Face motion capture works amazingly good, how about body capture?

[bouich jules]

Hello!

We have some excellent facial and head tracking with facecap/livelink..

We can have the ultimate animation experience, if we add body capture also, I noticed that there is some app on the market:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/body-motion-capture/id1588659970

and

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mobilecap/id1489118323

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it will be really the ULTIMATE experience if we can have a body capture compatible with the MHX rig like for facial capture.

while waiting for an official apple motion capture that can come or never… ( i think apple will never release an official body capture because gaming/animation is not there priority, the facial was only for security reason).

[Aszrael]

Well, an affordable, good working body MOCAP-option is still there to be developed. If not, you waste more time in cleaning up the jigged capture…

However, to be honest, in addition you really should look for a good actor. Most people nowadays cannot even walk properly. So… I stay with the Mixmo database and combine it with Facecap - you can go for almost 95% of all needed. Clean up and adjustment is required anyway!

[bouich jules]

Thanks Aszrael, how to convert mixamo to mhx rig ?

[bouich jules]

there is the bvh retarget of thomas, but i really don’t understand how to use it.

i wish we could have something included in the plugin.

[Aszrael]

@bouich jules: you should understand, that 3D with animation is mush more than click and be happy. And highly dependent on the used rig, which is specifically constructed for the character's mesh (Topology), and it’s intended usage! If you don’t know how to retarget from Mixamo rig to any other, you should not even try…

Honestly, to keep it simple:
Just export the DAZ mesh (OBJ) and rig it on Mixamo - they even provide a video tutorial for that. Thereafter, import it in Blender - best: with their plugin (and convert their rig to the blender Mixamo). Thereafter, connect the finished FACEit-rig with the animated Mixamo one (read the FACEit manual if you don’t know how to do that). Done - it will work, but looks horrible. Even with tweaks… Your’re happy with the result? OK - be happy. However, most likely limbs will somehow move strangely, and commonly you will only notice it after presenting it to some-one else… So the tweaking hell starts….

Retargeting, in general: There are several free Plugins and Scripts out there - if you know rigging and retargeting, and what their pitfalls are, their usage is rather simple. So: start with 3D MOCAP basics! Btw.:

• Thomas' BVH-Retargeting is only one solution for retargeting to DAZ characters and rigs in Blender. And - of course - you will have to clean all the movement afterwards… Only Daz-Poses and animations will provide OK-ish results.
• You use Mixamo animations? More clean-up required.
• Changed even the rig - e.g. to Rigify/mhx? Oh boy… But it’s a common starting point.

I also know about Auto Rig Pro. In combination with FACEit, a good choice. Both are quite intuitive, well documented, and save a hell of time, DAZ characters will look like sh**, but for the initial state…

Listen: Daz-Characters are intended for off-line rendering, on a semi-professional level. Pose them or use their buyable animations - even those are sometimes shitty. Especially: neither the mesh nor the DAZ rig was constructed to be for anything others. Even rendering outside of DAZ requires specific tweaking (and yes: this plugin is really a big time saver).

Also: both (FACEit and ARP) offer great support for exporting to UE4 and Unity - and: There are good Tutorials for FACEit and ARP on YouTube! But: there is a reason why both Addons are quite expensive and be sure, if you’re not using the provided tutorial-target-rig, your attempts will fail. And: if you’re not knowing the basics, you will not be able to transfer their workflows to anything others.

[jeroen b]

Bouich, it really is not that difficult to copy Mixamo animations to the MHX armature manually;

1. Import your character into Mixamo, rig it in Mixamo and download the animated armature.
2. Import the Mixamo armature into your scene.
3. Set copy transforms constraints to the MHX IK targets for hands & feet, pointing to the hands & feet of the Mixamo armature.
4. Do the same for the hips, head, chest, upperarms & thighs.
5. Perhaps you need to refine the results using the same method on the spine & shoulders for instance. If the Mixamo bone position is too far off from the MHX bone, use an empty parented to the Mixamo bone to offset the difference and use the damped track constraint instead.

This may seem like a lot of work but it is pretty straightforward and you only have to do it once. You can delete all the keyframes from the original Mixamo armature in your scene and copy and paste all keyframes from a newly imported Mixamo animation.

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[bouich jules]

Thank you actually i found this video : Using Mixamo Animations with Genesis 8 and 8.1 (2022) - YouTube

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and this script: Transfering Mixamo Animations to Daz Genesis 8.1 by 3dstrobist on DeviantArt

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probably @Thomas Larsson can see if it’s possible to implement this script into the plugin. to manually import mixamo animations.

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[Aszrael]

Well… there you go!

BTW: You know: there is the BVH retargetting addon. From Thomas! Even on his same, single page - doing exactly that! You just have to check his side!

AND: there are several other blender addons - retargetting Mixamo animations to Daz (Expy, ReNim Nodes, or the one you found, only with some simple google searches). I know: The free ones requires you to study their manuals, watching horrible tutorials, put some effort in - use your brain. If you’re not willing to? There are even paid ones, offering predefined converters (-> Auto Rig Pro, the most common example, Ups - forget to mention the Quick rig extension of Auto Rig Pro, also payed)!

Don’t get me wrong. Converting Daz (or any other) characters - the best possible way - to Blender. That’s a quite big task! I prefer Thomas & Alessandro to spend their limited, spare time focusing on Daz to Blender, rather than fulfilling any specific requests - not directly related to Daz, introducing some non-addon-intentioned features (-> Cluttering: why Mixamo, not Rokoko, or others?).
You know: There are many other MOCAPs out there - much better than Mixamo - yes: also paid! And even those require you for tweak, in order to match your specific character.

I would understand a request for a more simple and easy-to-use import of Daz aniMate animations or Daz animations at all. The blender asset browser is getting featured only since a short time for posing - a great enhancement option for Daz-poses. I love that Thomas tried to path the way employing Blender’s asset browser - also, it is not currently there. I know - Blender’s asset browser lacks extensions for animations and rumors say: not on the short-list right now… BUT: Original Daz to Blender - with all their features, on both sides! That’s what the intention of this addon is for!

To make it short: you want to use Mixmao animations with Daz Characters in Blender? Learn retargetting either with the mentioned addons or start with the basics. You now have some good starting points.

The latter I recommend, as MOCAPs will never meet you expectations. Even the officially Daz animation will not provide 100% satisfaction within Daz - also not with the intended character (as soon you change anything with it). Animation is really hard, requires a perfectly fitting topology and a plan how to achieve the intended expressions. That’s the reason you still can build a career on it.

[bouich jules]

Forgot to close this, there is already a pack of all mixamo animation already ready for G8 available on google, no point of new addon for it.