Getting Started: Setting up Smartgloves in Rokoko Studio Legacy

Setting up Smartgloves in Studio Legacy
 
 

 

Requirements

The following items are not included with the Smartgloves but are required to get up and running:


 

Setting up your Smartgloves in Rokoko Studio Legacy

  • Open Rokoko Studio Legacy, sign in and select your Team.

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  • Create and enter a project/scene.

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  • Please connect one Smartglove to the USB port of your computer with the included USB-C to A cable (Anker). You may need a little extra force applied in order for the USB-C to properly connect(you will hear a 'clicking' sound).

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Please note that you cannot plug the Smartgloves directly into a USB-C port (found on modern Macbooks) as the USB driver is different. If you only have USB-C ports available, we strongly recommend using a dongle or hub and the cable provided by us with the Smartgloves to avoid unexpected issues.

  • A pop-up will appear on the lower right corner of the scene. Please click it to access the wifi settings.

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Should the pop-up not appear despite having your Smartsuit Pro HUB connected to your computer with the USB-C cable (Anker), click the Smartglove(or Smartsuit) icon in the top right corner to open the panel:

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You will be greeted by a small pop that showcases which Smartgloves are connected with USB.

The Smartgloves icon which is highlighted green is the current one selected. You can change between them by selecting the icons.

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If the USB-C to A cable is not connected properly to the Hub, then Studio will show:

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You can reuse the latest WiFi settings you applied (if any) or apply new settings. Both settings will open the next window, but if using "Reuse WiFi setup" will automatically input the last settings you applied.

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  1. Find your Wifi network from the drop-down list and enter its password. As mentioned earlier, we recommend a dedicated router for smooth connections and performance.
  2. Ensure that your computer is connected to the same WiFi that you wish to use your Smartgloves with. Then select the correct IP address from the drop-down menu. Read this article on how to verify your IP address.
  3. Should you want to select a specific frequency band (2.4 of 5.0 GHz), the receiver port of DHCP mode, you can do so via the "advanced Wifi settings" dropdown. Click here for more details on supported WiFi frequencies.
  4. Click "Apply settings"
  5. Once completed, you will see a message saying "WiFi settings successfully applied". You can now disconnect the USB from the computer and connect a battery to the USB.

At this point, you should see a grey hand in the scene, with the LED's of the HUB being both green. Then, disconnect this Smartglove, connect it to your battery and connect the other Smartglove to your computer.

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Smartglove WiFi LED explanation

If connected to a 5GHz network you should see two green LED colors. If connected to a 2,4GHz, you should see one green and one blue and one green on yellow if connected to a Dual Band.

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If you didn't succeed, no panic as it is most likely a WiFi setting issue that can easily be resolved. Please consider the following:

  • Verifying you disabled all your computer firewalls or anti-virus software such as McAfee (you can instate exception rules later on). Learn more here
  • Testing a different router and computer (you can even test the connection with a Smartphone hotspot)
  • Consulting this troubleshooting guide when the WiFi settings fail to apply.

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Creating an Actor Profile and assigning it

Now that your Smartgloves is connected to your computer via WiFi, the grey Rokoko hands have appeared in the scene, and you have put on the Smartgloves, you will need to do the following:

  1. Create an actor profile by clicking the "add objects" button (see gif below). By default, entering your height will change the values to averages in the other input fields, which is a good place to start, but if you have time we advise manually measuring all the inputs as well. Once you are done, save the profile.
  2. Now that we have added this new actor profile in the scene, we need to pair the Smartgloves to it. You can see the Smartgloves in the list of "unpaired inputs" tab. Simply drag it on the actor profile object to tie them together. The avatar, affectionately known as Newton, will then be put in the scene origin.

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An actor profile will allow Rokoko Studio to scale Newton to your body measurements. You can create actor profiles either from the main menu or directly from within the objects panel (as seen in the gif above). Add a little color marker to the profile to light up Newton.

You can now move to the next and final step - Calibration: Pray Pose

Calibration: Pray Pose

Performing the calibration is arguably the most important step in the configuration process, so make sure not to rush through it.

Perform a "pray pose", to calibrate the system by holding the palms together with fingers straight.

 

Calibration: Straight Pose

If you own a Smartsuit and want to do a calibration with both the Smartgloves and Smartsuit you'll do the straight pose like you normally would to calibrate the Smartsuit.

Performing the calibration is arguably the most important step in the configuration process, so make sure not to rush through it.

Perform a "straight pose" (also called I-Pose), to calibrate the system by standing upright (but in a relaxed stance) with:

  1. Your arms down the side of your body touching your thighs/legs (see chart below)
  2. Your head pointing forward (see chart below)
  3. Your feet pointing straightforward (parallel) with a spacing of about 15cm between them. Tip: That spacing is pretty much your foot's width, so imagine you have a third foot in between your feet)

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Remember to stand still while the software counts down from 3 once you click the "straight pose" button:

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The Rokoko Remote iOS app can also be used to trigger the calibration command from an iPhone. Learn more here.

Using the Smartgloves with a Smartsuit

Recording, Filters and Playback

For more Information on recording, playing back, exporting and applying filters watch the video above, or read our article on the topic here.

Exporting your data

You can export your recordings in a variety of file and skeleton formats. Please see this article for more information.

Rokoko Studio Features & Subscriptions

By default, Rokoko Studio is free when it comes to the core features. To gain access to advanced premium features such as Rokoko Studio Live, Face Capture and Virtual Production (which are marked with a lock icon) you will need to subscribe to a Rokoko subscription plan. More information on the available plans can be found here

Rokoko Studio Live (Real-Time Data Streaming to the plugins)

Using our native plugins will allow you to unlock the Smartgloves's full potential. Working with the plugins will allow you to apply Smartgloves data (as well as Face tracking and Virtual Production data) to your own characters in real-time while working in the software environment you are familiar with. 

More information on Rokoko Studio Live can be found here

Face Capture

With our Face Capture Add-On, you can record or live stream facial motion data both by yourself or in sync with the Smartgloves (and Virtual Production), directly inside Rokoko Studio or in the plugins. Learn more about this feature here

Virtual Production

With our Virtual Production Add-on, you can record or live stream HTC tracker motion data, both by itself or in sync with the Smartgloves (and Face Tracking), directly inside the Rokoko Studio or in the plugins. Learn more about this feature here

Command API, SDK and Custom Integrations

Additional Premium Features

  • If you need to save more than 5 actor profiles, a premium license is required.
  • Learn more here

Troubleshooting

An issue that sometimes occurs when using Smartgloves without the Smartsuit, is that only the character hands are shown in Rokoko Studio - and they are stuck in place. This can occur if the Smartgloves are still listed as unpaired input in the upper right corner - if they have not been associated with an actor profile. If this is the case, dragging the unpaired input to the actor profile should unlock the Smartgloves and spawn in the dummy actor for most cases. 

 

However, should this not be the case for you, you can either use a console command to unlock the translation of the Smartgloves, or add a "dummy suit" to the scene, which should have the same effect:

 

In order to enable the hand translation inside of Rokoko Studio, you'll have to:
  1. Open a scene.
  2. Click the scene viewport and then while holding CTRL (or CMD ⌘ on Mac), double-tap Shift ⇧ to open the command window. 
  3. Click the "Enable glove_lockedwrist" command, which will allow you to move the Smartgloves in space. 
For clarity, here's a visual walkthrough of the steps:
 
If you want to see the rest of the character or if the above solution didn't work for you, open the console again and type "Enable dummy suit" (should be the option at the top). This will simulate a Smartsuit as an unpaired input in the upper right corner, which you can then drag onto the actor profile that is using the hands:

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