Using Kinect Point Clouds To Animate Figures
by Amid Amidi (Cartoon Brew)
Brazilian artist Jomário Murta used multiple Microsoft Kinects to generate a sequence of point clouds (a set of points in 3D space) as reference for creating animation. The process is akin to motion capture, but not the same:
This is something like animating over the videos. Just like we usually do as
reference for timing and more complex movements. The difference is that I
can animate three-dimensionally “inside” the video; the advantage instead
of mocap is that the animation process is more free, where I can easily
exaggerate the movements and play a lot with the poses without
compromising my style of animation.
Murta admits that he is still in a research phase and hasn’t figured out any practical applications for the technique, but that’s to be expected of any exploration of a new technology. The results are promising thus far, and it’ll be interesting to see how he and others build on the process.
or:
A short example scene to demonstrate the apliccation of the technique:
(not polished, no facial animation)
or:
Characters created with Josh Burton's Morpheus Rig.
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Hi,
I discontinued the creation of the tutorial, but for a good reason, the new version of Brekel Kinect Point Cloud Pro left the process much simpler to use and lighter, the software is very easy to use and intuitive, unfortunately this new version came as a paid software, but is not as expensive and certainly worth it.
Thank you!
Jomário Murta