Setting Up a Handstand Animation With Plask AI, Houdini & UE5

The Workflow

1. Learn how to handstand.
2. Record a video.
3. Use Plask AI to extract motion from the video.
4. Clean up the animation in Houdini.
5. Export and render in Unreal Engine.

Plask AI

I found Plask AI easy to use. It surprisingly captured the correct motion even when some body parts were not in view. It still struggles with upside-down body positions and backflips or any acrobatic movement. It also jitters a lot and the feet slide on the ground.

Most of these issues can be cleaned up afterward, which makes this tool a good option for game development for generic movements such as looping walking cycles, punches, maybe jumps. However, I don’t think it’s ready for animated films just yet, you’re better off using an $8000 mocap suit for the time being.

Houdini clean up

• Import character with animation
• Ray hands on the ground
• Set up IK-chain for hands so that the elbows and shoulders would stick with the hands instead of detaching and moving with the body.
• Blend the IK-chain modified animation back onto the original animation based on keyframes when the hands are touching the ground.
• Rotate hands to align correctly with the ground.
• Use chop net with a filter to smooth the jittery animation "if you overdo it, you’ll lose the details".
• Apply animation back onto the geometry to see the character moving.

Finally, you can use "Rop FBX Character Output", "Rop FBX Animation Output", "Rop Alembic Output" or "Vertex Animation Textures".

You can download the Houdini file from my Gumroad.

Mohamad Salame, Environment/Technical Artist