement into their animation pipelines. It will almost certainly require some cleanup (that's why we left the glitches in that video, to avoid overselling ourselves), but at the same time, there's something about real human movement that you can just tell is real human movement. We hope this provides a way to get that into your animation work, even if you lack the budget for one of the fancier systems.
Re: the fingers and other stretchy bits, that is a problem local to the app during live capture - it does not carry through to your saved anims. The saved anims have only rotations stored, not positions, for all the bodyparts except the hip.
Meanwhile, we're also exploring the possibilities of using this thing for its intended purpose... a game controller. More on THAT later!
06/07/2011 (6:51 am)
Thanks for the feedback guys! (And don't worry about being critical, I'd rather hear criticism than crickets any day!) Re: the quality of the mocap, there's no doubt that the kinect is first and foremost a game controller, last and least a professional motion capture device. That being said, it does actually capture what you're doing with _most_ of your body, most of the time... and keep in mind that the prices for "real" mocap systems range from $6-$7,000 for the absolute cheapest option possible, straight up to $50K or $100K for the more "professional quality" systems.
In _that_ context, we're very excited to hold this out as a way that teams with indie budgets can have a stab at getting some real life movement into their animation pipelines. It will almost certainly require some cleanup (that's why we left the glitches in that video, to avoid overselling ourselves), but at the same time, there's something about real human movement that you can just tell is real human movement. We hope this provides a way to get that into your animation work, even if you lack the budget for one of the fancier systems.
Re: the fingers and other stretchy bits, that is a problem local to the app during live capture - it does not carry through to your saved anims. The saved anims have only rotations stored, not positions, for all the bodyparts except the hip.
Meanwhile, we're also exploring the possibilities of using this thing for its intended purpose... a game controller. More on THAT later!
#4
(I havent forget about the Ragdoll Anim Pack update...)
06/07/2011 (7:33 am)
Excellent Chris, keep it up!(I havent forget about the Ragdoll Anim Pack update...)
#5
06/07/2011 (7:39 am)
(Thank you for the reminder!!) 
#6
06/07/2011 (11:59 am)
Appreciate the reply looking forward to seeing more on this. 
#7
peace
06/08/2011 (10:24 am)
Looks good I was think of buy this, I was wondering in the future are you make a add on that will allow you to make Kinect games with out Controller Xbox 360 games with T3d or is this going to only make animation for your game models? Looks great keep the great work up.peace
#8
The answer is: "Yes" to both questions. Right now, Ecstasy Motion, the binary product, only allows you to make animations for your game (or movie), it does not allow you to make your own game using our techniques.
HOWEVER, as soon as we close the Early Adopter Period and have Ecstasy Motion 1.0 out of the gate, we will be turning a huge part of our attention to finishing the Ecstasy Motion SDK - which is what you will need to use Ecstasy functionality in your own Torque game.
We have not yet arrived at a final price for the SDK, but it will cost significantly more than the binary. However, what we _can_ say is it will still be indie-friendly price, and we will also say that ALL of our Early Adopter customers who go on to purchase the SDK will get the price they paid for the EA back on their SDK purchases. Because that's how much we love you!!!
Hope that clears things up.
06/09/2011 (11:23 am)
Thank you for asking that, Kory! :-)The answer is: "Yes" to both questions. Right now, Ecstasy Motion, the binary product, only allows you to make animations for your game (or movie), it does not allow you to make your own game using our techniques.
HOWEVER, as soon as we close the Early Adopter Period and have Ecstasy Motion 1.0 out of the gate, we will be turning a huge part of our attention to finishing the Ecstasy Motion SDK - which is what you will need to use Ecstasy functionality in your own Torque game.
We have not yet arrived at a final price for the SDK, but it will cost significantly more than the binary. However, what we _can_ say is it will still be indie-friendly price, and we will also say that ALL of our Early Adopter customers who go on to purchase the SDK will get the price they paid for the EA back on their SDK purchases. Because that's how much we love you!!!
Hope that clears things up.
#9
Info on beta Click Here
06/21/2011 (6:06 am)
Thank your for the reply I guess i maybe buy this in the future :) but i need to do research Info on beta Click Here
#10
To see Ecstasy this product, I was very excited ...
Have a question to ask about
Future whether there will be T3D on the Kinect support source package sales?
11/10/2012 (12:06 am)
HelloTo see Ecstasy this product, I was very excited ...
Have a question to ask about
Future whether there will be T3D on the Kinect support source package sales?
#11
Edit: lmao! I didn't realise this thread was necro'd. I just saw it on the What's New list and thought it was new. :D
11/10/2012 (4:27 am)
That's looking bloody great, Chris! Thanks for the update. How viable would this system be in a multiplayer setting? Say, a collaborative tool set within T3D's editors? Ahem...Edit: lmao! I didn't realise this thread was necro'd. I just saw it on the What's New list and thought it was new. :D
Torque 3D Owner 'Sidikian'
Said it before and I'll say it again low end mo cap just doesn't look right, unless you then fine tune the animations after word to correct the rubberiness of the character motions.
Hands and feet, fingers and toes look as if they're cheap prosthetics not moving fludily or human like (no offence ment).
Often times characters don't look like they are actually on the walking plane etc. while running certain animations. However if fine tuned I could see the option of being able to use the kintetic ability to have mad fun failing around your arms and legs smacking around zombies etc. exceptional fun for your gaming audience.
Consider me a critic as often times I do come off more negative then positive but I assure you my main if not only goal in the end is constructive critisism ending in better quality.
Certainly one day there'll be a happy marriage between low end mo cap and exceptional on screen character movement and it's people like you who will have helped pave the way so where I come off criticial I also applaud your efforts.