MoCap W6 '25: Recording Day!

Our recording session took place on Tuesday the 8th of April with our group consisting of Medina, Jasmine, Reyna, Izzy, Philip and I. We had the 9am-12pm slot, the first group for filming in the Mocap studio.

The very first thing we did was wait for Jasmine, our actress, to put on the mocap suit. When she came back from the changing room, we started by applying the Faceware ROM markers to her face.

Izzy applies the markers to Jasmine's face with eyeliner, I held up the reference image beside her.

Close up of the marker application

We tried to be smart and use white eyeliner because we thought it would show up a lot better against Jasmine's darker facial features (eyelashes, eyebrows etc.) However, after consulting with Blair, we decided the black eyeliner would end up being more distinctive in the recording since the lights could cause glare on her face which would wash out the white eyeliner completely. We did however keep the eyes and eyebrows as white.

We also brought a green lipstick for Jasmine to apply to her lips. The lipstick was very sadly very sheer and faded over time, however this wasn't too concerning for us because we aren't focused on the lip tracking this semester.

Applying the green lipstick

Next up was the foot suits to add markers onto her feet and cover her shoes. The foot sleeves were reused from the old cortex suits and ideally the toe markers would be stretched further out along the toe line.

Putting on the foot sleeves with markers

Then Blair helped Jasmine put on the finger markers for the finger tracking. The markers were a lot smaller than the body markers and were held onto her fingers with some black tape. This was a new process for us so it was intriguing to watch. We also learnt that normally there are two markers on each finger, but because for the purpose of the exercise having simple finger movements, we only used one set of 10 markers altogether.

Finger markers being taped on

At this point, Blair was able to start applying the velcro strips to Jasmine's suit. The velcro was necessary to keep the top and pants together as well as to ensure nothing moved and that the markers had areas to stick on to.

Velcro straps application

Then it was time for the body marker application! This process was strategic and comparing it to the old cortex system, it was interesting how there needed to be markers on each side of the elbow bone and knee bones. The markers on the thighs and calves were offset to differentiate between the right and the left legs. No markers were applied on her head as the Faceware helmet had some placed on it already.

Blair applying the knee markers

Blair applying the arm markers, with our timelapse

Time for the Faceware recording rig to be put on her head! The rig featured a belt which held the battery and the switches for the light and camera, a helmet with the mocap markers and finally a thin, outstretched metal arm that held the camera and light pointed towards Jasmine's face.

Close up of the Faceware Helmet

The screen displaying the camera's feed

With Jasmine's suit successfully put on, we could move onto the calibration of the suit in Shogun.

Completed suit!

Calibrating the foot with an ankle roll

Calibrating the fingers

The finger bones visible in the software

Calibration percentages at the beginning

Calibration percentages once we finished

Apparently the system is best when the calibration status of each marker is somewhere above 60% to get an accurate track of the body, and as you can see Jasmine did quite a good job at setting the calibration status as high as possible. Blair told us this was a good result.

Something we discovered when we were testing the performance and the feedback was that the digital model was quite masculine in its structure. Blair experimented with changing the model's template to the v2 female and discovered that the v2 models were capable of digitally tracking the whole finger instead of just the finger bones. This wasn't necessary but it was cool to see.

The digital female v2 model with finger tracking

We filmed our ROMs footage for the brows and eyes and then we were FINALLY ready to start recording our scene. For each take, Jasmine had to start with an A pose and then a T pose, then Blair went into his lab to start the Faceware recording before Jasmine and Reyna could get into position and start acting out the scene.

A Pose

The full scene

Reyna in position as Sonny

Acting in the software

We filmed the shot a total of 5 times, two of which were calmer, rehearsed takes and then when she got more comfortable, we did three more takes where she was a lot more aggressive by slamming the papers onto the table.

We had to be mindful in each take of the accuracy to the scene. For example, in the first two takes Jasmine was a bit fast to whip out the papers and then she took more time to set them down in the third take. Also, in the third take she curled her hands over the edge of the table when she gripped it. We did a retake because we weren't sure how big the table will be in the virtual production studio, only knowing that the height would be the same. If her hands were splayed, it was much safer than if her hand curled and then went through the table mesh when we worked on the digital scene.

Happy with our takes, we wrapped up the session by helping Jasmine take off all of the markers and she changed out of the suit. Blair exported both the Faceware files and the mocap recording data onto our SSD.

Taking off the markers

The hilarious deformation of the model as we gradually took off the markers!

Here is a timelapse of part of the session, including the marker application and the practice run of the scene:

And here is our group photo from the end of the day (minus Philip as he had to leave early):

Overall I think the Mocap recording session was a great success! It is always fun to be working with modern technology, and it was so fascinating getting to see the finger tracking and use the Faceware setup - a true upgrade from last year's project capabilities!!!