Tuesday, September 26th, 2023 Posted by Jim Thacker

Vicon releases Shōgun 1.12


Originally posted on 26 September 2023. Scroll down for the Shōgun 1.12 update

Vicon has updated its Shōgun motion-capture software, intended for calibrating and processing data generated by its optical mocap systems.

Shōgun 1.10 adds a new object alignment tool to help with tracking props, improves the accuracy of finger capture, and streamlines the process of retargeting data to MetaHumans.

Stream, solve and clean data from Vicon’s optical motion-capture hardware
First released in 2017, Shōgun is intended for calibrating Vicon’s optical motion-capture systems, and for streaming, solving and cleaning data captured from them.

It has two key components: Shōgun Live, used for capturing data, and Shōgun Post, for cleaning and exporting it.

Shōgun Live 1.10: new object alignment tool and better finger tracking
Key changes in Shōgun Live 1.10 include a new object alignment tool for aligning props.

It adds new options for updating the orientation of the object within a scene, with users able to align the prop’s axes to global axes, a single marker or the center of a group of markers.

There are also “significant improvements” to finger tracking accuracy and the stability of calibration: you can see detailed comparisons to Shōgun 1.9 in the online documentation.


Shōgun Post 1.10: semi-automated setup of MetaHuman characters
Shōgun Post 1.10 gets better integration with MetaHuman, Epic Games’ framework for creating next-gen real-time characters.

Setup scripts included with the installation automate the process of retargeting data to MetaHuman skeletons in Unreal Engine 5, including setting up the hierarchy, specifiying degrees of freedom, and posing the target skeleton.

It is also now possible to reprocess data from .mcp files, which store data processed in real-time: for example, to resolve frames dropped during the original processing operation.

Finally, there are a number of UI changes, described as the first of a “series of iterative improvements” to the software’s interface.


Updated 5 June 2024: Vicon has released Shōgun 1.12.

The update adds a new default character skin, offering a “more natural” representation of the human form and a texture that gives a better visualization of limb twists.

Shōgun Live’s Subject Calibration Feedback panel now shows progress bars for each joint in the subject template while calibrating Range of Motion.

Shōgun Post gets the option to Paint selected keys in the Graph view.

The previous update, Shōgun 1.11, added new tools for visualizing occluded markers during tracking sessions and for scaling up calibrations for large capture volumes.

Price and system requirements
Shōgun 1.12 is compatible with Windows 10 and 11. The software is usually bought as part of a complete Vicon motion-capture system, which are priced on enquiry.

Read a full list of new features in Shogun 1.12 in the online documentation


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