
Moscow-based iPi Soft has released an updated version of its mocap software aimed at television, film and gaming animators and VFX artists that now supports up to 16 USB cameras, like Sony's PlayStation Eye Camera, and up to four Microsoft Kinect 2 sensors.

Long compatible with leading 3D software like Maxon Cinema 4D and Autodesk Maya, MotionBuilder and 3D Max, iPi Motion Capture is also an affordable option for previs and virtual cinematography. But can you really get accurate motion-capture from little PS3 cameras and Kinect sensors? Don't you need to at least start with a decent HD camera? “That is true for marker-based systems, but for markerless mocap solutions like ours, high resolution is not that crucial," says Michael Nikonov, iPi Soft’s Founder/Chief Technology Architect. "Inexpensive USB cameras or Kinect sensors can achieve the same accuracy at a fraction of the cost of a marker-based system.” The new software can also track three actors simultaneously, a boon for animators and developers looking to more accurately capture group and team activity such as sports and dance moves and fight sequences. In addition to the expanded recording possibilities, highlights of the new version include reduced occlusion for more reliable and accurate tracking and a much more flexible workflow that lets artists build mocap systems with their existing PC laptop or desktop computer or, when capturing synchronized video, several laptops and desktops in tandem during the same mocap session. The tool's proprietary iPi Recorder software configures a single computer to record up to eight USB cameras or one Kinect 2 sensor.

Ue4 a pose.Add more base computers and you can daisy-chain up to 16 USB cameras or four Kinect 2 or Kinect sensors-the software combines it all into a single file.
