Blender Add-on

Teleman

I was unable to install the add-on in Blender 2.82 - the error message said that the add-on needed to be upgraded to 2.8.

I installed Blender 2.79 and installed the Chordata add-on successfully.
With notochord running on the Pi 3 B+, I am able to Connect and click Receive button.
There is a message that the 'operator is calibrating... press Enter to pose'. Sometimes I get an error 'unable to create UDP server', other times Blender just crashes.

If I press Enter and Blender does not crash, the Unico object disappears, no where to be found. Clicking Stop & Receive again redisplays the Unico (K-Ceptor). But once I press Enter, it disappears again.
What is the proper add-on configuration for Blender? Should I be using a different version?

daylanKifky

Hi!
You are probably using the old version of the add-on which wasn't compatible with Blender 2.8x, and had many stability issues.
We have released the new version just yesterday, which was re-built from the ground up to address the problems with the previous one, and provide a much smoother user experience. take a look here: https://forum.chordata.cc/d/62-new-blender-2-8-chordata-node-system-addon/17

A more detailed documentation on how to proceed with your beta-testing is coming: https://forum.chordata.cc/d/86-new-beta-tester-guide-coming-soon

Teleman

With the new add-on in Blender 2.82, I cannot find the Receive / Stop buttons. I have init the mocap session, and using debug mode. I see a button to Connect, and am able to connect, but nothing happens after that. I've added a K-Ceptor, but I do not see a Receive button like the previous version.

How to receive from K-Ceptor (Unico) after Connect?

daylanKifky

Hi,
is the [Connect] button the one on the Notochord node? like the one in the lower right area of this picture?

That's all you need to activate (client side) to make the add-on receive the capture. In the future the host side part of the capture will be automatically launched from the same button, but for now you should manually start it by launching the notochord on the RPi. All the other connected nodes will receive the capture stream comming from the Notochord node. If you want to see what you are receiving you can add a Debug node which will print the values to the console.

I updated this section of the wiki to better describe the process, let me know if it's clearer now:
https://wiki.chordata.cc/wiki/User_Manual/2._Setting_up_the_system#Testing_the_system

Teleman

daylanKifky I can move the avatar, but how to record the motion? I do not see a recording panel. What is the process?

Teleman

If I have trouble connecting, I will restart Blender. Then Init Chordata Mocap Session. Remove the Cube from scene (if there is one). Then from Chordata menu, Add a Mocap Avatar.

Make sure the Armature node box has Chordata_biped selected with Calibrate button underneath. If not, make sure Chordata Full Biped is selected in the Node window.

Click Connect button -- avatar should respond to movements but will likely be twisted up. Face south in the T-pose and click Calibrate button.

That should do it. Touch your nose and look at the Blender window -- re-calibrate with arms higher/lower and/or further forward/backward until you can touch nose. Remember that pose for re-calibrating.

daylanKifky

You have to add a Record node to the output of the Armature node.
I suggest you to update to the new version of the addon which was released yesterday for a more complete recording support

Teleman

daylanKifky Thanks for the Record Node info, but I cannot make a connection from the Armature node Data Out socket to the Record node Armature In socket. Making the connection between Data Out and Data In causes an error.

How to connect Armature Data Out socket to Record Armature In socket?

daylanKifky

it seems like the default armature node was not updated. Try deleting it and adding a new one. You can do it by the Add menu at the top of the node editor

kmw199614

Hello, I was reading this thread, and have a follow-up question. I was able to add the record node in, but now once I hit record, how do I know it is recording, and where do
es the playback file go / how do I view it?

daylanKifky

The recording data (in blender it's called Action) gets associated with the armature. So selecting the armature should let you see the keframes as yellow marks in the timeline. You will also see a [Play] button on the Record node when there's a recorded action

kmw199614

Hello,
I have two questions on Blender recording mocap:

Is there a way to record multiple actions in one session? Even with the create new action selected in the record node, and renaming each action, it still overwrites the previous action that was recorded.
When I try to record a second action, blender often crashes. Is this a common issue, and is there anything to do to prevent it? I am using a new desktop with a large processor, so that shouldn't be the issue.
Thanks,

daylanKifky

kmw199614 Is there a way to record multiple actions in one session? Even with the create new action selected in the record node, and renaming each action, it still overwrites the previous action that was recorded.

If you remove the Active action on the record node and hit Record once again the addon will create a new Action. you can rename each one from the Active action field, and also use it to switch between them after they are recorded.

Note: currently only the active action will get saved, and the other ones will get lost when you close Blender. I've just realized of this behaviour just now. It will be fixed in the next release.

kmw199614 When I try to record a second action, blender often crashes

It is not a common issue, so please try to find a minimal setup to reproduce the bug (I mean a particular tree of nodes, or procedure to make it crash) and use the issue tracker to report it