This page provides instructions on integrating Manus gloves with an OptiTrack motion capture system.

Overview

Starting from Motive 3.0 and above, these gloves can be integrated into Motive. This allows for easy integration of the external glove tracking system directly in Motive so that it can be used in tandem with the OptiTrack system to provide a more comprehensive tracking solution.

Required Components

• Manus Glove Prime X and Manus Glove Dongle.

• Manus Core and Dashboard software

• Motive 3.0 or above

• (optional) MoCap suit and markers for full body capture.

Setup

Manus Glove Setup

Before using Manus VR gloves in Motive, please ensure all gloves have been paired, calibrated and are able to report data from Manus software. This is a crucial first step for the successful use of Manus Gloves with Motive software.

Steps

1. Start the Manus Dashboard software.

2. Insert the Manus Glove Dongle(s) onto the computer. Do not connect the dongle into the same USB bus used by the USB Security Key as it can cause conflicts with device detection.

3. Power on the Manus Gloves.

4. (optional) You may need to pair the glove with the dongle if needed. The gloves should come already paired.

5. Calibrate each glove. This involves going through a series of hand gestures to calibrate the glove to the user’s hand. This helps give more robust finger solve data.

6. Start Motive and the gloves should appear in the Devices pane.

Motive Setup

Step 1. Start Manus Dashboard

Before starting Motive, please make sure to launch Manus Dashboard and Manus Core software first.

Step 2. Start Motive

Launch Motive. If the Manus VR is properly set up on the computer, connected gloves will be listed under the Devices pane.

Step 3. Create a Skeleton in Motive.

Use the Builder pane to define a Skeleton asset in Motive. You can use any Skeleton model that is not designed to track fingers using motion capture data. The recommended Skeletons models to use are the Core 50 or Baseline 41.

Step 4. Pair Skeleton with the device

After a Skeleton has been defined, pair the Skeleton to the glove device. Open the Devices pane, right-click on the listed glove device, and pair it to the Skeleton as shown in the screenshot below.

Step 5. Confirm the tracking

Once the glove has been configured and paired with the created Skeleton, the fingers will be tracking in Motive.

Export and streaming

Once Motive starts tracking the glove, the finger tracking data can be outputted for various applications. Real-time finger data can be streamed into any NatNet client, and recorded finger data can be exported into other file formats. For instructions on outputting tracking data from Motive, refer to the following pages:

• Data Streaming

• Data Export

The BaseStation is the active hardware component that links other active components to Motive. Using a radio frequency channel (RF channel) between 11-26, the BaseStation synchronizes OptiTrack cameras with Active Tags and Pucks. Once the BaseStation has the signal from the active component, it then sends that data to the Motive computer along the camera network. This allows Motive to recognize Active Pucks and Tags even with significant occlusion of the LED markers compared to passive markers.

If you use Active Tags or Pucks, at least one BaseStation is required per tracking system.

For larger volumes, the approximate range from BaseStation to Tags/Pucks is 100’.

For more information regarding the specifications of the BaseStation, please visit our Support section of the OptiTrack website.

BaseStation LEDs

Note: Behavior of the LEDs on the BaseStation is subject to be changed.

• Communication Indicator LED: When the BaseStation is successfully sending out the data and communicating with the Active Pucks, the LED closest to the antenna will blink in green. If this LED lights up in red, it indicates that the BaseStation has failed to establish a connection with Motive.

• Interference Indicator LED: The middle LED is an indicator for determining whether there are other signal-traffics on the respective radio channel and PAN ID that might be interfering with the active components. This LED should stay dark in order for the active marker system to work properly. If it flashes in red, consider switching both the channel and PAN ID on all of the active components.

• Power Indicator LED: The LED located at the corner indicates power for the BaseStation. This LED may be disabled on BaseStations with the latest firmware, but on older BaseStations, this LED may light up in red to indicate power.

This page provides additional information for the CinePuck. The CinePuck is designed specifically for Virtual Production or Broadcast studios. For more information on how to use the CinePuck for Virtual Production, please visit the Virtual Production section of this documentation.

Active Markers

LED Specification

The following specification applies for active IR LEDs on the CinePuck.

• 850 nm IR spectrum.

• 8 LEDs

• Illuminations synchronized with camera exposures

• Illumination angle: ±60°

Basic Specs

Calibration

For information regarding calibrating the IMU inside the CinePuck, please refer to our Active Marker Tracking: IMU Setup page.

You can also see a demonstration at around minute 4:20 in the video below also found on our InCamera VFX page

This page provides additional information on assembling the Active Tags. This includes the power requirements and the type of Pin Out connectors used and additional details on the IR LEDs. The assembly of the Tags and the LEDs are relatively straightforward as you just need to connect the wires to correct cathode/anode terminals. Please read through the below information to understand which end is the cathode and anode ends, and connect the wires correspondingly.

Usage Notes

• Battery: Only use batteries that were supplied by us.

• 3.3 - 5.0V inputs for micro and alternate USB connectors.

• Recommended to use the LEDs that are provided directly from us.

• Other LEDs must work within the following specifications: 1.5 < VLED < 2.5 and ILEDMAX = 100mA

• The wires to the LEDs are 30AWG 7 gauge strands.

Pin Out Connector

IR LEDs

The longer leg on the LED is the cathode of this LED. As shown in the image below, The flat spot can also be referenced to indicate the cathode of this LED. Always remember this flat spot for these black LEDs, and connect the black wire (negative) when using red/black wire pairs.

This page provides additional information for the Active pucks and instructions on how to use them.

Active Markers

LED Specification

The following specification applies for active IR LEDs on both the Tags and the Pucks.

• 850 nm IR spectrum.

• 8 LEDs with removable diffusers (9.5mm, 3/8", diameter) on four corner LED locations

• Illuminations synchronized with camera exposures

• Illumination angle:

  • With Diffuser: ±135°-Bare LED without diffuser: ±70°

Active Puck

Basic Specs

Power Button

• Power on: Press down on the button for ~1 second to turn on the puck. It will illuminate the top LED in orange for a few seconds until it initializes.

• Power off: Hold down the button ~2 seconds

• Battery status check: Press down on the button while the puck is powered on to illuminate the battery status LED.

Status Indicator LEDs

Three plainly visible status LEDs for indication of battery status, sync status, and charging status.

1) Sync – (Bottom)

The bottom LED indicates the sync status. When the puck is successfully synchronized with a base station, it will start receiving sync packets, and this bottom LED will start blinking green roughly at 10 Hz rate:

• Blinking green: Sync packets are being received.

• Red: The first sync packet has not been received yet. At this stage, the puck is waiting for the packet.

• Continuous green: The first packet was received for initial synchronization but sync packet is no longer being received.

2) Power – (Top-Left)

• Normal: illuminates in green and blinks every 5 seconds. You can also press on the power button to check the battery.

• Color indicator:

  • Green (Good charge) - battery sufficient

  • Yellow (getting low) - ~1 hour left

  • Red (extremely low) - ~20 minutes left until power is depleted

3) Charging Status – (Top-Right)

• Red: Charging / Idle

• Green: Fully Charged

• Yellow/orange: Bad battery. Stop using the puck and contact support.

Active Puck Accessories

Each Active Puck has four slots on the back where an accessory adaptor plate can be fitted into. These adapter plates can be purchased from our webstore, and they provide the Active Puck various mounting options for attaching onto different types of objects.

There are four different types of adapter plate accessories that can be fitted onto an Active Puck:

• Adapter plate with a 1/4-20 mount

• Adapter plate with a clip

• Adapter plate with a 1" strap slot

• Adapter plate with 22mm wristband socket.

Mounting and Removing Adapter Plates

Mounting

To mount an adapter plate onto an Active Puck, simply insert the four T-shaped latches of the adapter plate into the four slots on the back of an Active puck. Once the latches have been fully inserted, slide the adapter plate towards the center of the puck until you hear a click.

Removing

Once an adapter plate is latched onto an Active Puck, a removal tool must be used to detach the adapter plate. To use the removal tool, insert the four hooks on the removal tool into the four slots on the adapter plate. Then use the attached removal tool to slide and pull the adapter plate out from the Active Puck.

Adapter Plate CAD File

If any of the four adapter plate accessories do not fit for the object you are tracking, you can also use the attached CAD file to modify and 3D print customized adapter plates.

• Adapter Plate CAD file (STEP):

Overview

This page provides instructions on configuring the active components, Active Tags and/or Active Pucks, that are equipped with inertial measurement unit (IMU) sensors. By fusing the optical tracking data of the active markers with the IMU data, Motive can further stabilize the rotational tracking of the Rigid Bodies and accommodate for tiny jitters throughout the tracking. This is recommended for applications where the stability of rotation tracking data is important, including tracking cameras in virtual production applications, tracking drones in low camera-count setups, and more.

Requirements

• Motive version 2.2 to 2.3.1

• IMU Active Batch Programmer

• Base Station: Firmware 2.2.2 or above

• IMU Active Tags/Pucks: Firmware 2.2.1 or above

Additional Information

• When configured, each Active Base Station can communicate with up to 7 IMU Tags/Pucks.

• When needed, multiple Base Stations can be plugged into the same camera network; as long as they are communicating through a separate channel.

• To use the IMU components, all of the devices, including the Base Station, must have firmware version 2.x or above installed. Please follow the instruction below to check the firmware versions on each device.

Active Component Setup

For the IMU data to be used for tracking in Motive, unique Uplink IDs must be assigned onto each IMU Tag or Puck using the active batch programmer program. Then, the Uplink IDs will need to be inputted under the properties of the corresponding Rigid Bodies in Motive. Please follow the steps below:

1) Download Active Batch Programmer

Use the following link to download the batch programmer used for 2.x firmware. Once downloaded, unzip the downloaded file and launch the EXE file.

• Batch Programmer Download:

2) Check the firmware version and existing configuration

Before setting up the components, we will want to check the existing configurations on the Base Station, Tags, and/or Pucks. To check this, enable the ‘’Read-Only Mode’’ check box at the bottom-left corner of the active batch programmer, and then connect the devices one at a time via USB. Each time a new active component is detected, existing configurations including the firmware version will get listed under the Log section. If any of the settings do not meet the below requirements, you can re-configure them in the next step.

Firmware Version

RF Channel

Please make sure that all of the active components are communicating through the same channel. Check this and take a note of the channel value as this will also need to be inputted into Motive for IMU data. The RF channel can be set anywhere between 11-26.

Label

The Labels are active IDs assigned to each marker, and it's important that there are no overlapping labels, or IDs, assigned to the same batch of active Tags/Pucks. This setting is applicable to Active Tags/Pucks only.

After checking the settings, you can unplug the device and connect the next one to check the settings.

3) Configure the settings in the Active Batch Programmer

Now that we understand the existing configurations and what needs to be changed, we can configure the active components. To do this, disable the Read-Only Mode in the batch programmer, and settings configured in the IMU batch programmer will get applied to each newly connected device. Please note that this could also reset the existing configuration, thus, make sure to configure only the settings that need to be changed.

Configure Uplink ID

For IMU Tags or Pucks, unique Uplink IDs need to be assigned for each of them. For doing this, simply check the box next to the Uplink ID whenever we are configuring IMU Tags or Pucks.

RF Channel/Label

Uncheck the boxes next to "Set marker labels" and "Set radio options" unless they also need to be reconfigured.

All of the Tags/Pucks are pre-configured for every set of devices that gets shipped out in the same order, and we also make sure none of the Labels overlap. Thus, users should not need to use this batch programmer in general. The cases when you would want to reconfigure the active components are: 1) When you have purchased new Tags/Pucks to add to the system from the previous order. 2) When there is a need to change the RF communication channel to avoid interferences.

In cases where marker labels or RF channels need to be reconfigured, enable the box next to the corresponding setting in the batch programmer. DO NOT check the box unless the settings need to be changed. When reconfiguring marker labels, ALL of the Tags and Pucks will need to be reconfigured at once, so that the labels do not overlap with other components in the system.

4) Connect an active component

Once we have configured the settings in the batch programmer, connect Active Tags or Pucks one at a time and the programmer will apply the configured settings to the newly connected device, and it will also make sure that the IDs do not overlap in the same batch. Once the settings get applied the details will get listed under the Log.

It’s recommended to note the assigned Uplink IDs for each Tag/Puck so that we can track down the settings easily when needed.

5) Disconnect and connect remaining devices

Once a device is configured, disconnect and connect the next device to apply the same settings and unique IDs. Repeat this for all of the active components that need to be configured.

Tag Attachment to Tracked Objects

When using an IMU Active Tag to create a custom Rigid Body, please make sure both the PCB board of the tag and the LEDs are securely attached and rigidly constrained to the object. The IMU sensor fusion will not work correctly if either the markers or the tag are not secured to the rigid object.

Motive Setup

Now that each of the IMU Tags/Pucks has been assigned with an Uplink ID, the next step is to input this ID into the properties of the corresponding Rigid Bodies in Motive. Also, the RF channel configured for each active component will need to be inputted as well. Follow the below steps to assign Active Tag ID and Active RF Channel property for each Rigid Body:

1) Launch Motive

Make sure the configured Active Base Station is connected to the camera system and launch Motive.

2) Power the IMU Tag/Puck

Click the power button on the Tag/Puck to start the device. When the Tag/Puck first initializes, the status LEDs will start blink in red and orange rapidly. This indicates that the IMU sensor is attempting to initialize. At this stage, keep the IMU Tag/Puck stationary until the status LED blinks in green indicating that it has completed the initialization.

3) Create a Rigid Body

Select the active markers associated with a Tag/Puck and create a Rigid Body.

4) Access advanced rigid properties

5) Input IMU Properties: Active Tag ID and RF Channel

Scroll down to find the IMU section and input the "Uplink ID" value for the corresponding Tag/Puck into. Additionally, input the "RF Channel" used the the corresponding Base Station. Once this is completed the Rigid Body should have the correct properties set to use the IMU in the tag. You can also adjust the Sensor Fusion property to balance the contribution between optical tracking data and IMU data for the Rigid Body solve.

6) Check the status

At this point, the IMU Tags and Pucks are ready to be used. The color of the Rigid Body indicates the status of the IMU data stream.

IMU's per BaseStation

BaseStations are only capable of hosting a finite number of IMUs based on the speed of the framerate in Motive.

Below is a table depicting how many IMUs are able to connect per a single BaseStation at varying framerates. BaseStations have 16 radio frequency (RF) channels for use (11-26). Therefore, when adding more than one BaseStation to a system, the IMU count is simply the number of IMUs below multiplied by the number of BaseStations up to 16. For example, if you have 4 BaseStations and you're running at 90Hz, the number of allowable IMUs would be 60 (15*4=60).

The Active Tag Batch Programmer provides a convenient way of programming multiple OptiTrack components including the Tags, Pucks, and the Base Stations. This page provides instructions on how to use this program to configure the components.

Download

You can download the active batch programmer from the following link: Active Batch Programmer.

Configuration Steps

Step 1) Extract all the files from the ZIP file.

The batch programmer ships in ZIP format. Extract the ZIP file to access the contents.

Step 2) Launch the batch programmer

Without any of the active components connected to the computer, yet, start the batch programmer. When it loads up, you should see the following window:

Step 3) Configure the settings

Before connecting anything, you will want to configure the settings first:

• Radio Frequency Channel (RF Channel)

  • Select the Set Radio checkbox and type in the RF Channel you wish to use (applicable range 11-26). The RF Channel for any Active Tag/Puck should match the RF Channel of the BaseStation you are using.

• Disabled Markers

  • You can disable specific markers for each of the active components if needed.

• Set LED Options

  • Custom Brightness

    • Select Set LED Options checkbox

    • If custom Brightness is selected you can enter any value between 0 and 100. The Default is 20.

  • Auto Brightness

    • If Auto Brightness is selected the value is 0.

Step 4) Connect the components

While they are powered off, connect a Tag or a Puck to the computer via a USB cable.

Step 5) Power on the component

Once connected, power on the Puck or the Tag. Wait until it gets recognized in the batch programmer. Once it connects, it will be listed under the current batch section, and configured settings will get programmed automatically. Monitor the Log while connecting the component to make sure the configuration gets applied successfully.

Step 6) Unplug and plug another component

Unplug the Tag/Puck that was connected on step 5, and connect a new Tag instead. You will have to repeat step 4 and 5 for each of the active components in the batch.

Step 7) Check to make sure all Tags/Pucks have been programmed

At the end, you should see all of the components in your batch listed in the programmer with unique labeling group number assigned to each of them.

Firmware Compatibility

Firmware Compatibility Chart

Below is a chart to see which versions are compatible with which BaseStations and Active Tags/Pucks. Essentially, it is a one-to-one correlation between Active hardware and firmware versions with some exceptions. For Active Tags specifically, it boils down to: if it doesn't have an IMU then it's compatible with 1.x. If it has the first version of an IMU, then it is compatible with 2.x. And, if it has an upgraded IMU, then it is compatible with 3.x.

The BaseStation and Active Tag can both be connected to a computer via USB, and expose a virtual serial port. You can connect to this serial port using a terminal application in order to view and modify the configuration of the devices.

A popular choice of terminal application for Windows is the freely available PuTTY, which the latest version can be downloaded and will be used in this guide.

Initial Setup in PuTTY

PuTTY Saved Sessions

After a successful download of PuTTY, we'll want to create a saved session that we can use every time we boot up PuTTY for our Active hardware configurations.

Instructions

1. Start PuTTY.

2. Choose the Serial option under the "Connection Type" section.

3. Enter 115200 into the Speed field.

4. Under Saved Sessions enter an appropriate name like "Active" or "Tag Settings".

5. After everything is entered correctly click the Save button. This will populate your saved name below Default Settings.

6. The next time you boot up PuTTY you can select the saved session and click Load to load the settings we set up above. You can access more detail information about the serial connection by clicking the Connection > Serial option in the Category section on the left.

When connecting to an OptiTrack Active device you'll need to input the correct COM# port into the "Serial Line" section.

Device Manager and COM Ports

When you're ready to start programming your Active tags you need to verify their class-compliant virtual serial port to enter into the Serial line in PuTTY. To do this you'll need navigate to the Device Manger for any Windows machine.

1. From the Device Manger window you can click the dropdown arrow for Ports. This will show a list of all the COM ports that are plugged into your machine.

2. The easiest way to find out which COM number is associated with your Active Tag is to plug in the Active Tag and see which new COM port appears.

3. Once you have this number (ie. COM3, COM4, etc.), you can navigate back to PuTTY to enter this port into the Serial line text field.

Configuration

Now that we have all the settings we need to properly interface with Active Tags and BaseStations, we can open a PuTTY session.

• To do this we simply load the settings configured above and then click Open.

• This will open a command terminal where we can implement commands to configure both the Active Tags and BaseStations.

Terminal Commands

There are three serial commands that we'll be concerned about for this application: d, s, and v.

d

• This command takes no parameters, and outputs a listing of all configuration options and their current values. Each configuration option is listed on its own line, starting with its ID (surrounded by square brackets), followed by its name, and finally its current value.

• The ID is used to refer to the options when modifying their values (described below); if the ID is displayed as a dash, this means the value cannot be changed.

• If the value begins with the prefix “0x”, this means the value is displayed in hexadecimal (base 16); otherwise, the value is a regular decimal (base 10) number.

s

• This command takes two parameters (separated by spaces), and is used to modify the value of a configuration option.

• The first parameter, as described above, is the ID of the configuration option you want to modify.

• The second parameter is the new value to use for the specified option. The new value can be provided in either decimal or hexadecimal; if hexadecimal, the value should be prefixed with “0x”.

• As an example, the command s 1 2 will set the option with ID 1 to the value of 2. Similarly, the command s 1 0xF will set the option with ID 1 to the value of 0xF (hexadecimal), or 15 (decimal).

v

• This command takes no parameters, and writes the current configuration to the flash memory of the device. This should always be performed before closing a PuTTY session if you wish to save the configuration.

Firmware Version 1.x

Some of the options in PuTTY change depending on the firmware version you use with Active hardware. These options are for Firmware Version 1.x.

BaseStation Configuration

When configuring a BaseStation there are only a couple of options we would need to worry about for most setups. It's good practice to first configure a BaseStation and then program Active Tags around the BaseStation's settings.

BaseStation Commands

[1]: rfPanId

Default: 0x0001

This is the 16-bit PAN (personal area network) identifier used for wireless communication.

The PAN ID is used to filter traffic at the hardware level, and different PANs may be used to partition a single wireless channel into multiple separate logical networks. This may, for example, be useful if you needed to use two separate OptiTrack Active systems in close proximity. However, in general, the use of different wireless channels (see option [3]: rfChan below) should be preferred, rather than using multiple PANs on same wireless channel.

The PAN ID and channel values configured on the BaseStation must match the values configured for every Tag that is intended to be used with that BaseStation.

[2]: rfSrcAddr

Default: 0xABCD

This is the 16-bit wireless address of the BaseStation. You should not need to change this.

[3]: rfChan

Default: 20

This is the radio channel used for wireless communication. The range of valid channels is 11-26. The frequency in MHz for the channel ch is given by 2405 + 5 · (ch - 11).

You may wish to change the radio channel if you have determined that you’re encountering poor RF performance due to external interference, or if you want to operate multiple OptiTrack Active systems in close proximity.

Active Tag Configuration

When configuring Active Tags, you'll want to match the rfPanId and rfChan to the BaseStation. If these do not match then the Active Tags will not properly synchronize to your OptiTrack system.

Active Tag Commands

[1] rfPanId

Default: 0x0001

Refer to the description in the section above: Firmware Version 1.x > BaseStation Commands > rfPanID.

The PAN ID and channel values configured on the BaseStation must match the values configured for every Tag that is intended to be used with that BaseStation.

[2] rfSrcAddr

Default: 0x5678

This is the 16-bit wireless address of the Tag. You should not need to change this.

[3] rfChan

Default: 20

Refer to the description in the section above: Firmware Version 1.x > BaseStation Commands > rfChan.

The PAN ID and channel values configured on the BaseStation must match the values configured for every Tag that is intended to be used with that BaseStation.

[D0] led0Id … [D7] led7Id

Default: 0x0 (0)

These settings are used to specify the active ID for each of the 8 active marker LEDs connected to the Active Tag. The default value of 0 is a special value indicating that the LED is not actively labeled and behaves as though it were a passive marker (with its LED on time synchronized with the exposure of the cameras).

Firmware Version 2.x

BaseStation Configuration

BaseStation Commands

[1]: rfChannel

Default: 20

This is the radio channel used for wireless communication. The range of valid channels is 11-26. The frequency in MHz for the channel ch is given by 2405 + 5 · (ch - 11).

You may wish to change the radio channel if you have determined that you’re encountering poor RF performance due to external interference, or if you want to operate multiple OptiTrack Active systems in close proximity.

Active Tag Configuration

When configuring Active Tags, you'll want to match the rfChannel to the BaseStation. If the two devices do not match then the Active Tags will not properly synchronize to your OptiTrack system.

Active Tag Commands

[2]: uplinkId

Default: 0

The uplinkId identifies the Active Tag label class that the Tag belongs to. This allows for Active Tags to be uniquely identified when there are multiple Active Tags with the same form factor in the same volume.

[3] rfChan

Default: 20

Refer to the description in the section above: Firmware Version 2.x > BaseStation Commands > rfChannel.

[4] ledBrightness

Default: 20

You can choose to increase or decrease the LED brightness on each Active Tags active markers collectively. This will control the brightness of all of the LEDs together as a unit incase the cameras are having difficulty tracking. However, it is recommended to change physical characteristics of the cameras (ie. aperture), or of the volume (ie. blocking out excess light), or increase the exposure of the cameras in Motive prior to altering this setting.

[5] onWhileCharging

Default: 1

This setting allows for a powered Active Tag to remain on when plugged into power. It is useful in setups where the Active Tag is mounted to an object that can supply power, thus ensuring the Active Tag will not turn off or run out of battery.

1 denotes that a powered Active Tag remains on when plugged into power, 0 denotes that when a powered Active Tag is plugged into power, it will shut off while charging.

[D0] led0Id … [D7] led7Id

Default: 0x0 (0)

These settings are used to specify the active ID for each of the 8 active marker LEDs connected to the Active Tag. The default value of 0 is a special value indicating that the LED is not actively labeled and behaves as though it were a passive marker (with its LED on time synchronized with the exposure of the cameras).

Firmware Version 3.x

BaseStation Configuration

Currently, there is not a 3.x firmware version for BaseStations. Please refer to 2.x instructions above.

Active Tag Configuration

When configuring Active Tags, you'll want to match the rfPanId and rfChan to the BaseStation. If these do not match then the active tags will not properly synchronize to your OptiTrack system.

Active Tag Commands

[2]: uplinkId

Default: 0

The uplinkId identifies the Active Tag label class that the Tag belongs to. This allows for Active Tags to be uniquely identified when there are multiple Active Tags with the same form factor in the same volume.

[3] rfChan

Default: 20

Refer to the description in the section above: Firmware Version 1x > BaseStation Commands > rfChan.

[4] ledBrightness

Default: 20

You can choose to increase or decrease the LED brightness on each Active Tags active markers collectively. This will control the brightness of all of the LEDs together as a unit incase the cameras are having difficulty tracking. However, it is recommended to change physical characteristics of the cameras (ie. aperture), or of the volume (ie. blocking out excess light), or increase the exposure of the cameras in Motive prior to altering this setting.

[5] onWhileCharging

Default: 1

This setting allows for a powered Active Tag to remain on when plugged into power. It is useful in setups where the Active Tag is mounted to an object that can supply power, thus ensuring the Active Tag will not turn off or run out of battery.

1 denotes that a powered Active Tag remains on when plugged into power, 0 denotes that when a powered Active Tag is plugged into power, it will shut off while charging.

[7] imuDecimationsRate

The ADIS16505 sample rate is 2000 Hz. The decimation, dec, can is used to smooth and decrease the effective sample rate using averages. Applying the decimation rate dec yields a nominal sample rate of 2000/(dec + 1).

You should not have to change this setting.

[8] imuFilterLevel [0-6]

Default: 5

This controls the level of filtering and smoothing. 0 means no filtering, 6 means maximum filtering. We recommend level 5 as the best option.

[9] imuBurstMode

Default: 32

This setting should not be changed as this version of the firmware only supports 32-bits mode when filtering.

[A] imuBiasUpdateCount

Default: 1000

Controls the number of IMU samples between IMU bias updates. If this value is N a bias update procedure will be initiated after every N samples.

[D0] led0Id … [D7] led7Id

Default: 0x0 (0)

These settings are used to specify the active ID for each of the 8 active marker LEDs connected to the Active Tag. The default value of 0 is a special value indicating that the LED is not actively labeled and behaves as though it were a passive marker (with its LED on time synchronized with the exposure of the cameras).

Firmware 3.0.6

[9] rfTxPower(1, 6)

Beginning with firmware version 3.0.6, there is an additional setting that changes the radio frequency power intensity.

This setting applies to both BaseStations and Active Tags/Pucks. Below is a chart of the power that corresponds to the 1-6 range.

Out of the Box

When you first receive your Active Tags and BaseStation they will be on firmware 1.1.0 unless otherwise setup with your Sales Engineer for very specific applications. Firmware version 1.1.0 is recommended for most applications. These will be RevG (revision G) for Active Tags and RevD for BaseStations. These should not need to be updated. Please contact if you need assistance with your Active hardware.

Additional Information

The information below is detailed information that is not intended for the average user. What you receive out of the box will work for the majority of applications based upon initial setup with a Sales Engineer.

Firmware 1.x or above

• Active components that were shipped later than September 2017 uses the firmware 1.x or above.

• Requires Motive 2.0 Beta 2 or later versions.

• No longer requires eSync for synchronizing the BaseStation with the camera system.

• Support for user-defined camera framerates.

• The illumination time of active LEDs is synchronized to the camera exposure time.

• Allows changing the depth of illumination patterns, allowing a higher number of active markers to be actively labeled.

• Active tags with 1.x firmware and no IMU are compatible with BaseStations with 1.1.0 firmware (RevA, B, C, and D BaseStations are all compatible with 1.1.0 firmware)

Advanced Versions

Firmware 2.x

• RevA hardware version BaseStations are NOT compatible with 2.3.1 firmware.

• RevB, RevC, and RevD hardware version BaseStations are compatible with 2.3.1 firmware.

• IMU tags with 2.3.3 firmware are compatible with BaseStations with 2.3.1 firmware.

Firmware Compatibility

Firmware Compatibility Chart

Below is a chart to see which versions are compatible with which BaseStations and Active Tags/Pucks. Essentially, it is a one-to-one correlation between Active hardware and firmware versions with some exceptions. For Active Tags specifically, it boils down to: if it doesn't have an IMU then it's compatible with 1.x. If it has the first version of an IMU, then it is compatible with 2.x. And, if it has an upgraded IMU, then it is compatible with 3.x.

Archived Versions

These versions are outdated and no longer supported.

Firmware v0.8

• Active components that were shipped prior to September 2017 uses the firmware v0.8.

• v0.8 BaseStation works only with v0.8 Tags.

• Firmware v0.8 requires an eSync to synchronize the BaseStation and the mocap system together.

• Whenever v0.8 BaseStation is power cycled, all of the v0.8 Tags must be power cycled as well.

• v0.8 BaseStation is not compatible with v1.0 Tags

Using v0.8 Tags with v1.0 BaseStations

• v0.8 Tags needs to be power cycled each time you close and relaunch Motive.

• v0.8 Tags needs to be power cycled each time system frame rate has been changed in Motive.

This page briefly goes over the active finger marker set and how it needs to be set up.

Overview

The active finger Marker Set utilizes the tracking capability of active markers and its active labeling features to accomplish tracking of both the hands and the fingers. These Marker Sets require the tracking solution and the Tag(s). Wired from an active Tag, each active marker must attach to the expected locations. For each hand, 10 active markers are needed for each hand.

Requirements

• The Active Base Station

• Active Tag(s) with active markers.

• A way to attach active markers onto the hands (e.g. gloves).

Below Marker Sets uses active finger tracking

• Baseline + Active Fingers (57)

• Core + Active Fingers (62)

• Right Hand + Active Fingers (10)

• Left Hand + Active Fingers (10)

Marker Placement

• Total 10 markers will be attached on each hand (8 Active markers and 2 passive)

• Tags: Attach Tags to each hand for the active LEDs.

• Passive Markers (2): Attach the 2 passive markers to both sides of the wrist, you'll want them on the joints of either side along the wrist flexion point.

• Active Markers (8): Each Tag connects up to 8 active markers. Position the wired active markers at the tip of all five fingers (5), one each on the knuckle of the index finger and the pinky finger (2), and lastly, place the remaining active marker on the inside of the bottom thumb joint.

Creating the hand

Steps for creating an active finger Marker Set is the same as the other skeleton Marker Set:

2. Make sure all of the markers are placed in the correct positions. For the Core + Active Fingers (62) Marker Set, please make sure the passive full body tracking markers are also placed on the person's body.

4. Select the finger markers in the 3D viewport.

6. Click Create.

This page provides instructions on how to set up and use the OptiTrack active marker solution.

Overview

The OptiTrack Active Tracking solution allows synchronized tracking of active LED markers using an OptiTrack camera system. Consisting of the Base Station and the users choice Active Tags that can be integrated in to any object and/or the "Active Puck" which can act as its own single Rigid Body.

Connected to the camera system the Base Station emits RF signals to the active markers, allowing precise synchronization between camera exposure and illumination of the LEDs. Each active marker is now uniquely labeled in Motive software, allowing more stable Rigid Body tracking since active markers will never be mislabeled and unique marker placements are no longer be required for distinguishing multiple Rigid Bodies.

Hardware Setup

Required Component

BaseStation

Sends out radio frequency signals for synchronizing the active markers.

• Powered by PoE, connected via Ethernet cable.

• Must be connected to one of the switches in the camera network.

Active Marker Options

Active Tag

• Connects to a USB power source and illuminates the active LEDs.

• Receives RF signals from the Base Station and correspondingly synchronizes illumination of the connected active LED markers.

• Emits 850 nm IR light.

• 4 active LEDs in each bundle and up to two bundles can be connected to each Tag.

• (8 Active LEDs (4(LEDs/set) x 2 set) per Tag)

• Size: 5 mm (T1 ¾) Plastic Package, half angle ±65°, typ. 12 mW/sr at 100mA

Active Pucks

An active tag self-contained into a trackable object, providing information with 6 DoF for any arbitrary object that it's attached to. Carries a factory installed Active Tag with 8 LEDs and a rechargeable battery with up to 10-hours of run time on a single charge.

Wiring the Components

Camera System

BaseStation

• Connects to one of the PoE switches within the camera network.

• For best performance, place the base station near the center of your tracking space, with unobstructed lines of sight to the areas where your Active Tags will be located during use. Although the wireless signal is capable of traveling through many types of obstructions, there still exists the possibility of reduced range as a result of interference, particularly from metal and other dense materials.

• Do not place external electromagnetic or radiofrequency devices near the Base Station.

• When Base Station is working properly, the LED closest to the antenna should blink green when Motive is running.

Tag Setup

• Connect two sets of active markers (4 LEDs in each set) into a Tag.

• Connect the battery and/or a micro USB cable to power the Tag. The Tag takes 3.3V ~ 5.0V of inputs from the micro USB cable. For powering through the battery, use only the batteries that are supplied by us. To recharge the battery, have the battery connected to the Tag and then connect the micro USB cable.

• To initialize the Tag, press on the power switch once. Be careful not to hold down on the power switch for more than a second, because it will trigger to start the device in the firmware update (DFU) mode. If it initializes in the DFU mode, which is indicated by two orange LEDs, just power off and restart the Tag. To power off the Tag, hold down on the power switch until the status LEDs go dark.

• Once powered, you should be able to see the illumination of IR LEDs from the 2D reference camera view.

Puck Setup

• Press the power button for 1~2 seconds and release. The top-left LED will illuminate in orange while it initializes. Once it initializes the bottom LED will light up green if it has made a successful connection with the base station. Then the top-left LED will start blinking in green indicating that the sync packets are being received.

Motive Settings

Active Patten Depth

Settings → Live Pipeline → Solver Tab with Default value = 12

This adjusts the complexity of the illumination patterns produced by active markers. In most applications, the default value can be used for quality tracking results. If a high number of Rigid Bodies are tracked simultaneously, this value can be increased allowing for more combinations of the illumination patterns on each marker. If this value is set too low, duplicate active IDs can be produced, should this error appear increase the value of this setting.

Minimum Active Count

Settings → Live Pipeline → Solver Tab with Default value = 3

Setting the number of rays required to establish the active ID for each on frame of an active marker cycle. If this value is increased, and active makers become occluded it may take longer for active markers to be reestablished in the Motive view. The majority of applications will not need to alter this setting

Active Marker Color

Settings → Views → 3D Tab with Default color = blue

The color assigned to this setting will be used to indicate and distinguish active and passive markers seen in the viewer pane of Motive.

Camera Settings

For tracking of the active LED markers, the following camera settings may need to be adjusted for best tracking results:

Camera Exposure

For tracking the active markers, set the camera exposures a bit higher compared to when tracking passive markers. This allows the cameras to better detect the active markers. The optimal value will vary depending on the camera system setups, but in general, you would want to set the camera exposure between 400 ~ 750, microseconds.

IR LEDs

Active Markers in Motive

Active Labels

Labels in Recorded 3D Data

Unlabeled Markers

In recorded 3D data, the labels of the unlabeled active markers will still indicate that it is an active marker. As shown in the image below, there will be Active prefix assigned in addition to the active ID to indicate that it is an active marker. This applies only to individual active markers that are not auto-labeled. Markers that are auto-labeled using a trackable model will be assigned with a respective label.

Auto-labeled Markers

When a trackable asset (e.g. Rigid Body) is defined using active markers, it's active ID information gets stored in the asset along with marker positions. When auto-labeling the markers in the space, the trackable asset will additionally search for reconstructions with matching active ID, in addition to the marker arrangements, to auto-label a set of markers. This can add additional guard to the auto-labeler and prevents and mis-labeling errors.

Rigid Body Definition

Rigid body definitions created from actively labeled reconstructions will search for respective marker IDs in order to solve the Rigid Body. This gives a huge benefit because the active markers can be placed in perfectly symmetrical marker arrangements among multiple Rigid Bodies and not run into labeling swaps. With active markers, only the 3D reconstructions with active IDs stored under the corresponding Rigid Body definition will contribute to the solve.

Rigid Body Properties

If a Rigid Body was created from actively labeled reconstructions, the corresponding Active ID gets saved under the corresponding Rigid Body properties. In order for the Rigid Body to be tracked, the reconstructions with matching marker IDs in addition to matching marker placements must be tracked in the volume. If the active ID is set to 0, it means no particular marker ID is given to the Rigid Body definition and any reconstructions can contribute to the solve.

Troubleshooting