WARNING: Due to recent updates with NI Mate, many people have reported issues with NI Mate drivers breaking their USB ports. Please be cautious and ensure your system is FULLY COMPATIBLE with NI Mate before installing it. Check the updated NI Mate and the Kinect SDK system requirements on your own behalf; do not rely on the ones I have provided in this video.
How about with 2 kinects? I would like to use an xbox one kinect and a 360 kinect working in unison to make a decent game because the cost is nothing basically. $35kinectV2 + adapter$35 + 360kinect $13 + adapter $14 = $97. and I traded in like only 6 of the lamest old worthless games I had in my collection to a retro shop and already got the kinectV2 so would be bonus if it works..... I am a 3D artist and I can do/modify 3D animation would that help? I was doing animations myself and they look awesome but I felt I could make them a lot quicker and with more life with Mocap then stumbled onto kinect. Is there another professional option near this price range?
Hmmmm. After installing NI mate, it asked for a restart. When my login screen comes back on, I realized that it had wiped my drivers for all my usb ports. I couldn't sign in as my keyboard and mouse were unusable. Did a reinstall of windows 10 and tried again since i thought maybe i missed something but it did it again so going to try to find another way.
you can simply mod the kinect, i did Kinect V2 brand new 32 euro. you need a 12V 3A power brick (i recycled a compatible fiber optic modem power adapter ) USB 3.0 A to B cable (8 euro on amazon), total 40 euro about 45 dollars. ua-cam.com/video/vQYZABBNBqA/v-deo.html
I bought it fairly cheap, it didnt need an adapter as the USB connection just worked out of the box. Obv the software drivers from MS were free and worked
So sad that on the official NI mate download page they say that "This product is no longer for sale". But at 4:18 you hover over the button and on the left bottom there is a link to the software. Type it in by hand and you'll still be able to download the software. :D
0:25 Requirement 2:15 HW connections 3:38 Kinect SDK download and install 6:56 Ni mate download and install 8:48 install add on in blender 9:11 connect NI mate and Blender 10:30 Special Remington's Ni Mate Rig 12:55 Syncro to another rig (rigfy) 17:45 Capturing (recording)
*How to get your animation into UE4* (tutorial in progress): 1. Select the Retargeted Rig skeleton. 2. Start a so-called "Animation Bake Action". 3. Your options should be: -Visual Keying (yes) the rest should be (no) -Bake Data (Pose) 4. Export. In case you don't have any geometry: You need to create a mesh-dummy and parent it to the Retargeted Rig, or else UE4 won't create a skeleton for you. *Retargeting this into a character mesh:* 1. Edit the Retargeted Rig skeleton so it is a T-Pose or whatever pose your character mesh is. 2. Place the mesh onto the skeleton, and edit the bone-lengths so it fits the character better. *Warning* : try not to change bone rotations too much, or it will mess up your resulting character when it animates. 3. And now parent the character mesh with the Retargeted Rig with "Armature Deform -> With automatic weights". It works in most situations. 4. Now follow the "Animation Bake Action" instructions. The only problem with this scenario is that your character will not be sized properly and will be facing Y-forward i the game engines.
This video is a STANDARD that even the NI Mate guys were recommending. Unfortunately, I had used this technique successfully four years ago. Now NI Mate is not selling its software and the rig is giving trouble in Blender 2.93. Hope you could try with the latest add-on and post another video with the updated one. Also, still not able to rig it to a standard rigify model. A tutorial on that would be great too!
For Those using Kinect V1 with Remington's rig you have to delete the unused Empties and Set the "Stretch" constraints to the correct corresponding empties, as the default setup targets will still be set to the uneeded empties (on second layer)
Good job, for those using Windows 10 and Xbox 360 v1, disable driver signature enforcement before installing Delicode NI Mate 2 Follow this to do so. If you don't do this it will not install the proper drivers needed. Hope this saves you some time. Click the Start Start menu and select Settings. Click Update and Security. Click on Recovery. Click Restart now under Advanced Startup. Click Troubleshoot. Click Advanced options. Click Startup Settings. Click on Restart. On the Startup Settings screen press 7 or F7 to disable driver signature enforcement. Your computer will restart and you will be able to install non-digitally signed drivers. If you restart your computer again the driver signature enforcement will be re-enabled.
Additional note. Ni Mate will give the instructions on how to install the unsigned Kinect driver. If your computer has a dedicated graphics card, you may run into a " Spout error “Cannot create DirectX/OpenGL interop”" I have an Nvidia card, so I had to do: - Open Control Panel (hit the keyboard Windows button, type: "control panel") - Click on Hardware and Sound - Open the "Nvidia Control Panel" - Click on "Manage 3D Settings" - Under "Global Settings" tab, under "Preferred graphics processor" choose "High-performance NVIDIA processor" - Click Apply - Close/restart Delicode Ni Mate 2
There something wrong with the rig in the Blender plugin. The plugin does receive messages from Ni Mate since the rig is moving, but the armature gets deformed and moving like the skeleton joints from Kinect are not mapped correctly to the rig. The skeleton looks fine in Ni Mate.
I figured it out. The rig was made for the skeleton from Kinect v2 which has a few more joints than Kinect v1. To make the rig work for Kinect v1: - Open the Blender model - Select and delete the following: - Delete Left_Collar and Right_Collar - Delete Left_Hand and rename Left_Wrist to "Left_Hand" - Delete Right_Hand and rename Right_Wrist to "Right_Hand" - Delete Left_Foot and rename Left_Ankle to "Left_Foot" - Delete Right_Foot and rename Right_Ankle to "Right_Foot"
I just tested in Blender 2.79. First, the bones in the armature from Rigify are setup a bit different in 2.79. If you want to see the same armature (Human Meta-Rig) shown in this video, you have to enable 'Rigify Legacy Mode' in the Rigify addon. Another thing is when you add the Rigify armature, the armature is way smaller than the rig that transfer data (the one on layer 2). Is it because I use 2.79 and not 2.78 that the scale is different? Are you going to make a video with the new armature in 2.79? Thanks for this great video btw - I'm totally impressed that my setup worked the first try!!!
@@loop5720 Yeah i got this working once only to read the warning and had to reinstall my windows basically in the end, almost a super cool piece of software
V1 doesnt come with the usb cord, unless you bought it separately from the 360. Plus the V1 has a smaller resolution and crappy tracking. V2 is the way to go. Look up hack kinect v2. It enables you to install a usb and power adapter on the cheap.
ATTENTION: Since this videos release, the price of an Xbox One Kinect (AKA Kinect v2) has skyrocketed. If you're interested in trying this out still, I'd recommend checking eBay or other similar resale sites for used Kinects. Theyre usually in relatively good condition. Good luck!
I can't install NI-mate because it breaks my USB drivers, at which point all you can do is reinstall your OS, or load a restore point if you have it. Is there any way to make this work without NI-mate? Being able to do motion capture this way would be a big problem-solver for me, I really need to get it to work.
Remington Graphics Yes pleeeeeease! I've been trying to hook up my model to the armature that you provided us (thank you so much for it btw), and I've been running into loads of problems. Finally got something that looked somewhat reasonable after many many hours. Please make another tutorial soon! And once again thank you so much!
I've been wondering if Blender and the Kinect projects were still viable. It's been a few years since I'd heard anything. Thank you so much for this straightforward, no nonsense introduction to the system! Will definitely be checking it out!
It works! If your goal is to move the skeleton, that is just great! The downside is when you import the animation into blender 2.8 it flips the bones around, so they look like they are working properly, but they really aren't. This becomes visible when you assign them to a model. I am pretty sure it has something to do with the inverse scaling that occurs at 16:06. I will look into a possible solution.
If anyone is having problems with USB ports breaking after installing NI Mate, I was able to fix mine by going to Device Manager and Uninstalling the USB driver. Then I went to the top menu within Device Manager and selected Detect new Hardware (or something like that), and the correct driver was found immediately. (I am running Windows 10).
Thanks for this guide. I've even made an actual video using this technique: ua-cam.com/video/XeDu3qL20i0/v-deo.html (mind the timestamp). But it took me much manual work: the markers were very twitchy right after the recording.
Hey Grant! I work with mocap on a daily basis @ Digic Pictures, our system is a large scale 24 VICON camera setup system that's obviously an overkill for indie projects, but I've tried both the Xsens and the Neuron (in-suit sensors) mocap systems and they hold up quite well for previs purposes. Tried this kinect DIY solution about 4 years ago then it was pretty bad, so glad you did this video, I really beleive in small scale solutions, and hope to use them sooner than later.
What do you think of the Valve Lighthouse tracking system and some cheap or DIY trackers that could be strapped on? I think it would be a viable solution and have been wanting to give it a go. Some interesting github repos. github.com/ShadowApex/liblighthouse-mocap github.com/ashtuchkin/vive-diy-position-sensor
As a gentleman who works with Mocap on a regular basis, what system would you recommend for a small-budget indie project which is seeking to create dance motions? I am the manager of a holographic concert project, and for the last year we've created our concerts via motion-trace rather then motion-capture. Now that we're ready to start out Stage 2, I'm hoping to get our first motion capture system, but money and quality are an issue. I've considered the Neuron system, but have heard a LOT of mixed things. And kinect doesn't seem nearly as precise as I'd like. What would YOU recommend?
Hey, you might want to add caption on your video at 1:02. The prices for Kinect have gone up a lot since it was discontinued and will continue to rise. It's a shame because a lot of Kinects will be sitting in many homes for ever and will never be used. Right now the prices for the Kinect on Amazon in Canada is ranging from 130 to 200, 130 generally doesn't include the adapter. The adapter is selling for 300$ on there. Awesome video btw.
There's a company (or perhaps it's just a guy) on Ebay modifying Kinect V2's (the better XBox One version) by installing the USB cable into the unit, which means you won't need the adapter at all. The unit just plugs into power and the USB port. I bought one, for less than the current $200 price of the Kinect V2, not to mention the cable. The units are not brand new, of course, but mine works and it is a lot cheaper and easier than chasing down the hardware that Microsoft no longer makes and barely supports. It works perfectly fine with Windows, but their instructions give some warnings about attaching it to an XBox because the change in the power source could cause damage to either system. But if you buy one of the modified units, you're probably not planning to attach it to an XBox anyway.
Quick question - where can I find the keyframes for the animation? I'd like to clean them up a bit but I can't find them anywhere. Nothing on the Timeline, nothing in the Dope Sheet. The Animation tab is also empty. Almost like there's no animation there, yet my armature moves when I press play.
NI Mate, I thought you were about to plug a dating site whike we waited lol. This s**t is gold right here. Just around $85 for a mocap studio? Bravo dude, bravo.
When I do the part where I parent the rig with my character armature, the part where I need to flip the character along the y axis really screws everything up... Does anyone know how to apply this to characters?
Awesome tutorial! But can we use this for Mocap for cutscenes in the games, Like is it good enough for that? Also, can we capture the facial expressions with this? Thanks, Loki
well , the ni mate side of things has everything needed for facial expression capture , however transferring that to blender may not be the easiest thing in the world
Shayan Niazi I tried delicode this month. The free version gives you access to one sensor. However when you buy delicode you ca nhave access to using multiple sensors. i haven’t tried it though!
Everything worked fine for me up until 12:15. When I move, each part of the rig is bent in an unnatural way and stretched. Some of the bones for whatever reason stay in one place while the others move.
Has anyone figured this out? is remington's model outdated? I'm having the same problem, and I think some things were lost in the translation from NI Mate to Blender.
Try deleting the Empties that won't move, that fixed it for me: I'm using Xbox 360 Kinect and the bones/empties i had to let go were: Collar(R,L) Wrist (R,L) Ankle(R,L) PS. This could potentially mean lesser quality tracks. So i recommend using it as a baseline for your animations and then refine it by hand... Still better than doing it ALL by hand
The free/trail version can only do one sensor. The paid version can do multiple sensors but not multiple Kinect V2. Also a single PC can only run a single Kinect V2 regardless of the software. I am not certain if mutilple sensors produce more accurate mocap. There's also a free add-on called kinector that that can currently do upper body
D Designed Was that with Ni Mate? What was the orientation of the sensors? How was the jitter/noise? Delicode said that additional sensors don't increase accuracy and aiming sensors at the same point can confuse the system.
i guess if you export the animation out as BVH and import it back as BVH for retargeting to final skeleton, it could work...anyways...im on mac so shall have to wait to try this out. but keep it up and keep posting.
If or when you figure mocap for facial capture, can you please make a new tutorial. this one was fantastic. i have been working with HBV files and tried camera tracing to get some sort of face tracing, but no good. so again thank you for a good video and i hope you make one for facial animation.
Jordan C.M. the points are just the way the output is working. Not a rig basically. The first skeleton is a connected dots version of it to convert the dots into a rig. It works, but its a bad armature to work with. So you project the rotations of this armature to your armature. Its specifically the vectors of the connected parts inbetween the dots that you want, thats why the dots arent enough to beginn with. I think its clear that you would want to use a final character instead of another empty rig at the 3rd step...
@@pakorizzuti81 Yeah, that was my first option, but the program is so expensive, because i am brazilian, and to convert dolars to "reais" (brazilian money) i need to multiply by 4!
I cannot thank you enough for this. It would have taken me days to learn all this on my own - and I probably wouldn't have gotten it to work at all without a lot of guidance. Your guide reduced that to an hour. This is easily one of the best, clearest, and most straightforward guides I've ever seen. And you have a minimum of faffing about, and (after the first 15 seconds), you never take a needless tangent or get sidetracked. Simply put, you are amazing! There is a company selling aftermarket-modified Kinects on Ebay that can plug into the computer via USB, without the conversion kit. They install the power cable into the unit, and supply a Kinect-USB cable. do have a warning about plugging the system back into an XBox One, as apparently the modification changes some of the power supply electronics, so you shouldn't use the power cable if attaching to the XBox. I bought one of these modified units and it works, and it's a lot cheaper than the current prices for either the Kinect or converter. And a week or two ago, Microsoft announced that it was reviving the Kinect program for AR.
As far as I know Blender Addons only work for one specific version unless they receive an update. But you could apply the motion capture in v2.3 and then append the armature from the project to a new project in v2.8. This way you get the animated rig into 2.8
i think i have an AMD controller does that mean i cannot do this? I had difficulty finding out despite following what to do online coz i built the pc myself
Nice tutorial. Couple of questions. 1. With the Kinect v2 you can use the Kinect Studio v2 application to record, save and then playback any Kinect data. I'm wondering if you tried this? It would obviously make it a little easier for recording the final animation in Blender as the Kinect Studio also allows you to set a start point and duration of the playback. 2. Is the install of PrimeSense required for Kinect v2? PrimeSense actually designed and licensed the original Kinect hardware to MS, before more recently being bought up by Apple. In order to support developers they also create NiTE and were part of OpenNi thataimed to provide an api that included the ability to obtain tracking/skeleton from Kinect v1. . Therefore I suspect, but can't be sure that primesense driver install would only be needed if using a Kinect v1 and that the Kinect SDK is all that is required if using Kinect v2. Did you test not installing Primesense drivers?
WATCH OUT!!!!!!!!! when i installed ni mate it LITERALLY killed all my usb ports and even my hdmi port?? had to use the reset button and start with "focring the driver...something" and uninstall ni mate to make them work again. holy christ.
Hello dear, first of all, excellent tutorial, of my favorites on youtube. I succeeded in making the mocap and that is all due to you, for that, thank you. My only question is at minute 10:50 when you go to your website there are instructions on how to make my own skeleton. I would like to be able to do it on my own. Unfortunately the instructions is no longer in your site, please upload them again. Thank you
I went through the same thing, and was with MS tech support for 12 hours. Here's the result of that conversation: If you have a bluetooth mouse/kb, or any remaining means of interfacing with the OS, you can remove and reinstall your USB driver, which may fix the problem. Failing that, your only recourse is to reinstall windows with MS's removable windows installation media (sorry, I don't have a link, you may have to ask for it from MS tech support). Before you reinstall, get into the Windows Recovery Environment to make a backup of your documents. The WRE has it's own USB drivers that are isolated from Windows drivers, so your mouse/kb should still work there. Altogether, this turned into a week-long endeavor for me. Hopefully I can save you some time. For any future attempt to install something that uses its own driver, I recommend making a SYSTEM RESTORE POINT (control panel > system and security > system > advanced system settings > system protection tab). That way, if anything else goes wrong, you can load that restore point from the WRE, effectively undoing the damage. I've already done it once and can confirm it will restore the USB drivers to proper functionality. Delicode has an updated driver installer on their forums that I am about to attempt. I'll let you know what comes from that...
@@ParadoxTheBox_Archive I have good news and bad news. The good news is the updated driver installer from the NI-Mate forum works. You install it first, then the NI-mate program, and that installer will recognize the updated driver and skip installing the old version. I have it installed now and there seems to be no problem with my USB, or anything else. The bad news is Remington Creative is not telling us everything that is needed to getting this working, because the methods he describes for rig-retargeting do not produce the results he demonstrated in the video. I am currently trying to figure out how to get the sensor data to translate into practical motion capture, but it appears to be a vastly tedious process with many overlapping methods and generalized terminology that pertains to a variety of distinct applications. If you examine his downloadable rig file you'll find that he has indeed done more to it than just what he tells us about in the video. I really wish Remington wouldn't have done such a half-ass job of explaining how he got a character rig to work properly.
I got the Kinect working with an AMD USB 3.0 host controller. TOP TIP: I did have an issue where the framerate was too low and the device kept resetting. This was because I had it plugged into the front panel USB port. When I used a USB 3.0 port on the back of the PC it works flawlessly.
I got a few questions, 1. Does Kinect from Xbox 360 work? 2. Are those Programs safe? *I ask because every time I get something off the internet, I get a virus even from safe sites* 3. Would a laptop with Windows 10 work?
What the difference between Kinect 1 and Kinect v2? Would this work with Kinect 1? Curious to know what your research yielded. Great work matey Thank you ;D
at 16:07 - the armature is backwards. If you guys are having same issue but you already parented a model to your rig then the proposed solution is not going to work properly (inverting Y in edit mode). Instead what seems to work for me at this point is in edit mode inputing 180 Roll onto the core bone :)
Great video! Been looking at this for getting at least the gross movements into unreal engine. V1 is $11 on eBay as of now and handles all the major bones. Figure that $11 will save me HOURS of trying to fine tune large movements and your video was direct, short and covered all the important stuff. Thank you!
XBOX Kinect: Right idea wrong application. Its post-game life is so much more than its game life. MS really ought to just package this for 3d Artists. $100 a box and it would sell hand over fist.
Suggestion from a more recent comment that appears to work. At 4:18 you see the download link in the bottom left. The website itself claims its no longer available but it appears the file is still on the domain so typing in the link works.
Any chance you will do an updated version of the video? I'm currently having a lot of problems trying to do it with a rig that is already attached to a model and for some reason it just really doesn't want to work. I get it to work on other models occasionally, but then a matter of clean up is involved. Any chance of a video that could teach about how to clean up motion capture? Awesome video!
For anyone watching this, my solution to using his rig was to disable each constraint on the bones of the rig(Don't delete constraints only disable!). Then in Pose Mode, CTRL+R, CTRL+G, to remove rotation and position. Then select all bones with A. The go to the POSE menu, Clear Transform->All. This removes weird scaling and positional issues. Then go into Edit Mode and position your rig inside your mesh. Add automatic weights to the mesh. Go back into the rig and start enabling all the constraints again. Boom!
is there a way to get the depth information? like, you are getting point information, but i want to do something similar to this video: ua-cam.com/video/2srkD_BTVkg/v-deo.html it looks like a 2.5D, or like you can only see what light is showing, when the camera pans behind they look hollow. do you know how to do this? THANKS!
WARNING: Due to recent updates with NI Mate, many people have reported issues with NI Mate drivers breaking their USB ports. Please be cautious and ensure your system is FULLY COMPATIBLE with NI Mate before installing it. Check the updated NI Mate and the Kinect SDK system requirements on your own behalf; do not rely on the ones I have provided in this video.
oh no, I already took 10 credits! you are not on time!
How about with 2 kinects? I would like to use an xbox one kinect and a 360 kinect working in unison to make a decent game because the cost is nothing basically. $35kinectV2 + adapter$35 + 360kinect $13 + adapter $14 = $97. and I traded in like only 6 of the lamest old worthless games I had in my collection to a retro shop and already got the kinectV2 so would be bonus if it works..... I am a 3D artist and I can do/modify 3D animation would that help? I was doing animations myself and they look awesome but I felt I could make them a lot quicker and with more life with Mocap then stumbled onto kinect. Is there another professional option near this price range?
Hmmmm. After installing NI mate, it asked for a restart. When my login screen comes back on, I realized that it had wiped my drivers for all my usb ports. I couldn't sign in as my keyboard and mouse were unusable. Did a reinstall of windows 10 and tried again since i thought maybe i missed something but it did it again so going to try to find another way.
@@shizvayne I didn't have that problem it works for me and I'm using windows 10.
@@CAESAR_IS_GOD_mohammadisaloser hmmmm🤔
"it's currently going for just over 45 dollars and I don't expect that to change "
-Amazon : Kinect v2 35 dollars.
-Amazon: Adapter, 200dollars
Nice
I guess v1 doesn't need an adapter right? Read previous comments and comments under them, you will find probably better solutions than this.
you can simply mod the kinect, i did
Kinect V2 brand new 32 euro.
you need a 12V 3A power brick (i recycled a compatible fiber optic modem power adapter )
USB 3.0 A to B cable (8 euro on amazon), total 40 euro about 45 dollars.
ua-cam.com/video/vQYZABBNBqA/v-deo.html
I bought it fairly cheap, it didnt need an adapter as the USB connection just worked out of the box. Obv the software drivers from MS were free and worked
But how does it work as a Moc app interface.? Is it worth it for the cost, or at least cheaper?
@@pakigraw I used an old Wii power cable and block, it's perfect voltage and amperage.
So sad that on the official NI mate download page they say that "This product is no longer for sale".
But at 4:18 you hover over the button and on the left bottom there is a link to the software.
Type it in by hand and you'll still be able to download the software. :D
legend
what an absolute chad you are!
I couldn't get it to work, but I found an install file by searching for the complete name of the install file Delicode_NI_mate_v2.14_Installer.exe
This no longer works.
@@theshawnmccown I just got it working today.
thats really cool, I was hoping however that you were going to actually add a model to it to show us a real final of that end.
0:25 Requirement
2:15 HW connections
3:38 Kinect SDK download and install
6:56 Ni mate download and install
8:48 install add on in blender
9:11 connect NI mate and Blender
10:30 Special Remington's Ni Mate Rig
12:55 Syncro to another rig (rigfy)
17:45 Capturing (recording)
Thanks
2:50 Cat Cameo
*How to get your animation into UE4* (tutorial in progress):
1. Select the Retargeted Rig skeleton.
2. Start a so-called "Animation Bake Action".
3. Your options should be:
-Visual Keying (yes)
the rest should be (no)
-Bake Data (Pose)
4. Export.
In case you don't have any geometry:
You need to create a mesh-dummy and parent it to the Retargeted Rig, or else UE4 won't create a skeleton for you.
*Retargeting this into a character mesh:*
1. Edit the Retargeted Rig skeleton so it is a T-Pose or whatever pose your character mesh is.
2. Place the mesh onto the skeleton, and edit the bone-lengths so it fits the character better.
*Warning* : try not to change bone rotations too much, or it will mess up your resulting character when it animates.
3. And now parent the character mesh with the Retargeted Rig with "Armature Deform -> With automatic weights". It works in most situations.
4. Now follow the "Animation Bake Action" instructions.
The only problem with this scenario is that your character will not be sized properly and will be facing Y-forward i the game engines.
Personally, I use IPI Soft Recorder and rigger and it includes the UE4 mannequin skeleton for easy exporting.
Have you considered mocapping that cat?
+Damien Calloway Haha! I totally would if he'd cooperate.
Meta rig now has 4 legged animal rigs that would make this a lot easier.
Mocat
Could you remake this with the new blender?
Yass
This video is a STANDARD that even the NI Mate guys were recommending. Unfortunately, I had used this technique successfully four years ago. Now NI Mate is not selling its software and the rig is giving trouble in Blender 2.93. Hope you could try with the latest add-on and post another video with the updated one. Also, still not able to rig it to a standard rigify model. A tutorial on that would be great too!
For Those using Kinect V1 with Remington's rig you have to delete the unused Empties and Set the "Stretch" constraints to the correct corresponding empties, as the default setup targets will still be set to the uneeded empties (on second layer)
Good job, for those using Windows 10 and Xbox 360 v1, disable driver signature enforcement before installing Delicode NI Mate 2 Follow this to do so. If you don't do this it will not install the proper drivers needed. Hope this saves you some time.
Click the Start Start menu and select Settings.
Click Update and Security.
Click on Recovery.
Click Restart now under Advanced Startup.
Click Troubleshoot.
Click Advanced options.
Click Startup Settings.
Click on Restart.
On the Startup Settings screen press 7 or F7 to disable driver signature enforcement.
Your computer will restart and you will be able to install non-digitally signed drivers. If you restart your computer again the driver signature enforcement will be re-enabled.
Additional note. Ni Mate will give the instructions on how to install the unsigned Kinect driver.
If your computer has a dedicated graphics card, you may run into a " Spout error “Cannot create DirectX/OpenGL interop”" I have an Nvidia card, so I had to do:
- Open Control Panel (hit the keyboard Windows button, type: "control panel")
- Click on Hardware and Sound
- Open the "Nvidia Control Panel"
- Click on "Manage 3D Settings"
- Under "Global Settings" tab, under "Preferred graphics processor" choose "High-performance NVIDIA processor"
- Click Apply
- Close/restart Delicode Ni Mate 2
There something wrong with the rig in the Blender plugin. The plugin does receive messages from Ni Mate since the rig is moving, but the armature gets deformed and moving like the skeleton joints from Kinect are not mapped correctly to the rig. The skeleton looks fine in Ni Mate.
I figured it out. The rig was made for the skeleton from Kinect v2 which has a few more joints than Kinect v1. To make the rig work for Kinect v1:
- Open the Blender model
- Select and delete the following:
- Delete Left_Collar and Right_Collar
- Delete Left_Hand and rename Left_Wrist to "Left_Hand"
- Delete Right_Hand and rename Right_Wrist to "Right_Hand"
- Delete Left_Foot and rename Left_Ankle to "Left_Foot"
- Delete Right_Foot and rename Right_Ankle to "Right_Foot"
@@msunardi thanks for the instructions youre a real life saver
@@megguenther9901 Glad it was helpful!
I just tested in Blender 2.79. First, the bones in the armature from Rigify are setup a bit different in 2.79. If you want to see the same armature (Human Meta-Rig) shown in this video, you have to enable 'Rigify Legacy Mode' in the Rigify addon. Another thing is when you add the Rigify armature, the armature is way smaller than the rig that transfer data (the one on layer 2). Is it because I use 2.79 and not 2.78 that the scale is different? Are you going to make a video with the new armature in 2.79? Thanks for this great video btw - I'm totally impressed that my setup worked the first try!!!
Thank you for post your solution !
thanks!!
Very good video! Thumbs up!
Hi there i love your videos
Ayeeeewwww
Fancy seeing you here
Whoa, didn't expect you to comment on this video. I am huge fan of you.
2:11 Where are the eggs though?
exactly my thoughts :D
Was going to post the same thing.
I was just about to say the same thing I thought he was bout to pull that
Damian Wyrębiak Lol i just clocked
how to basic :D
You sir, are my fucking hero. Driving to my local electronics store now to get this set up! 😍😍😍
What did you end up using this for?
@@vgaggia
Doesn't he still uses Mixamo or something, lol
@@loop5720 Yeah i got this working once only to read the warning and had to reinstall my windows basically in the end, almost a super cool piece of software
Please do one for blender 2.8
it works for 2.8
@@omgtntlol how? I cant find the NI mate toolbar in Blender
Same
When in the main viewport press n and it will open up a tab on the right. And one of the tabs on that should say NI Mate
@@haydenrice649 thank you so much.
Holy crap that Kinect adapter is faaaaar overpriced. It's only $5 less than the Kinect itself.
Read other comments v1 doens't have that problem I think
V1 doesnt come with the usb cord, unless you bought it separately from the 360.
Plus the V1 has a smaller resolution and crappy tracking.
V2 is the way to go. Look up hack kinect v2. It enables you to install a usb and power adapter on the cheap.
Isn't that ironic: smart guy with nice voice asks if the audience would see more of him?
Who doesn't want to see more? ^^
Good job! *thumbsup*
yeah :)
I remember buying this piece of shit in 2017 till now been used once, fuck it helpless.
you remind me to sale it right away
I am very sad to report NI Mate is not working properly for me. My kinect just came in the mail.
Wow it's really you, I just bought a kinect too. I hope mine will work.
ME TOO MY KINEKT WORKS WELL BUT IT DOESNT WITH NIMATE
@@njokuizuchukwu1744 i got it too work after starting up windows with accept unsigned drivers on
Is it possible to get like 3 or 4 kinect cameras and combine eith multiple angles to get better capture and more complex movement
ATTENTION: Since this videos release, the price of an Xbox One Kinect (AKA Kinect v2) has skyrocketed. If you're interested in trying this out still, I'd recommend checking eBay or other similar resale sites for used Kinects. Theyre usually in relatively good condition. Good luck!
so if I wanted a human model to do this would I weight paint the bones to the model normally and it would work? also why isn't it at 0,0,0?
Remington Graphics do you know any other methods
Can it also track my face?
or is it possible to make it work with face rig,
Does someone know a method with Intel Realsense?
I can't install NI-mate because it breaks my USB drivers, at which point all you can do is reinstall your OS, or load a restore point if you have it. Is there any way to make this work without NI-mate? Being able to do motion capture this way would be a big problem-solver for me, I really need to get it to work.
Could you make a short example of this on an actual model? :)
+Felix Hindemo planning on it!
Yeah, that would be really awesome. I've been playing around with it for a few days and I haven't quite gotten it all figured out.
I would also really appreciate this!
Remington Graphics Yes pleeeeeease! I've been trying to hook up my model to the armature that you provided us (thank you so much for it btw), and I've been running into loads of problems. Finally got something that looked somewhat reasonable after many many hours. Please make another tutorial soon! And once again thank you so much!
Remington Graphics Can you please reference a source for us to learn from, while we wait for this video?
I've been wondering if Blender and the Kinect projects were still viable. It's been a few years since I'd heard anything. Thank you so much for this straightforward, no nonsense introduction to the system! Will definitely be checking it out!
The KINECT (v1) also works on older versions of Windows such as Vista/7/8/8.1
It works! If your goal is to move the skeleton, that is just great! The downside is when you import the animation into blender 2.8 it flips the bones around, so they look like they are working properly, but they really aren't. This becomes visible when you assign them to a model. I am pretty sure it has something to do with the inverse scaling that occurs at 16:06. I will look into a possible solution.
same here
BROTHER, YOU ARE THE BEST!!! You oooh really helped me!! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!
Hello , no download files in Ni Mate 's site :/
Yeah he’s not gonna help us
If anyone is having problems with USB ports breaking after installing NI Mate, I was able to fix mine by going to Device Manager and Uninstalling the USB driver. Then I went to the top menu within Device Manager and selected Detect new Hardware (or something like that), and the correct driver was found immediately. (I am running Windows 10).
Great tutorial! Although I was wondering if there were a few additions to be done to get this to work with Kinect v1?
I've tried but the first Kinect is just terrible (no face capture, terrible resolution, depth is badly perceived, etc)
Thanks for this guide. I've even made an actual video using this technique: ua-cam.com/video/XeDu3qL20i0/v-deo.html (mind the timestamp). But it took me much manual work: the markers were very twitchy right after the recording.
Bro, goodjob
Hey Grant! I work with mocap on a daily basis @ Digic Pictures, our system is a large scale 24 VICON camera setup system that's obviously an overkill for indie projects, but I've tried both the Xsens and the Neuron (in-suit sensors) mocap systems and they hold up quite well for previs purposes. Tried this kinect DIY solution about 4 years ago then it was pretty bad, so glad you did this video, I really beleive in small scale solutions, and hope to use them sooner than later.
What do you think of the Valve Lighthouse tracking system and some cheap or DIY trackers that could be strapped on? I think it would be a viable solution and have been wanting to give it a go. Some interesting github repos.
github.com/ShadowApex/liblighthouse-mocap
github.com/ashtuchkin/vive-diy-position-sensor
As a gentleman who works with Mocap on a regular basis, what system would you recommend for a small-budget indie project which is seeking to create dance motions? I am the manager of a holographic concert project, and for the last year we've created our concerts via motion-trace rather then motion-capture. Now that we're ready to start out Stage 2, I'm hoping to get our first motion capture system, but money and quality are an issue. I've considered the Neuron system, but have heard a LOT of mixed things. And kinect doesn't seem nearly as precise as I'd like. What would YOU recommend?
have you discovered any worthwhile small scale solutions since?
Wow! I like this one! Nicely done with all the needed info and 'behind the scene' info. Really appriciated!
Bro super new but can this be imported into SFM? Idk what file type this makes and what I need.
Hey man this is awesome! saves money and time for my projects! thank you very much for this tutorial!
Same here!
What about plask or pikcap or deep motion or radical or Just using your iPhone for motion capture?
Hey, you might want to add caption on your video at 1:02. The prices for Kinect have gone up a lot since it was discontinued and will continue to rise. It's a shame because a lot of Kinects will be sitting in many homes for ever and will never be used.
Right now the prices for the Kinect on Amazon in Canada is ranging from 130 to 200, 130 generally doesn't include the adapter. The adapter is selling for 300$ on there.
Awesome video btw.
There's a company (or perhaps it's just a guy) on Ebay modifying Kinect V2's (the better XBox One version) by installing the USB cable into the unit, which means you won't need the adapter at all. The unit just plugs into power and the USB port. I bought one, for less than the current $200 price of the Kinect V2, not to mention the cable.
The units are not brand new, of course, but mine works and it is a lot cheaper and easier than chasing down the hardware that Microsoft no longer makes and barely supports. It works perfectly fine with Windows, but their instructions give some warnings about attaching it to an XBox because the change in the power source could cause damage to either system. But if you buy one of the modified units, you're probably not planning to attach it to an XBox anyway.
Quick question - where can I find the keyframes for the animation? I'd like to clean them up a bit but I can't find them anywhere. Nothing on the Timeline, nothing in the Dope Sheet. The Animation tab is also empty. Almost like there's no animation there, yet my armature moves when I press play.
NI Mate, I thought you were about to plug a dating site whike we waited lol. This s**t is gold right here. Just around $85 for a mocap studio? Bravo dude, bravo.
Sadly this doesn't work anymore if anyone wants to try it. All websites containing help on this have also disappeared for some reason...
When I do the part where I parent the rig with my character armature, the part where I need to flip the character along the y axis really screws everything up... Does anyone know how to apply this to characters?
How do I exchange the Human (meta rig) with another 3D model?
Awesome tutorial! But can we use this for Mocap for cutscenes in the games, Like is it good enough for that? Also, can we capture the facial expressions with this?
Thanks,
Loki
well , the ni mate side of things has everything needed for facial expression capture , however transferring that to blender may not be the easiest thing in the world
I´m sorry but the remington pro site is down. where can I get the remington´s ni mate rig ? help me please...
Can you use more then one kinect to make it more accurate?
yes
@@antoncla8622 I thought that was only possible in ipiSoft? Correct me if im wrong
Shayan Niazi I tried delicode this month. The free version gives you access to one sensor. However when you buy delicode you ca nhave access to using multiple sensors. i haven’t tried it though!
@@antoncla8622 Oh right. Well, at this point I feel like iPiSoft offers the best 'free version' service, but their trial expires in 30 days
i did simple motion capture program with two webcams in kitchen :) , i have it on youtube
Everything worked fine for me up until 12:15. When I move, each part of the rig is bent in an unnatural way and stretched. Some of the bones for whatever reason stay in one place while the others move.
Has anyone figured this out? is remington's model outdated? I'm having the same problem, and I think some things were lost in the translation from NI Mate to Blender.
Same for me too
Try deleting the Empties that won't move, that fixed it for me: I'm using Xbox 360 Kinect and the bones/empties i had to let go were: Collar(R,L) Wrist (R,L) Ankle(R,L)
PS. This could potentially mean lesser quality tracks. So i recommend using it as a baseline for your animations and then refine it by hand... Still better than doing it ALL by hand
Dude u r my savior!
This does help quite a bit, but it's not perfect. Has anyone figured out an actual fix?
Thank you so much this helped a lot!!!! You saved my life
Is it possible to use multiple kinects for error prevention and rotation etc?
McLP i wonder too
+McLP You can! I believe the free version allows you to connect up to 2 sensors. If you plan on using more, you'll have to upgrade.
The free/trail version can only do one sensor. The paid version can do multiple sensors but not multiple Kinect V2. Also a single PC can only run a single Kinect V2 regardless of the software. I am not certain if mutilple sensors produce more accurate mocap.
There's also a free add-on called kinector that that can currently do upper body
I have used 2 kinect v1 sensors on a single PC, the results were flawless. You can actually spin around and have full range of motion.
D Designed Was that with Ni Mate? What was the orientation of the sensors? How was the jitter/noise? Delicode said that additional sensors don't increase accuracy and aiming sensors at the same point can confuse the system.
Does this still works, as none of those listed software are available now like NiMate for windows.
Is there a Way to get the facetracking Working With blender
+WisewWaste I'm planning on experimenting with that soon!
These two tutorial are interesting:
ua-cam.com/video/jwJhwcPFh70/v-deo.html
ua-cam.com/video/a_AwDv9Al28/v-deo.html
Bump
thanks, it actually let me through so i could download it.
so Awesome...one of the best Mocap for blender up until now...have you tried the facial capture yet?
+ashwin Baluja I haven't quite figured that and hands out yet. I'll be experimenting -- hopefully I'll find some way!
i guess if you export the animation out as BVH and import it back as BVH for retargeting to final skeleton, it could work...anyways...im on mac so shall have to wait to try this out.
but keep it up and keep posting.
If or when you figure mocap for facial capture, can you please make a new tutorial. this one was fantastic. i have been working with HBV files and tried camera tracing to get some sort of face tracing, but no good. so again thank you for a good video and i hope you make one for facial animation.
Great work! Is this same method doable with facial tracking? Have you already built out a rig for that?
I'm still a bit confused as to why you need three skeletons to make this work
Jordan C.M. the points are just the way the output is working. Not a rig basically. The first skeleton is a connected dots version of it to convert the dots into a rig. It works, but its a bad armature to work with.
So you project the rotations of this armature to your armature. Its specifically the vectors of the connected parts inbetween the dots that you want, thats why the dots arent enough to beginn with.
I think its clear that you would want to use a final character instead of another empty rig at the 3rd step...
Is the Kinect Xbox One preferred or is it necessary to get the Kinect V2
Can you use 2 kinects for more precision?
you can you 2 kinects but i dont know about precision
Using 2 kinect on different angles helps on full 360 rotation tracking.
@@pakorizzuti81 But how do you use it? Because it needs calibration.
@@kadugbuss I used "ipisoft" and "iclone" with 2 360 kinect in the past. The softwares allow easy setup of 2 sensors.
@@pakorizzuti81 Yeah, that was my first option, but the program is so expensive, because i am brazilian, and to convert dolars to "reais" (brazilian money) i need to multiply by 4!
Ni mate is now unavailable. What do I do?
Can you make a your own "face capture" studio? :D
What about the spine movements? and why does the torso bone not rotate like a spine?
I cannot thank you enough for this. It would have taken me days to learn all this on my own - and I probably wouldn't have gotten it to work at all without a lot of guidance. Your guide reduced that to an hour.
This is easily one of the best, clearest, and most straightforward guides I've ever seen. And you have a minimum of faffing about, and (after the first 15 seconds), you never take a needless tangent or get sidetracked. Simply put, you are amazing!
There is a company selling aftermarket-modified Kinects on Ebay that can plug into the computer via USB, without the conversion kit. They install the power cable into the unit, and supply a Kinect-USB cable. do have a warning about plugging the system back into an XBox One, as apparently the modification changes some of the power supply electronics, so you shouldn't use the power cable if attaching to the XBox. I bought one of these modified units and it works, and it's a lot cheaper than the current prices for either the Kinect or converter.
And a week or two ago, Microsoft announced that it was reviving the Kinect program for AR.
This is brilliant, could you do a tutorial on applying the rig to a character (model)?
Do you know how to put your motion capture into vr afterwards?
Does a Xbox 360 Kinect also work?
And does the Blender addon also work in Blender 2.8?
As far as I know Blender Addons only work for one specific version unless they receive an update. But you could apply the motion capture in v2.3 and then append the armature from the project to a new project in v2.8. This way you get the animated rig into 2.8
He said the 360 sensor works but I'm sure it's got some limitations
i think i have an AMD controller does that mean i cannot do this? I had difficulty finding out despite following what to do online coz i built the pc myself
Will this work with an Xbox 360 Kinect (Gen 1)?
As long as it's a Kinect, it'll work. V1 and V2 have the same functionality.
Nice tutorial. Couple of questions.
1. With the Kinect v2 you can use the Kinect Studio v2 application to record, save and then playback any Kinect data. I'm wondering if you tried this? It would obviously make it a little easier for recording the final animation in Blender as the Kinect Studio also allows you to set a start point and duration of the playback.
2. Is the install of PrimeSense required for Kinect v2? PrimeSense actually designed and licensed the original Kinect hardware to MS, before more recently being bought up by Apple. In order to support developers they also create NiTE and were part of OpenNi thataimed to provide an api that included the ability to obtain tracking/skeleton from Kinect v1. . Therefore I suspect, but can't be sure that primesense driver install would only be needed if using a Kinect v1 and that the Kinect SDK is all that is required if using Kinect v2. Did you test not installing Primesense drivers?
Welp, guess I'll start my career as a virtual youtuber
gotta figure out facial stuff first!
Could i also use kinect v1 for this?
Can I do it with my Face? And how?
Sorry for my english, Im german!
WATCH OUT!!!!!!!!! when i installed ni mate it LITERALLY killed all my usb ports and even my hdmi port??
had to use the reset button and start with "focring the driver...something" and uninstall ni mate to make them work again. holy christ.
okey reinstalled it WITHOUT the driver for kinect v1 and the one for primesense now it didnt distroy my usb drivers
I only get the second layer of the rig no empty names or retargeted rig and i cant find the layers tab, I'm using Blender 2.9. Please help
Me too but it didn't seem to matter
Hm. I'm curious if I could live rig my face for twitch in Blender. do you think that would work?
Does this work with 360 kinetic?
please... blender 2.8 tutorial?
works, chock-full thanks!
This is the best free software Ive seen. Respect.
Can you remake this tutorial?
Hello dear, first of all, excellent tutorial, of my favorites on youtube. I succeeded in making the mocap and that is all due to you, for that, thank you.
My only question is at minute 10:50 when you go to your website there are instructions on how to make my own skeleton.
I would like to be able to do it on my own.
Unfortunately the instructions is no longer in your site, please upload them again.
Thank you
after installing, my usb ports stopped working. Anyone have any ideas how to fix?
😂
I went through the same thing, and was with MS tech support for 12 hours. Here's the result of that conversation:
If you have a bluetooth mouse/kb, or any remaining means of interfacing with the OS, you can remove and reinstall your USB driver, which may fix the problem. Failing that, your only recourse is to reinstall windows with MS's removable windows installation media (sorry, I don't have a link, you may have to ask for it from MS tech support). Before you reinstall, get into the Windows Recovery Environment to make a backup of your documents. The WRE has it's own USB drivers that are isolated from Windows drivers, so your mouse/kb should still work there.
Altogether, this turned into a week-long endeavor for me. Hopefully I can save you some time. For any future attempt to install something that uses its own driver, I recommend making a SYSTEM RESTORE POINT (control panel > system and security > system > advanced system settings > system protection tab). That way, if anything else goes wrong, you can load that restore point from the WRE, effectively undoing the damage. I've already done it once and can confirm it will restore the USB drivers to proper functionality.
Delicode has an updated driver installer on their forums that I am about to attempt. I'll let you know what comes from that...
@@civilsavant6072 Did it fix it?
@@ParadoxTheBox_Archive I have good news and bad news. The good news is the updated driver installer from the NI-Mate forum works. You install it first, then the NI-mate program, and that installer will recognize the updated driver and skip installing the old version. I have it installed now and there seems to be no problem with my USB, or anything else.
The bad news is Remington Creative is not telling us everything that is needed to getting this working, because the methods he describes for rig-retargeting do not produce the results he demonstrated in the video. I am currently trying to figure out how to get the sensor data to translate into practical motion capture, but it appears to be a vastly tedious process with many overlapping methods and generalized terminology that pertains to a variety of distinct applications. If you examine his downloadable rig file you'll find that he has indeed done more to it than just what he tells us about in the video. I really wish Remington wouldn't have done such a half-ass job of explaining how he got a character rig to work properly.
@@civilsavant6072 Thanks for the info, good luck!
ITS REALLY WORKED LOL THANK YOU DUDE
Adapter got a lil bit more expensive. on US amazon like 300$ and on UK Amazon 119pounds
I got the Kinect working with an AMD USB 3.0 host controller.
TOP TIP: I did have an issue where the framerate was too low and the device kept resetting. This was because I had it plugged into the front panel USB port. When I used a USB 3.0 port on the back of the PC it works flawlessly.
I got a few questions, 1. Does Kinect from Xbox 360 work? 2. Are those Programs safe? *I ask because every time I get something off the internet, I get a virus even from safe sites* 3. Would a laptop with Windows 10 work?
What the difference between Kinect 1 and Kinect v2?
Would this work with Kinect 1?
Curious to know what your research yielded. Great work matey
Thank you ;D
thank you so much dude you're a god
at 16:07 - the armature is backwards. If you guys are having same issue but you already parented a model to your rig then the proposed solution is not going to work properly (inverting Y in edit mode). Instead what seems to work for me at this point is in edit mode inputing 180 Roll onto the core bone
:)
Oh and I realised you have to rotate the (roll) of each bone to match the downloadable Remington Rig too. :P
Much appreciated, what a bunch of goobers.
HowToBasic is that you? 2:11
Just wanted to know if you could explain how to export the animations from blender to Unity, I am very new at blender. Great video by the way c:
You just earned a new subscriber that was f'n awesome! Thx
Great video!
Been looking at this for getting at least the gross movements into unreal engine. V1 is $11 on eBay as of now and handles all the major bones.
Figure that $11 will save me HOURS of trying to fine tune large movements and your video was direct, short and covered all the important stuff.
Thank you!
XBOX Kinect: Right idea wrong application. Its post-game life is so much more than its game life. MS really ought to just package this for 3d Artists. $100 a box and it would sell hand over fist.
damn, then i really wouldnt be able to afford it
a few years late to the party but ni mate is no longer available for download. Is there an alternative that I can use?
Suggestion from a more recent comment that appears to work.
At 4:18 you see the download link in the bottom left. The website itself claims its no longer available but it appears the file is still on the domain so typing in the link works.
Any chance you will do an updated version of the video? I'm currently having a lot of problems trying to do it with a rig that is already attached to a model and for some reason it just really doesn't want to work. I get it to work on other models occasionally, but then a matter of clean up is involved. Any chance of a video that could teach about how to clean up motion capture?
Awesome video!
Did you ever end up fixing your problems? I'm also trying to follow this tutorial with a rigged model but nothing works.
Hey we need a updates version of this! is there any other tutorial u can guide me to!
Here's a very good one: ua-cam.com/play/PLZpDYt0cyiuvd2X6ucSYilKJD6rKK2Uys.html
Would this work with the original Kinect? (Not V2)
I have just tried it now with my 360 Kinect.
It does work, but some changes are needed (In Blender) before it can be used properly.
For anyone watching this, my solution to using his rig was to disable each constraint on the bones of the rig(Don't delete constraints only disable!). Then in Pose Mode, CTRL+R, CTRL+G, to remove rotation and position. Then select all bones with A. The go to the POSE menu, Clear Transform->All. This removes weird scaling and positional issues. Then go into Edit Mode and position your rig inside your mesh. Add automatic weights to the mesh. Go back into the rig and start enabling all the constraints again. Boom!
Please, I search it for 3 days, HOW TO RECORD THE MOCAP AND EXPORT IT IN BVH
can it be a 360 kinect?
is there a way to get the depth information? like, you are getting point information, but i want to do something similar to this video: ua-cam.com/video/2srkD_BTVkg/v-deo.html
it looks like a 2.5D, or like you can only see what light is showing, when the camera pans behind they look hollow.
do you know how to do this?
THANKS!