Kinect Motion capture - Page 2 - Simply Maya User Community

# 16 26-01-2012 , 11:26 AM

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Its the difference between being a bully and being graceful in the way you correct someone. Saying that he is full of shit for belittling the industry and then belittling him at the same time does little to get your point across, no matter how valid.

On another note, I am quite interested to see this tech put to use on PC games. I am yet to see a good motion controlled game with 1 to 1 movement and the few kinect ones I attempted felt slow and unpolished...

"If Less is more then think how much more more would be..."

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# 17 26-01-2012 , 11:39 AM

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i was saying he was belittling the work people do in the industry and saying he was talking shit about outsourcing as he is ill-informed.
If this is a light hearted forum, why can't you say someone is talking shit? I must be missing something. isn't that just banter?
Suggesting i'm a bullying anyone is really just insulting.

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# 18 26-01-2012 , 01:27 PM

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True, this forum should be a place where everyone can express their opinions, and we know Dom usually doesn't mince words, so sometimes you just gotta let it roll off your back. However, Dom, you could be a bit more tactful sometimes. Especially to new members who don't really know your "style" and even that you work in the industry. So let's just get back to the kinect discussion.

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# 19 26-01-2012 , 02:43 PM

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fair enough. my apologies.

As for kinect, there is a ton of this stuff. If i remember right. kinect was hacked the same day it was released or there abouts.
There has been some cool stuff that came of it. i followed along for the first couple of weeks, not sure what has happened recently tho.

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# 20 26-01-2012 , 04:17 PM

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Wow honestdom... just wow... didn't expect that from you, let me elaborate..

This was not meant as an insult at all, just an observation that anybody would agree to. I told you I wasn't talking about this clip specifically (if that bothers you), but the technology itself. Imagine making a film 20 years ago and now. Then you'd have one huge expensive camera, had to develop and cut films physically, if you were to do animation you'd have to go over 10 different steps instead of doing all in one program etc. Now just search for example for freddiew on youtube or vide copilot to know what I meant.

As to your personal attack on me and the notions about how some noob dares to compare industry quality to indie or even armature work. I'm not really sure how to react to that, I don't need to get into a childish argument on a forum which I enjoy, but I also don't want to sit here and take it, so just to get you off your high horse: I have over 6 years industry experience in animation, so please don't act like you're better than me or anybody else here please. I've seen work here from people who are not in industry that way beyond what you see in a lot of studios (eg. that minotaur model comes to mind). And putting somebody down just cause 'they're not in the industry' is just plain dumb.

Enough said.

P.S.: Thanks for explaining to me about the situation in Canada. I live in Toronto btw., so let me enlighten you: True, there are a lot of government incentives and tax breaks here, as long as the show is at least partially made in Canada (there is point system, you might look it up), that doesn't necessary mean that the whole show is done here. It's just means that there is a lot of "co-productions" (outsourcing) going on; the production is overseen from a studio here and usually the script, storyboard and MDP (and sometimes animation keys) is done here rest is shipped oversees. Again, before you jump at me with counter-attack: not every single studio is doing this, but more and more, especially in the past 2 years.

Last edited by nov2011; 26-01-2012 at 04:19 PM.

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# 21 26-01-2012 , 05:46 PM

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Whatever man, it sounded like you were talking out of your ass. It can take over 1000 people in multiple studios more than a year to make a movie. Suggesting someone can do it in their bedroom with a copy of AE can come across as pretty insulting.
Also I've heard from lots of different people on both sides of the Atlantic, that studios in Canada can't employ people fast enough right now. Which is why I was planning a move to Vancouver. You will find most of the large studios want a 24h work day, so they will have multiple sites. East/west coast north America, China, Singapore, India, London.

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# 22 26-01-2012 , 05:49 PM

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That's interesting about Canada... not that I'm looking for a typical job in the industry, but it's good to know we're in a state of growth.

-stwert

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# 23 26-01-2012 , 06:33 PM

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Still missing the point: I never looked down the professionals, all I said was that with today technology it is possible to make a great looking effects on home PC, but you read it as if I said that anybody can do your job and got all defensive. It still takes a skill to do a great job, all I meant is a lot of great looking stuff can be done by 'amateurs'. Loosen up, I don't get why you're upset about it.

Does this really insult you?
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# 24 26-01-2012 , 06:42 PM

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More guns.........LOL.........dave

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# 25 26-01-2012 , 07:07 PM

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there are more and more 'ameture' productions coming out these days. many of these guys are good enough to be in the industry but now-a-days you can't get by on skill alone. Sometimes you can, but most of the time you need that nice piece of paper to back it up. So a lot of these people like the video above do their own thing to show off their skills to the public. These people have no funding or anything but are trying to do what they love anyway inhopes someone will notice. If you have a following already it helps when trying to do something more. Never underestimate the overexposure and the sway of public opinion. If your work can get a million views on youtube it will probably help you when trying to get into some kind of funded work.

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# 26 26-01-2012 , 10:50 PM

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@MamoruK: If by the piece of paper you mean a degree or diploma, or if you just think of a career in animation then I highly recommend you read through the comments under this article: https://www.thegridto.com/life/advice...lash-animator/

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# 27 27-01-2012 , 12:26 AM

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yes i mean a degree or diploma. Most of the larger studios i know want you to have it. At least from what i've seen on their job postings.

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# 28 27-01-2012 , 12:57 AM

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yes i mean a degree or diploma. Most of the larger studios i know want you to have it. At least from what i've seen on their job postings.

Originally Posted by MamoruK

Yes, I know it's on the job postings, but it doesn't mean a thing. The person who decides if you get hired or not is usually an art director or design or animation supervisor, and all they care about is your skill. You can get a PhD in animation, but that doesn't mean you're a good animator. Don't get me wrong I got diploma in animation as well, but in retrospective.. I'm not sure if it was worth the time and money. If I were to do it again I'd opted for intern-ship, it's free, you learn 10x faster and you get your foot in the door.

From my experience here are the factors that affect if somebody gets a job:

90% - Demoreel
10% - Previous job experience (not really that important, unless you worked for some of the world famous studios)

Unless of course you want to teach at some point in your career, then degree is a must.

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# 29 27-01-2012 , 02:17 AM

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oh i would so drop school for an actual legit internship but even the internships that i know of around here require some level of experience.

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# 30 27-01-2012 , 05:32 AM

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From my experience here are the factors that affect if somebody gets a job:

90% - Demoreel
10% - Previous job experience (not really that important, unless you worked for some of the world famous studios)

Originally Posted by nov2011

I have to disagree with you here. While your demo reel is very important, previous job experience is a big factor. However, the biggest factor is what position you're applying for. If you're applying for an internship, or a junior position, obviously they will look more at your reel than your previous job experience. However, as you move on in your career, most people notice that they don't even need to send out resumes any longer; as since (especially in Canada) people frequently jump around to different studios, which allows them to grow a very vast web of contacts and coworkers very quickly. That's how many people find their next gig; through their network. A company will always take a recommendation by a current employee into stronger consideration than a person that is being brought in off the street.

In regards to using the Kinect as a motion capture device, it certainly has a usage within the indie and hobbyist markets; but at the present time it is not suited for production work. At the last studio I was at, a guy was tasked with seeing if it could be used in any way for the animators (~60 of them). The last time I heard about it, we couldn't get anything really useful out of it. For one thing, the IR projections with multiple Kinects being in the same vicinity could cause interference with each other. Then there's the biggest problem. The motion data is noisy! Even by running specifically designed motion filters on top of the data, it "ghosted" a lot. It's also quite a big technical overhead as you not only need to be capturing the data from the device, you also need to detect the pose from the live feed, then translate it into a skeleton via NiTE, then bring it into Maya, then transfer it onto your rig. This, in many cases, means you need to have two rigs in your scene. One to be animated on top of, and the other to be driven by the captured data. This also means that a lot of scripts and applications, as well as extra steps in rigging and scene prep, would have to be written to automate this. Again, this is looking from a feature-quality studio standpoint.

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Last edited by NextDesign; 27-01-2012 at 05:47 AM.

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