Mocap — Process
Role in the pipeline: body and face performance for monologues, gestures and idles.
Capture options (Sept 2026)
| Option | Quality | Cost | Use |
|---|---|---|---|
| MetaHuman Animator, single camera (body + optional face, Windows) | Good | Lowest | Previs, gesture library, idles |
| iPhone TrueDepth / Live Link Face (iOS; Android app also records takes) | Good face | Low | Face for monologues and pickups |
| Stereo head-mounted camera + MetaHuman Animator | Best face | Medium | Hero monologue face |
| Inertial suit (Rokoko, Xsens class) | Good body | Medium | On-island capture weeks |
| Optical stage (Vicon/OptiTrack) rental | Best body | Highest per day | Hero monologue body |
Steps
- Script and blocking locked with historian and director.
- Calibrate; slate each take; record reference video and clean audio with timecode.
- Solve face in MetaHuman Animator; solve body (suit/stage or mono camera).
- Clean in Maya or Unreal (feet, hands, props); retarget to the MetaHuman skeleton.
- Build the gesture library tagged by rhetorical move (point, open hand, write, raise telescope).
- Build idles (breath, weight shift, look-at) for kiosk rest state.
- Bake compressed versions for phones and standalone headsets.
Owners: technical animator, mocap technician, director, actor. Tutorials: Mocap — Tutorials · start here: Tutorial — Running a Capture Day