Custom Skeleton for Tracking

In this tutorial, I'd like to show you how to track not using the builtin Captury skeleton, but your target skeleton.

In many cases you already have a skeleton that you want to use for your final animation, for example an Epic MetaHuman. Typically, you'd have to retarget the animation to this target skeleton. Unfortunately, retargeting always introduces artefacts. A common artefact is foot skating / sliding. Really the only way to get around this is to track with the exact same skeleton you use for final animation, because then you don't have to retarget. So generally, no retargeting is the best retargeting.

1. The first thing we have to do is we have to load the target skeleton into the retarget panel.

2. Load Target.

3. Here I'm going to load Epic's MetaHuman skeleton. Here I'm using the male, medium height, normal weight body version but any of the other 8 skeletons will work just as well. Just make sure you use the one that you actually want to use for animation.

4. Now I need to retarget it. So I just start playing back any sequence with a tracked skeleton in it - that has the properties you want (fingers or no fingers, etc.).

5. Set the source skeleton for the retarget. That creates the retargeting mapping.

6. Then you just right click the retarget again and select Create Tracking Skeleton. That creates a Captury compatible skeleton in your skeleton directory.

7. The one that you set with this setting.

8. It also means that it appears in the list in the track panel as a new skeleton. To use it, just select it over here.

9. Turn the other skeleton off.

10. To track using the new skeleton, just drag the <drag new skeleton> or select Start Searching in Live mode, as always.

11. On export or when streaming, it will have the joint names and pre-rotations of your target skeleton. So you can directly apply the animation to the target skeleton in any third party animation package.