Gypsy Motion Capture System Technology

How it works
In Gypsy 5 and Gypsy Torso, An AtoD (Analog to Digital converter) on the suit converts the analog voltage changes from the suit's various potentiometers to digital values. These digital values are transmitted to the computer where the driver software interprets this information (based upon the performer's calibration file). The data drives a skeletal representation of the performer's skeleton in real-time, in response to the performer's motions. The software can sense which foot is placed where on the ground, and it calculates footstep placement accordingly. The gyroscope's readings of hip bearing describes movement of the performer's center of mass. The result is relative variations from initialization position, which results in accurate global translations.

In the case of Gypsy Gyro, small gyroscopes attached to the actor's limbs or other body parts detect the exact motions of all the body parts to which they are attached. The angular changes are collected on the suit and transmitted to the capture computer in real-time. An optional 19th gyro can be used to track the movement of swords or implements.

Calibration
In the case of Gypsy 5 and Gypsy Torso, accurately recording of the rotation of Gypsy's exoskeleton wouldn't be very useful if it weren't for the Gypsy's Inner Skeleton calculation. This Human Calibration™ involves measuring distances between joints, and offsets from the rotational centers of the potentiometers to the center of the joints. The result is highly accurate inner skeletal data, based upon virtual joints of the performer's skeleton.

An experienced Gypsy 5 operator can create a quick calibration file for a new performer in approximately 5 minutes. Once calibrated, a periodic re-initialization (instantaneous) readies the Gypsy for accurate recording.

Gypsy Gyro works well without calibration, since the rotation of the actor's skeleton can be applied directly to the 3D character's skeleton. Accuracy is greatly increased by using the Autocal process (approximately 5 minutes).