Real-time motion capture in autodesk 3Ds max using microsoft kinect

Abstract

The concept of motion capture is used in many industries such as the film and gaming industry. It involves recording the actions of human actors and mapping this motion to 2D and 3D models in a virtual world, such that the models perform the exact same motion. The main objective of this project is to explore and implement real time motion capturing in Autodesk 3DS Max using Microsoft Kinect.

There two main applications that were developed for the purpose of this project, Kinect Server (using OpenNI framework and WinSoc API) and Kinect Motion Capture (Autodesk 3DS Max plug-in).

The motion capture implemented, by default, in this project, is a “mirror reflection” of the actor. The user also has the flexibility to control a limb of the biped that does not to correspond to the same body part of the user. For example, the user/actor can control the left arm of the biped, using his/her right arm. Motion capture is achieved by mapping the orientation of the user’s/actor’s limbs from OpenNI to that of the biped in Autodesk 3DS Max.