Tutorial — Capturing Idle Takes

Augmented Traveler local tutorial. Back to Mocap — Tutorials · runtime: Tutorial — Authoring a Q&A Experience with Ambient Idle · capture day: Tutorial — Running a Capture Day · movement: Tutorial — Period Movement Coaching

What to capture so the figure looks alive while waiting, listening and thinking. The Q&A tutorial layers base idles, fidgets, breathing, gaze and hand poses. This page is the shot list and directing notes that feed those layers.

Draft. Written from our Q&A idle design and Epic's capture guidance. The director and technical animator validate it after the first idle session. Correct any setting names here.

1. The shot list

Per figure, per posture (standing; seated at a desk or table):

Item Count Length Layer it feeds
Waiting takes 3–6 30–60 s each Base idle (random sequence)
Fidgets 8–12 2–6 s each Additive fidgets, every 8–25 s
Breathing 2 20–30 s Additive breathing on spine and clavicles
Weight shifts 4–6 3–6 s Transitions between waiting takes
Look-arounds 4–6 3–5 s Gaze variety; the Look At node does the rest
Thinking / considering 4–6 1–2.5 s Thinking state before first audio
Listening posture 2–3 10–20 s Listening state
Turn to visitor 2 1–2 s Waiting → Listening

Thinking clips must be short. First audio should arrive within about 1.5 s (AI Mind — Process), so a thinking clip that runs longer will be cut off.

2. Fidgets per figure (historian approves the list)

Maria Mitchell (1847) Whaling captain Lucretia Mott
Glance at the telescope Glance at the sky or the window (weather) Hands resettle in the lap
Straighten papers on the desk Thumb along the waistcoat edge Small nod, as if hearing a thought
Adjust shawl on the shoulders Weight onto the back foot, hands behind back Smooth the apron or skirt
Touch the pen, not pick it up Check a pocket watch (non-metal proxy on suit days) Turn a page

Avoid modern habits: checking a phone-like object, tight crossed arms, hair-flicks, stretching the arms overhead.

3. Directing the waiting takes

  1. Give the performer a reason to wait. "You have come to the Atheneum early; the hall is filling." A waiting take without a situation turns into posing.
  2. Low energy, but not asleep. Blinks, small breaths, eyes that settle and move on.
  3. No big events. Save big actions for fidgets, so they can be timed separately.
  4. Stay near the mark. Feet may shift; they must come back within a few centimetres.
  5. Posture holds. In stays the torso stays upright; the performer rests by shifting weight, not by slumping (Tutorial — Period Movement Coaching).
  6. One long take is better than many short ones. Ask for 90 s and cut the best 30–60 s.

4. Loopability rules

5. Listening and thinking

6. Recording notes

7. Delivery

  1. Naming:
    • AS_<Figure>_Idle_<Posture>_Wait_<##>
    • AS_<Figure>_Idle_<Posture>_Fidget_<name>
    • AS_<Figure>_Idle_<Posture>_Think_<##>, _Listen_<##>, _Breath
  2. Cleanup: loop points, locked feet, hands from the hand pose library (Tutorial — Hand Pose Library for Gestures).
  3. Additive settings on fidgets and breathing as in Tutorial — Gesture Library and Tags.
  4. Hand to the Unreal engineer with a short CSV: name, layer, length, posture, historian approval date.
  5. The Animation Blueprint and State Tree in Tutorial — Authoring a Q&A Experience with Ambient Idle take it from there.

8. Practice exercise

Capture three 60 s waiting takes for Maria Mitchell seated at a desk, plus four fidgets and two thinking clips. Build the idle in a test Animation Blueprint and leave it running for 30 minutes. Note every moment a loop or a repeat is visible, and capture replacements for the worst two.

9. Check before handing off

Sources