Introduction

Filters are a feature that make it possible to modify data from the Smartsuit so that it is better suited for specific use cases. Below you will find some guides and tutorials for our filters. Some filters can be used live, others are for editing takes.

Live filters in Rokoko Studio will allow you to enable specific filtering, in real-time, on data received by the Smartsuit Pro.

To gain access to the Live Filters in Rokoko, simple click the pencil icon in the input device management tab.

Keep in mind that these filters are in an experimental stage and will consistently be improved. How significantly these filters affect your own Smartsuit capture data will depend a lot on your project, make sure to play around with them to find out which ones will work best for the motions you want to capture.

Drift Fix

What does it do?

A post processing filter for fixing drift.

Tutorial

How to use it:

When recording data, it is important that you start and end position for your talent is at the same spot.  Once your animation is captured, activate the Drift Fix playback filter by toggling it on in the Playback filter menu.  Activate the Gizmos, and you can either drag the End Position Gizmo to match the start position gizmo or you can click on the cogwheel and type in the coordinates for the End position gizmo.  Reprocess your data, and the drift in your animation has been fixed!

Locomotion

What does it do?

• Locomotion simulates the position of the character by estimating when contact with the ground occurs.
• The keys for foot contacts can be edited in the playback (after a recording is made) to make corrections, allowing you to export a cleaner file.
  Note: the "smooth frames" checkbox takes a few samples (value) of the calculated vertical hip motion and will average out little bumps that may occur when walking

When would you use it?

• Locomotion allows for jumping and / or running.
• Locomotion also plays a role when performing movements such as hand stands, somersaults, backflips, and miscellaneous acrobatics.

How to use it:

You can correct the keys for locking of left and right feet. You can click and drag a key to change the start key and end key of that specific locking duration. Green color for left foot locked, blue color for right foot locked and no color (dark gray) for no locking. When both left and right foot is locked, both feet will be used in average to hold the position. When only left or right foot is locked only that foot will hold its position. When neither feet is locked a jumping arc will be created from the end of locking to the start of the next locking. (sliding is currently not supported)

You can place a new key by simple clicking in the left (L) or right (R) track bellow the timeline. You make a start key by clicking and dragging up or make an end key by clicking and dragging down. You can change a key type by clicking it (it will become green to show it is selected) and pressing "1" for start key or press "0" for end key. Double clicking a key will toggle it from a start start key to an end key or from an end key to a start key.

You can have multiple start (or end keys) following eachother but only the first of a kind will be used (see how the color of the track is unchanged). Delete an unwanted key by clicking it and press "x". After making changes to to keys in either track, the motion has to be re-calculated. Click the the "Process changes" button to the right of the tracks this will take a short while, depending on the recording.

Locomotion Legacy

Locomotion legacy is the first version of the Locomotion filter we introduced in Studio, and will allow early adopters of the Smartsuit Pro to play back their old recordings. As the behaviour of Locomotion Legacy is different than the current Locomotion filter, it can still be useful in some situations, for example when performing handstands or motions where the locking mechanism should switch from the feet to the hands.

Treadmill

What does it do?

• Treadmill keeps the character fixed in a position in space.
• You can apply a horizontal lock only or a horizontal and vertical lock.

When would you use it?

Imagine you are doing a horse riding animation, or a climbing animation, in which you'd like a camera with a fixed distance to the character following it at all times. By enabling the Treadmill you force the character to stay in the same position. This will create a neutral position that you can then keyframe and have complete control over later in the pipeline.

Another example is if you have a performer running on a treadmill, you can isolate the runner's motion and then use it for an animation or even do a scientific analysis of the motion.

HumanIK

This filter makes sure that your feet stay on the ground when the locomotion data say that your feet are on the ground. This will take care of any drifting and it is recommended for all animations.

Knee Pop

This filter helps with the bending of the knees as they sometimes can be funky without it. 

Toe Bend

What does it do?

• The Smartsuit Pro doesn’t have a separate instep and toe sensor; it has just one on each foot to cover the whole area. The toe bend filter imitates how the foot would normally bend when touching the floor.
• The "feet above floor" checkbox will push the foot up to ground level if it penetrates using inverse kinematics (Inverse kinematics (IK) means that when the foot is moved it will rotate the thigh, the knee and the ankle a bit, so that the hip position will remain unchanged).

When would you use it?

When you are standing on your toes or performing movements where a curvy transition between the instep and toes would be preferred. A specific use case where you would not have Toe Bend enabled is if you when you are performing a pirouette (or most movements associated with ballet)