Remocapp Setup Essentials
Remocapp is a marker-less AI-based application that captures human motions and sends the real-time animation data to the specified address, without the need to wear gloves and suits. It lets you setup your MoCap studio with an affordable cost.
Let's discover how to setup Remocapp.
Please, watch the series below for a full guide on how to get started with Remocapp:
Requirements
Remocapp is an AI application that uses two or more simple webcams to detect and capture human body movements in a 3D space.
We highly recommend to try the application with the minimum required equipment you have, then consider to buy any other hardware you might need.
Here are the requirements:
| Title | Details |
|---|---|
| OS | Windows 10 / 11 64bit |
| CPU | Minimum: 2+ cores with 2.0GHz clock speed Recommended: 6+ cores with 4.0GHz clock speed |
| RAM | Minimum: 8 GB Recommended: 32 GB |
| GPU | A hardware that supports DirectX 12 with feature level 12_0 or higher is required to run Remocapp in GPU mode. If the motion receiver plugin is running on the same machine as Remocapp is, a portion of the GPU power is spent on that as well |
| Camera | 2 to 8 cameras connected to the PC as webcams. The cameras should be available in Windows default camera app |
| USB port | By default, Windows is able to detect only one camera connected to USB-2 ports at the same time. If you have USB-2 and USB-3 ports you will be able to use only one of your USB-2 ports and you should connect other cameras to USB-3+ ports. Also, there is no limitation on connecting wireless cameras |
| Internet connection | You'll need a simple internet connection with a minimum bandwidth for Remocapp to communicate to its servers to check the license and performing some other calculations. Output video won't be sent to the server |
| Operation space | Minimum: It depends on the camera lens that you are using. The actor's body should be visible to all cameras that are being used. Typically, a 2×2 meters space could be enough Recommended: A 5×5 meters space is recommended. Maximum: As this system is an optical AI solution, the more distance the actor has from the camera, the more accuracy will be decreased. If you have 5 or more cameras, you might be able to operate in a 4 to 5 meters radius |
| Extension cables (Optional) | If you are using USB camera and your camera cable length is not long enough for the camera to be placed at the proper distance, you might need some USB extension cables |
| Camera stands (Optional) | To place the cameras at the best position, you may want to use camera stands or three pods. A height of 150cm from the floor can be good |
| Google account | To login to the Remocapp website and get the license key, you'll need a google account. All paid and free accounts require to login and get a license key first. To get a free license key, you don't need any credit cards |
| Calibration papers | There are two figures that should be printed on A3 or A4 papers, and be sticked on a flat stiff cardboard. Refer to Camera calibration in tutorials. |
Installing Remocapp
Download the latest installation file. Run the setup on your Windows PC and complete the wizard. After the installation is complete, from the Windows start menu open Remocapp app.
Activating the application
Login to Remocapp website from the top right Sign In button. After login, from the user portal, go to the Devices menu from the left sidebar and click on Add new device. If your license has a free seat, a new row will be added to the list with the title Not connected yet.
Copy the license key and paste it in the installed Windows application, then press the Activate button.
Starting a motion capture session
Before you start your first motion capture session, there are some settings that should be configured.
- To get a better understanding on how to position and arrange cameras, please refer to Camera Positioning page.
- To get help on configuring cameras, please refer to Camera Calibration page.
- After you've positioned and configured your cameras, there're some additional settings need to be set. Please go to Application Settings page to configure these before start capturing a session.
If you've done all the necessary configurations mentioned above, you can now get ready for capturing the actor motions. To do so, simply click on the Run button at the top of the app's main window. The application will then start the motion capture process and streams the data to the address specified in the settings.
The following section explains how to use Unreal Engine Remocapp plugin with Remocapp. If you want to use the provided Blender addon please refer to Blender Addon page.
Unreal Engine Remocapp Plugin
Before proceeding please make sure you've added Remocapp plugin to your existing Unreal Engine project. To see detailed instructions, please refer to Plugin Installation page. Also, there are sample projects with plugins already included, available for download from Article section.
Once you added the plugin to your project, follow the steps below to record and export captured animations:
1. Make sure Remocapp windows application is running and capturing real-time motions.
2. Open your project in the editor and under Remocapp plugin content directory, open Showcase level located inside the Levels folder.
3. The Showcase level already contains the character pawn and the animation recorder actor. All you need to do is to play the level in the viewport or in a new editor window using the toolbar located above the viewport.
If you have played the level using New Editor Window (PIE) option and then attempt to click the Recording button to start recording a session, the focus from the new editor window may go to the main editor window. If that happens you can switch back to the new editor window or alternatively, take the window to a different display screen if it's available.
4. When the level plays, you should see something like this:
- At the top left corner you can see a menu that will provide some recording options to be modified as seen below:
- At the top right corner next to the recording button exists a yellow button that provides shortcuts information like this:
5. The recording button is used to start/stop the recording. Press the button to start recording the animations. If the countdown value was set to some value other than zero, you'll be presented with a countdown timer on the screen, otherwise the recording starts immediately. When the recording starts, the sequencer window will open, the user interface will change like below and the recording button now displaying the recording time as it continues:
The sequencer window may not open after the recording starts using some plugin versions.
For more info about the animation recorder settings, please refer to Animation Recorder page.
6. After some time through recording, you can click the recording button to stop the recording. It may take a while to process the animation data and creating the output files. After the processing finishes, a notification pops up informing that the recording has finished successfully and the animation was exported to a FBX file showing the output path:
- The default output folder to store the created FBX files is in ExportedAnimations folder inside the project's root folder.
- The Animation Sequence asset is also created right where the auxiliary Level Sequence asset is located. You can find that in the Animations folder under the plugin conent directory.
7. After animation files created, you can import the FBX file into any DCC application that supports the FBX file format. Also, the Animation Sequence assets can be used to further examine and modify the animation data inside the editor itself.
In addition to the FBX file, an Animation Sequence asset containing the recorded animation is also created in the Animations folder under the plugin content directory.
If you prefer to use your own levels, you can do that by placing a BP_MoCapPawn_UE4 or BP_MoCapPawn_UE5 pawn and a BP_Recorder actor into the level. Just make sure that no other actors are possessed by the player controller other than the motion captured one.