- Number
- 10269169
- Published
- 2019-04-23
- Filed
- 2016-08-09
- Assignee
- LUCASFILM ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY LTD.
- Inventors
- Sullivan; Steve, Davidson; Colin, Sanders; Michael, Wooley; Kevin
- CPC
- H04N13/204; G06T15/06; G06T15/08; G03B35/00; G06T7/70; G06T7/285; G03B17/00; G03B15/16
- Verdict
- High Hardware
- Source
- Google Patents · FreePatentsOnline
The keeper's note
Three-dimensional motion capture (Lucasfilm/ILM).
Abstract
In one general aspect, a method is described. The method includes generating a positional relationship between one or more support structures having at least one motion capture mark and at least one virtual structure corresponding to geometry of an object to be tracked and positioning the support structures on the object to be tracked. The support structures has sufficient rigidity that, if there are multiple marks, the marks on each support structure maintain substantially fixed distances from each other in response to movement by the object. The method also includes determining an effective quantity of ray traces between one or more camera views and one or more marks on the support structures, and estimating an orientation of the virtual structure by aligning the determined effective quantity of ray traces with a known configuration of marks on the support structures.
Background
TECHNICAL FIELD(1) This document relates to a motion capture system and method.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION(2) Motion capture is an approach to generating motion data that is based on tracking and recording the movement of real objects. One common application of motion capture is in animation where a realistic sequence of motion, e.g., by a human actor, can be captured and used to represent the motion of an animated object.(3) In some motion capture systems, an actor wears a black body suit. A number of white balls are attached to the suit at the actor's joints, e.g., shoulder, elbow, wrist. The actor then performs a sequence of movements which is digitally recorded by a number of cameras. The recorded data is then processed by a motion capture program.(4) The motion capture program recognizes the white balls as points. If multiple cameras record the same point in a frame and the locations of the cameras are known, the motion capture program can determine the 3D position of the point using triangulation. The motion capture system may determine 3D positions for all of the points in each of the frames. As used herein, the term “frame” refers to a period of time, or a collection of different periods of time, at which a 3D position of an object being captured is calculated.(5) The 3D points may be input into a fitting program that fits a virtual skeleton, which represents the bone structure of the object being captured by the system, to the 3D points. For example, an upper arm bon
Claims
1. Motion capture equipment comprising: a bodysuit sized and shaped to be worn by a person, the bodysuit having left and right arm portions, left and right leg portions and a torso portion; a band attached to and encircling the torso portion of the bodysuit, the band comprising a first plurality of contrasting marks positioned directly on the band and extending along at least half length of the band and the band having sufficient rigidity that individual marks in the plurality of contrasting marks maintain substantially fixed distances from each other during movement of a person wearing the bodysuit; first and second support structures attached to the left and right arm portions, respectively, each of the first and second support structures including a second plurality of marks spaced apart along the length of the structure; third and fourth support structures attached to the left and right leg portions, respectively, each of the third and fourth support structures including a third plurality of marks spaced apart along the length of the structure; and a fourth plurality of marks positioned on a front side and a back side of the torso portion unrelated to the band.
6. Motion capture equipment comprising: a bodysuit sized and shaped to be worn by a person, the bodysuit having left and right arm portions, left and right leg portions and a torso portion; a band attached to and encircling a torso portion of the bodysuit, the band comprising a first plurality of contrasting marks positioned directly on the band and extending along at least half a length of the band and the band having sufficient rigidity that individual marks in the plurality of contrasting marks maintain substantially fixed distances from each other during movement of a person wearing the bodysuit, wherein the first plurality of marks is planar with respect to the band and the first plurality of marks includes alternating white and black square regions, with each black square region in the plurality of marks includes a white circle within the square region and each white square region in the plurality of marks includes a black circle within the square; first and second support structures attached to the left and right arm portions, respectively, each of the first and second support structures including a second plurality of marks spaced apart along the length of the structure; third and fourth support structures attached to the left and right leg portions, respectively, each of the third and fourth support structures including a third plurality of marks spaced apart along the length of the structure; and a fourth plurality of marks positioned on a front side and a back side of the torso portion unrelated to the band.
16. A motion capture system comprising: a bodysuit sized and shaped to be worn by a person, the bodysuit having left and right arm portions, left and right leg portions and a torso portion; a band attached to and encircling a torso portion of the bodysuit, the band comprising a first plurality of contrasting marks positioned directly on the band and extending along at least half a length of the band and the band having sufficient rigidity that individual marks in the plurality of contrasting marks maintain substantially fixed distances from each other during movement of a person wearing the bodysuit; first and second support structures attached to the left and right arm portions, respectively, each of the first and second support structures including a second plurality of marks spaced apart along the length of the structure; third and fourth support structures attached to the left and right leg portions, respectively, each of the third and fourth support structures including a third plurality of marks spaced apart along the length of the structure; and a fourth plurality of marks positioned on a front side and a back side of the torso portion unrelated to the band; one or more processors configured to perform operations comprising: associating respective positions of one or more support structures coupled to the person to respective positions of corresponding virtual support structures for a virtual skeleton associated with the person, wherein the plurality of marks on each of the one or more support structures coupled to the person substantially correspond in position to a plurality of virtual marks on each of the virtual support structures; receiving a frame associated with one or more camera views that depicts marks on the one or more support structures coupled to the person tracked by the one or more cameras and selecting one or more marks from among the marks depicted in the frame; calculating ray traces extending from corresponding ones of the one or more camera views through the selected one or more marks; and determining an orientation of the virtual skeleton associated with the person by aligning one or more of the virtual marks corresponding to the selected one or more marks to substantially lie on the calculated ray traces as constrained by joints and movement possibilities of the virtual skeleton, wherein each additional aligned virtual mark serves as an additional constraint for determining the orientation of the virtual skeleton associated with the person; wherein the virtual skeleton associated with the person includes virtual bones connected by joints, and wherein the movement possibilities of the virtual skeleton associated with the person are based on a motion model that specifies a range of motion for one or more of the virtual bones with respect to one or more of the joints.