Hidden Bunker
A motion capture student project.
Programs Used: Unreal Engine 5.6, Motion Builder, Mixamo
The Process
I served as the assistant to the student director for this project. After receiving the script, I created 2D storyboards to help streamline the filming process, which was crucial since our team had only a three-hour window to shoot. During production, I tracked mocap errors and supported the director by clarifying how each scene should look with the corresponding props.
Storyboards
Set Up in Motion Builder
Once we got our uncleaned data back from the student director, we divided the data as a group. I was responsible for two sequences. Once I downloaded the appropriate Mixamo rigs, I brought it into Motion Builder and characterized the rig. In a new Motion Builder file, I imported the data and characterized Mixamo rigs. In order to change the scale of the Mixamo rig, I parented and attached a Null to the Mixamo rig’s hip. I zeroed out the rotations and translation to put it in origin. Finally, I placed the Mocap data and placed it in origin and zeroed out its rotations. Once both are in origin, I changed the scale of the null to the appropriate size of the Mocap actors and baked the control rig. I did this for all three rigs and data.
Mocap Clean Up
The majority of the issues I encountered with this data is the sporadic limb shakes when the Mocap actor goes out of bounds. I focused my cleanup per limb to optimize the organization. One of the biggest challenges I had was addressing the hand shakes. It was difficult to pinpoint where the shaking originated from - whether from the wrist, the forearm, or the elbow. I solved this issue by going through each joint and smoothing down the areas where I found spikes in rotation.
Unreal Engine
Once the data was cleaned up and exported out separately, I imported its .fbx into Unreal Engine 5.6. I then imported the characterized Mixamo .fbx as well. After linking the data to the skeletal mesh, I placed the main character where the initial action will take place and copied and pasted his translations to the other two characters. I attached the flashlight constraints to each model and did subtle camera work to my assigned sequences and my other group members who needed help.