Slideshow Link
The Idea
Based on the David Fincher film of the same name, our AR experience pulls you into the intense setting of an underground Fight Club.
For our project, we knew we wanted to incorporate some hands-on combat to make our two mannequins interact. We wanted action! We choreographed some movements that would have interesting storylines (a mugging, a knife fight, and a fist fight).
When deciding the best way to record, Amanda checked out the XR lab, however we ultimately chose to film our videos and then import them into Rokoko and Plask.AI.
3D Fight Club Experience Video
Original Video
Problem: We initially struggled to figure out how to motion capture both of our actions. We worried that one video with two people would confuse the program and produce unclear motions.
Solution: We had two phones set up–each one focused on one individual but filming at the same time. This way we could time our actions (punches, kicks, etc.) to each other and isolate our movements.
Creating the Characters
Initially i used Rokoko, but by looking at these videos and pictures we can se it didn’t work well. Rokoko could not know where the feet were placed. So, we used Plask.ai next. When the mocap works it worked really well! But, there were some technical difficulties.
Challenges:
Initially my mocap couldn’t be used because I downloaded it to my drive and it had the wrong file type. Our first solution was to screen record the video to have the right file type.
But, our second problem was when we put if into plask.ai it had too many frames. Our first idea was to go into premiere pro and every other frame, but it didn’t change the frames in plask.ai. Our second idea was to take the free trial so I could have the right amount of frames.
Our third problem came which was that every time I tried to download the video it would stay at 99% done. I wasn’t sure if it was Amanda’s computer that was the issue so I used Edith’s computer instead. It still didn’t work so then I decided to try to screen record on Amanda’s computer instead. This time it had less frames! We were able download Amanda’s video to plask.ai!
- We attempted to use Plask.ai platform to apply different skins, mixamo couldn’t use our mocap on a different character (sketchfab.com, renderpeople.com)
3D environment
- I drew inspiration from dingy basements with worn down brick walls and cement floors. We wanted to make the scene big so that it seemed like viewers were part of the experience as an audience member watching the fight.
- I first put a stand-in mannequin to get a general grasp of the setting.
- I uploaded my backdrop images to photoshop, saved them as psds, then exported them as aero files.
- I imported the psd file of the brick wall. There was some glitches with the edited image, therefore I had to remove the edits.
- I found some free 3D object assets on TurboSquid and CGTrader to create a basement scene. (a fighting ring, metal chairs, metal stairs).
Challenges
I found that scaling the objects were initially a bit difficult. Moving things around would sometimes cause the objects to glitch into different angles. Additionally, it was hard to navigate the screen, as moving the view was another button separate from the one that adjusted the figures.
I attempted to add more details to the scene–like this old air condition–but was unable to import the file with texture. I played around with it on Blender and continued to have trouble connecting the texture to the 3D model.
I was unable to change the colors of the fighting ring. I also went on Blender to try and change the texture, but the same issues arose.
Amanda added the button later on, and we had issues with the psd file being flipped around. Despite my attempts to flip the file, flip the image before putting it into the file, and flipping it in Aero, the image remained reflected.
Future Developments
- Overall, this was a fun experience getting to experiment with augmented reality! It was amazing to see our scene come to life in front of us. Some future iterations we have in mind is the fix the issue with the flipped button, make the environment more immersive with textures and lighting, and add sound design and audio to the fight scene. Additionally, we hope to add special effects (ex: blood splatter when punched) to the actions as well as add other mixamo characters and motion capture of an audience cheering outside the ring.