I've been trying to animate a character and it's much harder then I would have ever expected. This is one of the things which is holding me back the most, the only logical solution would be motion capture but all of the systems I've seen are incredibly expensive. What options are available for indie game developers?

Using motion capture isn't any simpler. Motion capture data requires extensive clean-up work and, you know, you have to actually apply the data to a rig.

Your best options are to find an animator for your project, search for and learn how to use existing BVH files, or keep learning how to animate yourself.

If by indie you mean a small start up with limited budget, OptiTrack might be worth a look (i didn't actually use it, though).

If by indie you mean you have literally no budget, than i guess you won't find anything.

If you have any camera that records video, you can use Rotoscoping.

As for my budget it would need to be something under $500 and can fit in my apartment...

I know this isn't motion capture, but have you looked into Poser to see if you can do what you need to animate your characters?

You may not be able to directly export the animation into your game (you might, I don't know), but from my use with Poser, walk, running, jumping and stuff like that is really easy. You just create a path, set up some parameters and let Poser do the work.

John

If you can't animate by hand then you won't be able to do motion capture either. Most of the work in motion capture comes from cleaning up the mess it makes... which means animating by hand. So no, it is not really a logical solution. A logical solution would be to a) hire an animator, b) keep practicing, c) settle for subpar animations, or d) design a game with features you can actually do. That last option sounds mean but is truly the best one.

The rotoscoping suggestion is also decent, assuming you can find people close enough to what you need.

This might be an option: CMU motion capture library.

Quote: Original post by borngamer
I know this isn't motion capture, but have you looked into Poser to see if you can do what you need to animate your characters?

You may not be able to directly export the animation into your game (you might, I don't know), but from my use with Poser, walk, running, jumping and stuff like that is really easy. You just create a path, set up some parameters and let Poser do the work.

John

Yeah thats the best idea so far but they don't seem to offer a demo unless you give them your credit card number which I will not do...

Quote: Original post by Solias
This might be an option: CMU motion capture library.

WOW!!!! Thats perfect!!! Thank you!