Blender and Motion Capture

Create a quick CC3 character for motion capture in Blender, then customize an avatar with clothes and pudgy, older proportions using torso, leg, and arm morphs in a premade scene.

Modify a character’s face in character creator by adjusting nose, mouth, eyes, brows, ears, and neck, then save the project and prepare for export to blender.

Export the CC3 character from Character Creator to Blender as a mesh with textures, avoiding hidden faces, then import, set frame rate, and plan a custom armature for motion capture.

Unpack the CC3 rig by unparenting all objects from the armature, rename it to Barlinnie Rig, delete the old rig, and apply scale to 1.0 for your own rig.

In Blendr, enter edit mode and face mode to delete all geometry beneath the clothes, preventing skin from poking through, yielding a 44,000 tris character.

Enable an alpha channel with alpha hashed blend mode for the eyelashes, fix clipping with the clip start, and adjust specular, roughness, and lighting for realistic skin.

Learn to build reference bones for a mocap rig in Blender using Auto Rig Pro, with Redmap for retargeting motion capture.

Place hand joints in top view using x-ray mode, align fingers and thumb, then adjust jaw, teeth, tongue, eyes, and other bones to prepare for rig generation.

Generate a rig from the reference bones with the auto rig probe, then bind the character, adjust lip separation, and test controls to ensure correct movement.

Create vertex groups named C_eye.l and C_eye.r, assign eye faces, and rebind to the rig. Parent the eye control to the head bone so the eyes move with the head.

Parent teeth to jaw bones and bind the tongue to the rig in Blender, separating upper and lower teeth, adjusting shapes, and refining weights for realistic mouth rigging.

Fix shirt deformation by editing bone influences and removing chin, neck, and ear influences in vertex groups. Parent hat to headphone bone and test rig with motion capture.

Shows how to assemble and wear the Perception Neuron 30 motion capture suit, place accelerometer nodes, and connect the hub to a computer via wifi and USB power.

Connect the perception neuron suit to your computer using Axis Neuron, choosing USB or Wi-Fi, follow the quickstart steps, and calibrate for reliable, studio-grade motion capture.

Calibrate the motion capture suit by setting a steady pose, deselecting all, then performing poses—arms down, a tea pose, and an esposa—amid countdowns and beeps.

Record motion capture in Blender, name the take, and review playback. Trim the start and end, export as a BVA file, and prepare for rig retargeting in Blender.

Import motion capture file into Blender, set scale to 0.01, scale FPS, update scene duration, compare processed exports to reduce foot jitter, then prepare for retargeting to the character rig.

Build the bones list to align the motion capture rig with the character rig, using the eyedropper, adjust inverse kinematics and forward kinematics, and save a preset.

Manually scale the character in edit mode to match the t pose, then retarget with auto rig pro and refine with interactive tweaks for natural motion.

Paint weights in blender to fix elbow deformation using the weight paint brush from the active tool panel, add forearm weights, and adjust in edit mode with proportional editing.

Place a modeled cell phone in a character's hand in Blender, animate finger poses with keyframes, and parent the phone to the hand to walk into a premade scene.

Transfer the character from a motion capture rig into an existing Blender warehouse scene by cleaning up the rig, organizing into character collections, and set up a camera for rendering.

Set up and animate a camera in Blender by placing it, locking to view, adjusting focal length to 35 millimeters, and creating arc-like, keyframed movement that ends with a pause.

Render the camera animation by selecting a render engine, setting 1920 by 1080 at 24 fps, and exporting as image sequence or final MPEG video, refining depth of field.

Learn how to retarget Mixamo animations in Blender by downloading a premade FDX animation from Máximo, importing it, and adjusting the rig and bones for accurate motion on your character.

Explore how Blender and motion capture enhance your animations, games, and visual effects. Apply practical processes and techniques to your projects.