Motive API Overview
Important Note:
Motive API wiki pages are being updated for 3.0 beta. Some of the functions may be missing in the documentation. Please refer to the NPTrackingTools header file for any information that are not documented here.
The Motive API allows control of, and access to, the backend software platform of Motive via C/C++ interface. In other words, the Motive API offers Motive functions without the graphical user interface on top. Using the API, you can employ several features of Motive in your custom applications, such as accessing 2D camera images, marker centroid data, unlabeled 3D points, labeled markers, and Rigid Body tracking data. When you install Motive, all of the required components for utilizing the API are installed within the Motive install directory. The key files for using the Motive API are listed in the below section.
- Camera control
- Frame control
- Point Cloud reconstruction engine control
- Obtain and use reconstructed 3D Marker data
- Rigid body tracking
- Query results
- Stream results over the network
- In-depth hardware control (e.g. hardware sync customization). Use the Camera SDK instead.
- Direct support for data recording and playback.
- Control over peripheral devices (Force plates and NI-DAQ)
- Functionalities for Skeleton assets.
- The Motive API is supported in Windows only
- Must have a valid Motive license and a corresponding Hardware key.
When you install Motive, all of the required components of the Motive API will be placed within the installation directory, and by default, Motive is installed in
C:\Program Files\OptiTrack\Motive
. The following table lists all of the key files of the API and where they could be found.Filename | Directory | Description |
---|---|---|
NPTrackingTools.h | [Motive Install Directory]\inc\NPTrackingTools.h | The header file NPTrackingTools.h contains declarations for functions and classes of the API. Necessary functions and classes are thoroughly commented within this file. This header file must be #included in your source code for utilizing the Motive API functions. |
RigidBodySettings.h | [Motive Install Directory]\inc\RigidBodySettings.h | The header file RigidBodySettings.h contains the class declaration for the cRigidBodySettings class, which is used to modify and configure the settings for Rigid Body assets. This header file is included within the NPTrackingTools.h file, so it would not be necessary to separately include this. |
lib folder | [Motive Install Directory]\lib | This folder includes C++ 64-bit library files (.lib and .dll) for employing the Motive API. The library is compiled using Visual Studio 2013 with the dynamic run-time (\MD) library, so make sure the client application also uses the same settings. 32-bit NPTrackingTools library has been deprecated since version 2.1. |
Sample project | [Motive Install Directory]\Samples\markers | This folder contains a sample Visual Studio project (marker.sln) that uses the Motive API for accessing cameras, markers, and Rigid Body tracking information. Refer to this folder to find out how the API could be used. |
Platforms folder | [Motive Install Directory]\plugins\ | The platforms folder is located in the plugins folder and it contains qwindows.dll which is required for running applications using the Motive API. Copy and paste this folder into the EXE directory. |
Third-party libraries | [Motive Install Directory] | Third-party DLL libraries are required for all applications built against the API. Please see Motive API: Quick Start Guide for more information |
This guide introduces some of the commonly used functions of the Motive API.
