The BEST Motion Capture Suit for 3D Animation | 2023 Comparison

This is a comparison of the best motion capture suits and AI solutions for 3D animation. Here's a list of the motion capture solutions I cover:
Mocap Fusion:
A suitless motion capture solution that can be recorded and exported in VR. Downloadable for free on Steam. Ideal for those with no budget who are just looking to learn about mocap.
Move.AI:
Move AI is an artificial intelligence based motion capture system that relies on iPhones and cloud based processing. Ideal for outside situations that might ruin a mocap suit.
AR-51:
AR 51 is another artificial intelligence based motion capture solution that uses its own camera system and software to provide real-time mocap. It also allows runs in VR for better visualization. Ideal for better real-time visualization during capture but at a higher price.
Rokoko:
An affordable suit containing inertial sensors that work together to calculate position. They have options for gloves, facial tracking and post-processing. Ideal for game developers, animators looking for short clips or for virtual streamers (VTubers) who plan to live stream in a seated or stationary position in a suit that tightly fits their body.
Perception Neuron:
A affordable strap set containing separate inertial sensors which allow for a greater variety of body sizes to fit. Ideal for small teams or creators who want to animate short clips, live stream in a stationary position or who have different body sizes.
Xsens Awinda Starter:
A semi-affordable strap set containing higher quality inertial sensors with magnetic immunity. Ideal for virtual creators with smaller budgets who want motion capture but don't want to be stuck into a seated or stationary position.
Xsens Awinda:
A moderately priced strap set with higher performance capabilities than the Starter version. Idea for virtual creators who want good motion capture performance but work on a team of performers who don't share the same body type.
Xsens MVN Link:
A professional tier motion capture suit with incredible accuracy with the option to hard wire for faster performance or record on body outside of a volume for later processing. Idea for virtual creators who plan to stream real-time animation in a suit that tightly fits their body.
Vicon:
A marker based motion capture system with the ability to track people and objects with great precision at a very high cost.
OptiTrack:
A marker based motion capture system with cinema quality motion capture performance.

[@rendermanpro]

Xsense makes a big mistake with milking subscription model.... I don't wanna invest in a suit that could be just a piece of cloth, without paying them every year for a software.

[@honaleri]

If you are willing to take out a second morgage, they do have a perpetual lisence, last I checked, at like-- 26 or 27,000 dollars. Which is- total BS.

[@towley3d789]

@@honaleri $33k and only 3 years of updates

[@LaurynasSFM]

This is quality content. Not enough people talk about mocap and have so much experience in the industry working with so many different technologies. Thank youu!!!!!

[@GTshortStories]

Great comparison video. I totally agree with everything you mentioned. I love my Xsens Awinda Starter it’s just at the level where it starts to get pricey but still affordable for us small independents. The tracking data works well but sometimes you have minimal cleanup. Great review and thanks for having me featured in it. Keep up the great work👌🏾

[@JonathanWinbush]

LMAO I love you used me jumping on the air mattress Good stuff though I'm pretty much in agreement with all your statements here

[@binyaminbass]

Yeah, the air mattress is classic KZbin footage!

[@JonathanWinbush]

@@binyaminbass 🤣

[@Theasaurus2]

Thank you so much! As someone who's trying to look into motion capture for a usecase that's not too well documented (music performance), hearing the depth of your reviews/pros/cons is SUPER helpful. Especially the fact that you always reference back to the hand tracking... Excellent overview

[@matchdance]

Amazing review. Especially hearing the experience of those expensive solutions. Thank you!

[@drdangr]

Great review! Thank you so much for the work you do for the mocap community.

[@DaydreamStudiosHub]

Of course. I love our community. :)

[@HussinKhan]

Thank you Corey! Very valuable info!

[@levicoleman1895]

Thank you for sharing Cory!!!

[@moptimus555mansatech]

Nice comparison !

[@MathewHills1]

Thank you for sharing this info

[@nedrider]

Happy to see you

[@Movman82]

It’s crazy watching DudeLikeHella and SMPFilms 15 years ago and seeing him again now.

[@kthxbye1132]

This screams for a 2024 comparison!

[@veithtutorials]

PUSH!!!!

[@kidgrime]

Thank you for this video

[@badeed]

WTH? Mean Kitty guy? i was literally randomly thinking about that video when i got my cat last Monday (20/11). The "he isnt mean he is just playing" part because in those 5 days i have scars o.o. Haku is a serious player... But yeah kinda freaky how i am thinking of you and 3D Capture for a potential personal project AND BOOM the world (algorithm/manifestation) serves you up. Seeing you made my year or whats left of it ^_^

[@jingjingmannen]

Great review! I got the xsens awinda middle version myself and i found it to fit my needs the best as i dont want to be locked to a volume nor do i want to set up cameras each time i want to record. The only thing i wouldn't use it for is stunts and in bad weather as the data either looks bad or even gets corrupted on hard impacts.

[@binyaminbass]

I like how you've got seven subscribers with no videos!

[@Nakopal_Nasobiral]

wow, thanks for the VR thing! that's something new! Might be cool to capture movement inside of my own scene in Blender, it seems to be possible with that app

[@DigVision]

thanks for your videos, very practical info! Would love to see where the the Sony mocopi and Htc Vive pucks stand in comparaison to Xsens and Rokoko

[@eliyawoanimation]

Thank you.

[@luc.schurgers]

That's a great overview. I have extensively tested and implemented all these in our software and I can tell from experience that the Noitom PN studio is the best value for content creators.

[@motion-up]

Great video! I think Optitrack is cheaper than Vicon, unless we're talking about their latest cameras for really hudge volumes. In my opinion, systems such as VICON or Optitrack capture movement frequencies that are smoothed by other systems: style, physics, expressions, little ticks on actors. It's important to note that. They are also interesting for recording rigid bodies and contacts in comparison with other systems, but also for multi-character. We can also compare the price for the whole chain between the systems: if we add all these elements together : - monthly subscription or cost per second on the server (depends on the volume) - post-processing time in human cost - loss of time during production because there is no feedback - number of actors (about 3 actors with X-SENS vs VICON/Optitrack ?) In the end, perhaps it is better to rent a motion capture studio or directly buy the expensive solution

[@falky6434]

The game changer is the Coil for Rokoko coming out in November! Wish you mentioned that.

[@binyaminbass]

I think he did at 5:37

[@ibrews]

excellent! now do one on live markerless mocap, particularly Move AI vs Radical AI vs Captury

[@matteo.grossi]

What do you think about Xsens software pricing? The "plus" version of their recording software, that allows you to use more than one suit and capture footage from a witness camera, is priced at $3250 per year. On top of that you still have to pay $230 per month to process the data and export it to fbx. How does the final cost compare when in context with the other solutions you covered?

[@collinblack]

SMP FILMS! I recognized you immediately from old KZbin!

[@DaydreamStudiosHub]

I never left KZbin. I just shifted around to all of my different channels. Welcome to my newest venture!

[@corazoniee]

thank you for your video! I recently got into Plave, virtual idol that are using real time motion capture for their livestream every week for 2 hours so I always wonder what type of mocap they use for their livestream

[@shiloturri8407]

@Daydream Studios Thank you for the review. I LOVE the room you set up. Is that your office or game room? For computer animation which suit would you recommend? I have been leaning towards Rokoko but now that I found these others I was thinking which would you believe is better for animation if money was not an issue.

[@victorwarner319]

none of you that have not seen a mocap suit can make an informed decision. I have two rokoko suits and pre ordered the coil but only came to that conclusion after going to SIGGRAPGH and seeing 5 different vendors in person. Some might benefit from some ai stuff while others really need a reliable suit. Rokoko has been great so far but your mileage may vary for your needs. MAGNETIC INTEREFERENCE - THEY ALL HAVE IT! If you think xsense is going to be the solution its not - drifting and post processing is something you have to deal with on your own no matter what.

[@HatlessGamer]

Great informative video. If I heard correctly, did he say Rokoko is perfect for waist up, so would be best for upper body, arms, hands and head motion?

[@JasonAdank]

The software-as-a-service fees are like a hidden scam on the backend. Its one thing to drop 10k on a suit, only to find that you gotta 'rent' the software at outrageous prices just to make it work.

[@DaydreamStudiosHub]

I totally get that but at the same time, I couldn’t do my work the way I do without it. AI is trying but it’s just not there.

[@oznfts5649]

good and true info and im like you already have MVN Xsens suit and its better solution as setup from angle and price for the quality from other angle but my problem with it the MVN software it quite expensive specially for me in my country now and the cloud solution not good also with them hopefully found solution for that soon to use it again, but also that from my point view

[@eler6049]

@Daydream Studios What do you think about Deepmotion?

[@Megasteakman]

Ah dang, my VR mocap solution didn't make the list, haha. Probably for the best as I don't want to end up in the 'wonky' category.

[@brianwilson7934]

Would you consider options like slime VR, tundra trackers, or vive trackers non viable?

[@sanchoplancha6381]

For information, here is a « prehistoric » video about full-body motion-capture (1993...) : kzbin.info/www/bejne/bYGWhGSqqcaalZo

[@Rhoran]

You said XSens is stable, but do you encounter any drift at all with your MVN Link? I'm skeptical about them since it's not optical and if Rokoko drifts, what's stopping XSens?

[@BrianHuether]

Hi, what do you think is best approach for solo artist just looking for basic motion capture to use for shadow and reflection casting? I plan on having myself filmed for music videos, where I will play guitar seated, sometimes will be walking, standing, sitting. I don't really need finger tracking. I will then place myself in 3D scenes. But I need at same time capture of the guitar. Thanks!

[@motion-up]

For me, in your context, alone with shadow and reflection, the best quality/price ratio is just using a Kinect. If you have more budget, ask a professionel assisting you with Optitrack or Vicon. Other solutions are not possible because of battery or drift

[@eightrice]

how is Xsens MVN for face? I see you are showing a lo-fi avatar in real time there, but I'm not sure how that face motion is captured, cause you don't have a head-mounted cam. Is it using a camera that's far away? How would that map onto more detailed models?

[@Netbro678]

Lemme know too

[@jbi1839]

You didn’t mention Rokoko requires subscriptions

[@elvismorellidigitalvisuala6211]

Looks like Rokoko have a new firmware to fix magnetic interference, also there’s new dual camera AI , I have try it is looks like Move AI but with only 2 cameras

[@lukastemberger]

How precise is it? I'm thinking of subbing.

[@rodrigofranco3265]

I use ipi soft to track with two cameras (Xbox One Kinect) and dev my emotes in Roblox, it works decently for indie dev, which I think is cheap, and different plans fit you.

[@Mondrubberduck]

AR51 is new to me. What’s roughly their pricing?

[@rajibpaul6271]

what about captury studio?

[@LucasTbooker]

I want a multiwebcam solution. Right now, there is iPisoft and, since last week, Rokoko vision. I don’t know which one to choose. I’m in Brazil and defined can’t purchase any suit because it literally costs 10 times the price to import from here

[@LaurynasSFM]

The problem with the likes of iPi Soft and Rokoko Vision is that you need to have a really big room if you want to have plenty of recording area space. Something like a longer running take is impossible.

[@KyleAlexJohn]

Sup Corey! Hope you've been doing well man!

[@LaurynasSFM]

Would you say Rokoko is good enough for a small animation studio where I'd use the suit mainly for 1-2 minute takes at most?

[@FPChris]

I have the V1 suit. It drifts A LOT. The gloves are good but the thumbs are weird. I’m still getting useful stuff but be prepared to clean up. IClone is great for simple fixes.

[@LaurynasSFM]

@@FPChris yeah I heard the v1 is not very good. Many nightmare stories!

[@Janovich]

No its bad I sold my suit

[@peterblake988]

maybe Wonder Studio?

[@user-vm7nq5wu1u]

yes, please test Wonder Studio

[@bernierao]

Uf ok, so a Xsens MVN Link suit with gloves is about 10 grand. Back to control rig....

[@JasonAdank]

and you gotta rent the software to make it work for #300 A MONTH

[@bernierao]

And don't forget the helmet and the iphone 15, and of course a beefy Desktop.. (and Unreal will not be free soon) BUT ... man, results are amazing though. @@JasonAdank

[@DaydreamStudiosHub]

It’s definitely not cheap but it gets the job done a heck of a lot faster. Being faster means I can take on more jobs.

[@bernierao]

100% bro these are AAA game - Film quality results. I was amazed at what you could achieve in 48 hours. Looking forward to seeing more stuff @@DaydreamStudiosHub

[@darty367]

@@DaydreamStudiosHub Rent the soft after paid all this stuff, it's just clearly too expensive

[@amerboss99]

what he said around the end is one of the dumbest things i have ever heard.