Couple Questions About Using ipiSoft and Unity

Animation
1

Hello Everyone,

If anyone here could answer a couple of questions on using ipiSoft motion capture animations in Unity, I would appreciate it. I am really interested in purchasing the ipiSoft software, but I need to know how and if the software will work with my current content creation pipeline.

  1. Does getting a motion capture animation (along with the model and bones) from ipiSoft into Unity absolutely require MotionBuilder? Truebones posted a video on this at http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/164077-Using-iPiSoft-Studio-to-create-mocaps-for-Unity-4-Mecanim-Animation-System. It seems he did not use MotionBuilder per se, but only exported to a MotionBuilder-based fbx from an export option featured in the ipiSoft software.

  2. Can I use Unity Indie (“free”) version with ipiSoft motion capture animations?

Thanks again for all of your help on this subject!

MichaelGM

2

To answer the 1st question no it does not require motion builder but you will need some kind of external animation software to clean up your animations or you can use unity’s animation system to edit the animations but that would be more of a pain if anything.
To answer the 2nd question yes you can use the indie version of unity.
You will not be using unity the capture the animation you will be using ipiSoftware to capture your animation which you would then put into unity but like I said earlier you would want to clean that animation up in a third party animation tool like 3DS Max or Maya or Blender.

3

Great! Thanks for your reply, showoff.

I am using Lightwave 11.5 for modeling and animation and so I would think that I can do the animation
clean ups from there. I take it then that after the clean up of the animations within Lightwave, I would
then export it all into an fbx and simply import into Unity.

May I also ask as to your opinion of ipiSoft and how well it works with Unity?

Thanks again!

MichaelGM

4

Yes that is correct.

It works perfect with unity like any other 3D package you would create the animation in would. But ipiSoft can be a pain at times. It’s not as accurate as the more expensive motion capture systems which most indie people can’t afford. For the price it’s a decent deal for what it is.

5

Alternatives to iPiSoft are:

iClone Animation Pipeline - Best 3D Character Animation Maker for 3D Characters - iClone

nuiCapture - http://nuicapture.com/

I believe you can cleanup your captures in iClone also. iClone directly exports Unity friendly formats. showoff might have more input about these too. I haven’t used any myself.