The big question is...is it real? Here's the company's website where you can download a demo http://www.almih.avtlg.ru Forgive me for being prejudiced but as you can see by the URL it is located in Russia where there are all kinds of scams. Its also priced extremely low, too low in fact if its any good. I don't have two videocams to try out the demo but I'm curious if anyone here has tried it out. I don't expect this thing to be perfect even if it is legit but if its real then Poser as we know it just took a quantum leap forward making it a 3D software tool we could only have dreamed of. Will someone please try this thing out and give us a report, please!?!?

I saw the site. Looks interesting. If it works like they say it does then animation and posing will be much quicker. Funny thought though, now we would have to become motion actors as well. Can you imagine dancing around your workspace or posing just the right way to get that "perfect" video capture? We are some strange group of artists, aren't we? I started the download but had to stop short as it was barely crawling. I'll try again later.

I wish they had more info on it before you had to download a beta demo or purchase it. Anyway, competition seems to finally be hitting this niche market. Perhaps with more players, the game will become more interesting.

As long as microsoft doesn't enter the arena too early. Then it might just end up in agony.

The idea is that you film yourself acting out a motion using two, three or four video cameras. The resulting AVI's are then displayed simultaneously together with a 3D character. Markers are manually placed on the avi images and these are translated to the 3D model. Advancing one frame a a time it is possible to reposition each marker in each AVI image. The 3D character mirrors the movements. The resulting motion may then be saved as a BVH file. This can then be brought into Poser.

It does not appear to have the finesse of high end packages but at under $40 it looks like an excellent starting point provided that you are prepared to manually position the markers in every frame and undertake the fine tuning that I'm sure will be required using the Poser animation tools.

Be prepared for a long download time, the file transfer rate is extremely slow.

What good is that?

What do you expect for $40? :)

You can position every few frames then have it interpolate in between( beta 2), but really you can do this in Poser by importing the footage in the background and matching the poses every 10-15 frames(rotoscoping).

I read Andygraph is in the project, ask him? Mazak

I noted that it does not create x,z, or z trans movements for the figure and that those would have to be done manually in Poser. From what I can see the real benefits would be that it would enable people who have difficulty with interpolation. This program strikes me as the equivalent of tracing paper. I'll try it out though. Are there any other low cost mocap programs that we can look forward to on the horizon?

Actually, setting the points can be really fast, if you already paint the points on your clothes. Makes anations faster then posing them fully by hand, but do not expect the computer to do all the work. But still nice fo 40$

What good is Britney Spears? ;-) People like the strangest stuff (myself included). Ever seen your mom at a craft store? :-) Let em' enjoy themselves. If someone finds it useful. Then they should be able to buy it. ScottA

What good is Britney Spears? Depends on what function you think she serves;-)

HI, All motion capture requires adjusting in your poser graph editor Even the expensive Kaydara motion capture rigs in final fantasy did not eliminate the need for Skilled MAYA animators to clean up the motion so you really should learn the poser graph editor before working with captured human motion that wont be joint mapped for specific poser characters anyway rememberthe Free "santa monica" BVH files?? it contains just about every basic human motion you might need for a good starting point in animating characters BUT you have to know how to edit them in your graph editor and combine them in poser to make the animations you need. there are NO Pushbutton solutions for character animation in ANY program LEARN THE GRAPH EDITOR ;-) -wolf359 founding member of "the 12 animators"-

wolf359, I could not agree with you more. I'm still making up my mind on the Visual Marker. At the price its not a tough decision. Just wondering if rotoscoping would be just as quick. Also I don't have two cameras. (yet :)

Check out the Muscle O's animation on the Poser 5 content CD. I did that animation using the rotoscoping technique. I haven't used the Visual Marker program thingy so I can't comment on it. I can tell you that the rotoscoping technique worked very well though.

Any suggestions on a good (cheap) web cam that would suffice for rotoscope backgrounds? I think putting dots on your clothes is a good idea, and acting at a 3/4 angle you could probably do okay with one camera. - then reposition the figure as needed in Poser. Can you get a decent enough web cam for $50? or so... The other nice thing to have would be a touch screen stylist, for quickly positioning the figure.

PREACH ON BROTHER WOLF!! AMEN! I was thinking this might be easier than rotoscoping in Poser. But now that I know it provides no Z-axis info, coupled with joint-mapping issues, I think Rotoscoping would actually be a little faster. Especially if you are an experienced Poser animator. -Tim (Founding Member of "The 12 Animators") PS> Wolf ... how are you and yours holding up amidst the sniper nightmare?

"PS> Wolf ... how are you and yours holding up amidst the sniper nightmare?" Its pretty Damn scary Tim!!!! I hope this madman is Captured or killed Soon!! thanks for the concern Bro :-) -wolf359 founding member of "the 12 animators"-

No problem, I'm just a hair or two north of you, and anxieties are high up here too. Can't imagine what it's like down there. My brother lives a stones throw from the school where the kid was shot, so I'm living it with you. Be safe ... stay indoors and render all day! ;-) -Tim

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?ForumID=12355&Form.ShowMessage=338699

Oh now I feel smug! Have a look at the link to the developers forum...

Actually, for those who can't be bothered, I embarrass myself quite well in there! One developer who came in and I blasted turned out to be the guy who crafts this great and wonderful site and just when I said I didn't think it was rocket science, a rocket scientist came in to tell me it wouldn't work! A couple of people have since pulled their comments but they were along the lines of, if it were possible someone would have done it already. Oh, and I think I tried to chat the rocket scientist up - oh dear, oh dear - then there was the tap dancing on the table.....

Ah, anyone remember the dance notation idea? Chris's list Poseamation about a year ago, another hair brained scheme, wonder if anyone did it....