Monday, April 8th, 2019 Posted by Jim Thacker

IKinema releases Orion 2.0


IKinema has released Orion 2.0, the latest version of its low-cost mocap solution based around the HTC Vive, adding a ‘sytem health tracker’ to monitor capture quality in real time.

A complete full-body mocap system based around HTC Vive hardware
First released last year, Orion works with any OpenVR device – in practice, HTC’s Vive hardware and the Manus VR gloves – to capture full-body motion data for an actor.

In its simplest configuration, it uses the Vive headset to record the motion of the actor’s head and Vive controllers to record the motion of their hands, plus three supplementary Vive Trackers for the hips and feet.

Both headset and controllers can be swapped out for another Vive Tracker, which gives more control over sensor placement; and two further optional Trackers used to record the actor’s upper arms.

At current prices, that means a total hardware cost of around $800 to $1,200, plus a further £400/year (around $520/year) for the software itself, making it possible to create a complete set-up for around $1,500.

Once captured, data can be exported in FBX or BVH format, or can be streamed live into Unreal Engine or Unity via free plugins provided with the core software.

Users can retarget the data to a custom character skeleton using sister tool LiveAction, or by paying IKinema a service fee of £200 per character.

New in Orion 2.0: automatic system health tracker, improved solve quality
To that, Orion 2.0 adds a new ‘system health tracker’ that monitors motion quality in real time, flashing up a warning with the option to stop a solve if data quality drops.

There is also a new hip offset control, letting users correct knee bend manually during capture sessions.

Other that that, the update is largely focused on improving the quality of solves, particularly in correcting head tilt and improving foot placement on the floor.

Pricing and availability
Orion 2.0 is available for Windows 10 only. The core software comes with plugins making it possible to stream data to Unreal Engine 4.15 and above and Unity 5.5 only.

The software is available on a rental-only basis, with an MSRP of £400/year (around $520/year) for each node-locked licence.

Read full list of new features in Orion 2.0 in the online documentation

Visit the Orion product website


Homepage image: WFKE/Gree VR Studio