tesh – mocap

This is from footage of someone leaping

For this project I worked in Autodesk Maya and used Python to create a Maya script that takes motion capture data and triangulates it into an animated origami-esque pattern based on the way the bodies move.

This is from footage of someone jumping forwards with their feet together

The hardest part of this project was definitely getting used to scripting in Maya. I am familiar with the Python side but Maya has some unique quirks when it comes to script formatting, parenting objects to other objects, etc. I had a lot of trouble originally trying to parent vertices of the triangulated faces onto the joints in the mocap data.

This one is from footage of someone twirling while hanging from a rope

I eventually moved over to frame-based rendering and calculated the positions of all the vertices to generate new faces every frame rather than trying to get them to move and change with the body through parenting. While this took longer to generate and render, it gave much better results.

This last one is from a boxer
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146

import maya.cmds as cmds
 
 
 
 
#change this based on number of frames in your mocap data
nFrames = 166
 
 
 
 
 
cam = cmds.camera()
 
 
#generate every frame
for i in range (0,nFrames):
 
 
 
	cmds.currentTime(i)
 
 
 
	#right hand
	RHand_Origin = cmds.joint( 'rfingers_end', q=True, p=True )
 
 
 
	RHand_OriginX = RHand_Origin[0]
 
	RHand_OriginY = RHand_Origin[1]
 
	RHand_OriginZ = RHand_Origin[2]
 
 
 
 
 
	#left hand
 
	LHand_Origin = cmds.joint( 'lfingers_end', q=True, p=True )
 
 
 
	LHand_OriginX = LHand_Origin[0]
 
	LHand_OriginY = LHand_Origin[1]
 
	LHand_OriginZ = LHand_Origin[2]
 
 
 
 
 
	#right tibia
 
	RTib_Origin = cmds.joint( 'rtibia', q=True, p=True )
 
 
 
	RTib_OriginX = RTib_Origin[0]
 
	RTib_OriginY = RTib_Origin[1]
 
	RTib_OriginZ = RTib_Origin[2]
 
 
 
 
 
	#left tibia
 
	LTib_Origin = cmds.joint( 'ltibia', q=True, p=True )
 
 
 
	LTib_OriginX = LTib_Origin[0]
 
	LTib_OriginY = LTib_Origin[1]
 
	LTib_OriginZ = LTib_Origin[2]
 
 
 
 
 
	#right elbow
 
	RElb_Origin = cmds.joint( 'rradius', q=True, p=True )
 
 
 
	RElb_OriginX = RElb_Origin[0]
 
	RElb_OriginY = RElb_Origin[1]
 
	RElb_OriginZ = RElb_Origin[2]
 
 
 
 
 
	#left elbow
 
	LElb_Origin = cmds.joint( 'lradius', q=True, p=True )
 
 
 
	LElb_OriginX = LElb_Origin[0]
 
	LElb_OriginY = LElb_Origin[1]
 
	LElb_OriginZ = LElb_Origin[2]
 
 
 
 
 
	#right shoulder
 
	RShould_Origin = cmds.joint( 'rhumerus', q=True, p=True )
 
 
 
	RShould_OriginX = RShould_Origin[0]
 
	RShould_OriginY = RShould_Origin[1]
 
	RShould_OriginZ = RShould_Origin[2]
 
 
 
 
 
	#left shoulder
 
	LShould_Origin = cmds.joint( 'lhumerus', q=True, p=True )
 
 
 
	LShould_OriginX = LShould_Origin[0]
 
	LShould_OriginY = LShould_Origin[1]
 
	LShould_OriginZ = LShould_Origin[2]
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141

 
 
 
 
	#right foot
 
	RFoot_Origin = cmds.joint( 'rtoes_end', q=True, p=True )
 
 
 
	RFoot_OriginX = RFoot_Origin[0]
 
	RFoot_OriginY = RFoot_Origin[1]
 
	RFoot_OriginZ = RFoot_Origin[2]
 
 
 
 
 
	#left foot
 
	LFoot_Origin = cmds.joint( 'ltoes_end', q=True, p=True )
 
 
 
	LFoot_OriginX = LFoot_Origin[0]
 
	LFoot_OriginY = LFoot_Origin[1]
 
	LFoot_OriginZ = LFoot_Origin[2]
 
 
 
 
 
	#back
 
	Back_Origin = cmds.joint( 'lowerback', q=True, p=True )
 
 
 
	Back_OriginX = Back_Origin[0]
 
	Back_OriginY = Back_Origin[1]
 
	Back_OriginZ = Back_Origin[2]
 
 
 
 
 
	#neck
 
	Neck_Origin = cmds.joint( 'lowerneck', q=True, p=True )
 
 
 
	Neck_OriginX = Neck_Origin[0]
 
	Neck_OriginY = Neck_Origin[1]
 
	Neck_OriginZ = Neck_Origin[2]
 
 
 
 
 
	#head
 
	Head_Origin = cmds.joint( 'head_end', q=True, p=True )
 
 
 
	Head_OriginX = Head_Origin[0]
 
	Head_OriginY = Head_Origin[1]
 
	Head_OriginZ = Head_Origin[2]
 
 
 
 
 
	#=======================================================
        #Create triangulated mesh for each frame
 
 
 
	cmds.polyCreateFacet( p=[(RFoot_OriginX, RFoot_OriginY, RFoot_OriginZ), (LFoot_OriginX, LFoot_OriginY, LFoot_OriginZ), (RTib_OriginX, RTib_OriginY, RTib_OriginZ)] )
 
 
 
	cmds.polyCreateFacet( p=[(RTib_OriginX, RTib_OriginY, RTib_OriginZ), (LFoot_OriginX, LFoot_OriginY, LFoot_OriginZ), (LTib_OriginX, LTib_OriginY, LTib_OriginZ)] )
 
 
 
	cmds.polyCreateFacet( p=[(RTib_OriginX, RTib_OriginY, RTib_OriginZ), (LTib_OriginX, LTib_OriginY, LTib_OriginZ), (LHand_OriginX, LHand_OriginY, LHand_OriginZ) ] )
 
 
 
	cmds.polyCreateFacet( p=[(RHand_OriginX, RHand_OriginY, RHand_OriginZ), (RTib_OriginX, RTib_OriginY, RTib_OriginZ), (LHand_OriginX, LHand_OriginY, LHand_OriginZ)] )
 
 
 
	cmds.polyCreateFacet( p=[(RHand_OriginX, RHand_OriginY, RHand_OriginZ), (LHand_OriginX, LHand_OriginY, LHand_OriginZ), (Back_OriginX, Back_OriginY, Back_OriginZ)] )
 
 
 
	cmds.polyCreateFacet( p=[(RHand_OriginX, RHand_OriginY, RHand_OriginZ), (Back_OriginX, Back_OriginY, Back_OriginZ), (RElb_OriginX, RElb_OriginY, RElb_OriginZ)] )
 
 
 
	cmds.polyCreateFacet( p=[(LHand_OriginX, LHand_OriginY, LHand_OriginZ), (LElb_OriginX, LElb_OriginY, LElb_OriginZ), (Back_OriginX, Back_OriginY, Back_OriginZ)] )
 
 
 
	cmds.polyCreateFacet( p=[(RElb_OriginX, RElb_OriginY, RElb_OriginZ), (Back_OriginX, Back_OriginY, Back_OriginZ), (LElb_OriginX, LElb_OriginY, LElb_OriginZ)] )
 
 
 
	cmds.polyCreateFacet( p=[(RElb_OriginX, RElb_OriginY, RElb_OriginZ), (LElb_OriginX, LElb_OriginY, LElb_OriginZ), (Neck_OriginX, Neck_OriginY, Neck_OriginZ)] )
 
 
 
	cmds.polyCreateFacet( p=[(RElb_OriginX, RElb_OriginY, RElb_OriginZ), (Neck_OriginX, Neck_OriginY, Neck_OriginZ), (RShould_OriginX, RShould_OriginY, RShould_OriginZ)] )
 
 
 
	cmds.polyCreateFacet( p=[(LElb_OriginX, LElb_OriginY, LElb_OriginZ), (LShould_OriginX, LShould_OriginY, LShould_OriginZ), (Neck_OriginX, Neck_OriginY, Neck_OriginZ)] )
 
 
 
	cmds.polyCreateFacet( p=[(RShould_OriginX, RShould_OriginY, RShould_OriginZ), (Neck_OriginX, Neck_OriginY, Neck_OriginZ), (LShould_OriginX, LShould_OriginY, LShould_OriginZ) ] )
 
 
	cmds.polyCreateFacet( p=[(RShould_OriginX, RShould_OriginY, RShould_OriginZ), (LShould_OriginX, LShould_OriginY, LShould_OriginZ), (Head_OriginX, Head_OriginY, Head_OriginZ) ] )
 
 
        #render each frame
	cmds.render()

And a huge thanks to the CMU Graphics Lab Motion Capture Database for all the base motion capture files!