LogInMotion Analysis Corporation's Steve Soltis spoke about the origins and features of Rig Solver, discussed its advantages for character animators, and talked about its compatibility with various motion capture data sources.
Image credit: Motion Analysis Corporation, Rig Solver's User Interface
Introduction
I am Steve Soltis, Vice President of Global Sales for Motion Analysis Corporation. Motion Analysis Corporation originated in Santa Rosa, California in 1982. We have been a leader and innovator in the motion capture and analysis industry providing state-of-the-art hardware and software systems and solutions to a variety of industries, including but not limited to animation and gaming, biomechanics, broadcasting, and industrial, to name a few.
Rig Solver
Prior to Rig Solver, many customers in the animation and gaming sectors became familiar with our Cortex and Calcium Solver software products. As the reputation of Motion Analysis’ rigging software grew, so did customer interest in a rigging solution that could work with a variety of capture systems and cameras.
Rig Solver’s flexibility, intuitive workflow, and result accuracy are second to none. Years of experience in the animation realm have helped us perfect Calcium Solver (the module that predates Rig Solver). With Rig Solver, you get the capabilities of Calcium Solver and the flexibility of using third-party motion capture hardware that generate C3D files. It’s fully compatible with our animation and game engine plugins, making it easy to take the output from RigSolver directly into the animation package of your choice.
Rig Solver's Key Features
We've taken the full set of tools from 20-plus years of development of our premier software, Cortex, and ported them into Rig Solver. With that huge experience and invaluable feedback from many hundreds of users, it has the most complete and respected functionality in the market. Combine that with our innovative customizable "workflows" or approachable "sky" scripting to save hours of operators’ time. Our proprietary global optimization Solvers mean the fit will be the right time for the vast majority of captures.
Compatibility with Different Motion Capture Data Types
An industry standard is C3D file format. It’s designed to help when your motion capture system isn’t producing the real-time results you would have hoped for. As long as your current motion capture creates a C3D, it then can easily be imported into Rig Solver for post-processing, data cleanup, and rig fitting. Rig Solver has a suite of easy-to-use tools for correcting poor marker identification and gap-filling post-collection.
Image credit: Motion Analysis Corporation, Imported data being fit to a skeleton
Import your marker data, set up joint types link your markers to desired segments, and then calculate the optimal fit for rig to data. Display a skin in Cortex and stream to your animation software or simply export the data in a variety of formats.
Utilizing Rig Solver for Comprehensive Real-Time Rendering
For the best-in-the-business real-time rendering, you need a full Motion Analysis system. Rig Solver is a post-process tool that gives users access to all our functionality, no matter what marker-based optical capture a rigger uses.
Rig Solver's Skeleton Calculation
Rig Solver is a stand-alone solution that makes the features of Calcium Solver available for use with almost any marker-based mocap system on the market. So for the first time, there’s no need to have a full Motion Analysis system of cameras. Rig Solver is sold with a graduated pricing structure, making it more affordable the more seats you buy.
Rig Solver works on the animator's character directly and solves the fit to (almost) any marker cloud. All you need is a sufficient number of markers in roughly the right positions.
Image credit: Motion Analysis Corporation, Imported data being fit to a skeleton
Utilizing Your Existing Mocap System with Rig Solver
As long as you can create a C3D file, Rig Solver enables you to use your existing mocap system. This eliminates the need to acquire new or additional hardware just so you can take advantage of Rig Solver software.
User-Friendly Rigging Software
With today’s tight employment market, and with the need to quickly bring new products and games to market, time is of the essence, and ease of use has become more critical than ever. Our customers tell us our rigging software is second to none regarding ease of use and improved workflow.
Motion Analysis' Future Plans
Product development is never-ending thanks to the great feedback from our wonderful userbase. Watch this space and we'll let you know as soon as the next breakthrough is ready for release!