Tutorial — Running a Capture Day

Augmented Traveler local tutorial. Back to Mocap — Tutorials · pipeline: Mocap — Process · cleanup: Tutorial — HumanIK Mocap Cleanup for MetaHuman · movement: Tutorial — Period Movement Coaching

How to plan, run and wrap a performance capture day so that face, body, audio and reference video line up and nothing is lost. It covers the paperwork before, the slate and timecode discipline during, and the backup and handoff after.

Draft. Written from Epic's MetaHuman Animator capture guidelines, the UE 5.8 release notes, Take Recorder docs, Tentacle Sync's manual and Rokoko's support pages. The mocap technician validates it on the first capture day. Correct device and menu names here.

1. Two weeks before

  1. Script and blocking signed off.
    • The historian of record signs the script (Position — Historian of Record). Nothing is captured that the historian has not seen.
    • The director blocks each scene on paper: where the figure stands, sits, looks, and which props are touched.
  2. Shot list. One row per capture item, grouped by set-up (standing, seated at desk, telescope). Include:
  3. Consent and contract. See section 2. No signature, no capture.
  4. Costume proxies and props.
    • Proxy skirt, stays or waistcoat of the right weight and length, so the performer moves as the figure would (Tutorial — Period Movement Coaching).
    • Proxy props at real size and weight: telescope tube, ledger, pen, chronometer, spyglass for a captain.
    • For inertial suits: no metal props. Rokoko lists metal chairs, speakers, radiators and pipes as interference sources.
  5. Calibration plan. Write down, per device, when you calibrate (section 4).
  6. Test day. Run a 30-minute rehearsal with every device, then check the files sync in Unreal. Tentacle Sync advises testing the full workflow before production.

3. The crew and their jobs

Role Job on the day
Director Runs the floor, calls takes, approves circle takes
Mocap technician (Position — Mocap Technician) Devices, calibration, timecode, Live Link Hub, data wrangling
Performance capture actor (Position — Performance Capture Actor) Performs; calls a stop at any time
Historian (in person or on video call) Watches for period errors; can stop a take
Script supervisor / take logger Take log (section 7), continuity, circle takes
Sound recordist Clean dialogue audio, timecode on the recorder

4. Set-up and calibration

  1. Timecode first. Jam every device to one master clock before anything else.
    • Tentacle SYNC E units sync over the Setup app or by cable; drift is under one frame in 24 hours (vendor figure).
    • Use LINE output for devices with a timecode input, MIC output to record timecode on an audio track for devices without one.
    • One frame rate for everything. Epic recommends at least 60 fps for MetaHuman Animator offline capture. Pick 60 and set every device to it. Users report 29.97/30 fps footage causing trouble with the markerless plugin.
  2. Live Link Hub 5.8 as the control point.
    • Its device framework controls recording devices over IP (Live Link Face on iOS and Android, AJA, Sound Devices recorders, OBS).
    • Mocap Manager or Take Recorder can push the slate name and take number to all devices and start and stop them together.
    • Its media profile can set the timecode and timestep of connected Unreal clients.
  3. Inertial suit. Check the room for magnetic noise first. Rokoko suggests a magnetometer phone app; readings should vary by no more than about ±0.15 gauss. Calibrate at the start, after breaks and whenever drift shows.
  4. Stereo head-mounted camera. Record a ~20 s checkerboard calibration take at the start and end of the session, and again if the helmet is adjusted.
  5. Identity take for the face: neutral, teeth, and (iPhone only) left and right at about 30°. Same device class as the performance.
  6. Reference cameras. At least one static wide (head to feet) and one medium on the face. These also feed Tutorial — Single-Camera Body Capture if you test the markerless route.

5. During the day

  1. Slate every take, verbally and on screen: figure, scene, take. A physical clap at the start is a cheap backup to timecode.
  2. Start order: audio → video → suit/face → call "action". End order: reverse, with 2 s of stillness at each end for blends.
  3. T-pose or calibration pose at the start of each body take (needed for HumanIK retargeting).
  4. Clean audio.
    • One speaker per file; low noise; no reverb (Epic's audio guidance).
    • Record at 48 kHz, 24-bit on the recorder (our house standard; Epic's stated minimum is 16 kHz).
  5. Historian check after the first good take of each scene, not at the end of the day.
  6. Safety and breaks.
    • Stays and heavy skirts are tiring. Break at least every 60–90 minutes (our house rule); loosen stays between set-ups.
    • The 2025 IMA calls for rest periods for on-camera principals and a qualified medic on hand for hazardous actions. We book no hazardous actions.
    • Water, seating and a changing space on set. The actor can stop any take.

6. File naming

Item Pattern Example
Take <Figure>_<YYYYMMDD>_<Slate>_T<##> Mitchell_20261014_S03comet_T04
Device suffix _body, _face, _audio, _refA, _refB Mitchell_20261014_S03comet_T04_face
Calibration <Figure>_<YYYYMMDD>_CAL_<device>_<start/end> Mitchell_20261014_CAL_hmc_start

Take Recorder supports {slate} and {take} tokens in its save paths; use them so Unreal takes match the log.

7. Take log template

TC in TC out Slate Take Scene / item Devices Circle Director notes Historian notes Tech issues
10:14:02:00 10:15:40:12 S03comet T04 Comet night monologue, para. 2 body, face, audio, refA ● Good arc; hands late on line 3 OK Suit L forearm drift at end

Keep it as a shared spreadsheet; export to CSV with the data at wrap.

8. After: backup and handoff

  1. 3-2-1 backup the same evening: three copies, two kinds of media, one off-site (Veeam's definition). For us:
    • capture PC → a second local drive → cloud storage.
  2. Checksums before wiping any card or device. Stereo HMC footage runs about 45 GB per minute (Epic), so budget storage the day before.
  3. Handoff package for the technical animator (Position — Technical Animator):
    • circle takes only, with the take log CSV;
    • reference video with burnt-in timecode;
    • calibration and identity takes;
    • notes from the historian.
  4. Next steps: face in MetaHuman Animator; body cleanup in Tutorial — HumanIK Mocap Cleanup for MetaHuman or the Unreal retargeter; sequences in Tutorial — Sequencer for Monologues.

9. Practice exercise

Run a one-hour mock day with a team member standing in for Maria Mitchell: two monologue lines, three gestures, one 30 s idle. Jam timecode, log every take, back up, and hand off. Then check that face, body and audio line up in Sequencer within one frame.

10. Check before the first real capture day

Sources