PeCap W1 '24: Overview and Action Breakdown.

OVERVIEW

To begin this project, we started by learning about the history and systems associated with Performance Capture.

From my understanding, Motion Capture is the umbrella term for digitally recorded movement in a 3d space and using that data to apply to a model in digital space.

Performance Capture is a subbranch of MoCap, and involves a total recording of performance that doesn't cut.

It was also interesting to find out more about the workflow for facial animation and how it ties into the pipeline of motion capture projects. For some reason I always imagined they were completed altogether. I used OneNote to make notes on the lecture and class discussions since I work faster by typing than handwriting.

ASSIGNMENT

The project is to take a performance capture recording of a scene from 'Back to Life' that was acted out by our lecturer Dr Jason Kennedy (who plays Fred) and actress Muna Arbon (who plays Miri), and then translate the data onto a Meta Human rig in Autodesk Maya.

Everyone was assigned a set of frames from the performance.

My assigned frames were 001-265 Miri (a.k.a. the very beginning).

I feel a little nervous about this project based on the fact that there is a lot to consider in my frame range (walking, application of lip balm, first time analyzing speech) but I am keen to learn a lot and become more comfortable with PeCap over the course of the semester.

BREAKDOWN

We were tasked with breaking down the performance capture footage and identifying what changes we noted by small frame segments (both face and body). I found it a lot more time intensive than I had expected because I needed to rewatch the footage over and over, noticing more details in every playthrough. Some movements were so subtle it was hard to see. It took me a while to train myself in identifying and articulating every shift of the foot, every twitch of the cheek etc.

META HUMAN SETUP

Then finally for this week I set up the bridge plug-in for Maya and loaded in the Meta Human rig for Miri. Here is Miri's model in Maya:

When she was loaded correctly, I spent a little time playing around with the facial rig controls to become more comfortable with them. It was actually a lot of fun but I can already tell it's no 'walk in the park' making her expressions seem natural.

Here's some screenshots from my experimentation: