Mocap

What is Mocap?#

Motion capture (Mocap) records body movement by tracking the position and orientation of key points on the body and translating them into digital data. For the conceptual background, sensor placement, accuracy, 6-axis vs 9-axis modes, and drift, see Concept: Mocap. This page focuses on how Mocap is exposed in the Unity plugin.

Mocap in the Unity plugin#

The suit tracks full-body motion with its inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensors, and a glove tracks a hand. The plugin splits this into a provider that supplies the live skeleton and an animator that applies it to a model:

• TsMotionProvider is the abstract source of motion data, exposing the running state, the current ISkeleton, and a Calibrate call. TsLiveMotionProvider streams it from a connected device.
• TsHumanAnimator retargets a suit skeleton onto a full-body character; TsHandAnimator drives a hand from a glove.

Key features#

1. Live skeleton streaming: bone positions and orientations streamed in real time from the device.
2. Full-body and hand capture: the suit drives a full-body character; a glove drives a hand.
3. Retargeting: avatar settings map the streamed skeleton onto your own model.
4. Calibration: align the sensors to the wearer before capture.

Description of Mocap data#

The plugin exposes motion as skeleton data: an ISkeleton whose interconnected bones mirror the wearer's posture in real time. The set of bones depends on the device (a suit provides body bones, a glove provides hand bones). Its conceptual meaning is covered in Concept: Mocap.

Skeleton data#

Each bone carries a position and a rotation:

1. Position: the 3D coordinates (x, y, z) of a bone in space.
2. Rotation: the orientation of a bone as a quaternion (w, x, y, z).

The animators consume this skeleton to pose a model, so you rarely read the bones yourself. Raw IMU data and biomechanical joint angles are part of the native subsystem but are not surfaced by the plugin's providers and animators; reach the C# SDK directly if you need them.

Retargeting to your character#

Incoming motion is captured relative to the Teslasuit skeleton, not your specific model, so it must be retargeted. An avatar settings asset holds that configuration: TsAvatarSettings for a full-body character, TsHandAvatarSettings for a hand. Because they are bound to a specific rig, author your own for your model. See the Suit mocap and Glove mocap examples.

What to read next#

Concepts#

• Concept: Mocap: the full conceptual background, IMU placement, 6-axis vs 9-axis modes, accuracy, and drift.

Reference#

• Motion capture reference: the motion providers and the human and hand animators.

Examples#

• Suit mocap: full-body capture onto an avatar.
• Glove mocap: hand tracking onto a hand prefab.