Get to know Vicon Nexus

The Nexus user interface enables you to access the tools you need quickly and easily. Within the primary panes (Resources, View, Tools, and Communications), you use the tabs and buttons to open secondary panes containing tools and options for specific parts of the motion capture workflow.

Resources pane: Manage the different components of your Vicon system, and the subjects whose motion is to be captured, on the System tab and the Subjects tab. See Manage system and subjects in the Resources pane.

View pane: Set up the way you want to visualize the capture data from one or more cameras (or supported third-party devices) either live in real time or offline, from a saved file. See Display data in the View pane.

Tools pane: Work through the main stages of the motion capture workflow, using the tabs in the Tools pane from left to right: System Preparation, Subject Preparation, Capture, Label/Edit and Pipeline (this last tab enables you to group and run operations that you use throughout the workflow). See Manage the motion capture workflow in the Tools pane.

Communications pane: Store and manage all data associated with your motion capture trials (Data Management tab: see Manage mocap data on the Data Management tab), assess trial health (Quality tab: see Review data quality), view stored processing history (History tab: see Review processing history), set up and control monitors for your trials (Monitor tab), use Vicon IMUs with Nexus (IMeasureU tab: see Work with IMUs), interact with MATLAB (Matlab tab: see Modeling with MATLAB), view system status information (Status tab), and view a log of Nexus system activity since start up (Log tab).

Menu bar: Access menu options. See Access menu options from the Nexus menu bar.

Toolbar: Access frequently used commands and create and select view types. See Access common commands from the Nexus toolbar.

Basic keyboard shortcuts and mouse actions

You can use the mouse to manipulate items and manage the way data is visualized in Nexus, and you can combine standard mouse actions with keyboard keys. The following mouse and keyboard combinations are used most frequently in Nexus.

Navigate in the 3D Perspective view:

• Zoom: Right-click + drag forward or backward
• Orbit: Click + drag
• Translate/Move: Click wheel button (or left-and-right-click) + drag

Select objects in the view pane:

• Select a single item: Click
• Select multiple consecutive items: SHIFT + click
• Select multiple non-consecutive items: CTRL + click
• Select items within a bounding outline: ALT + click and drag

Display/hide a section within a pane:

• Click the Display Section arrow on the right

  

• Click the Hide Section arrow on the right

  

For lists summarizing more Nexus shortcuts and mouse actions, see Hot keys and shortcuts.

Manage mocap data on the Data Management tab

The Data Management tab of the Communications window enables you to create a hierarchical structure in which to store and manage all the data associated with your motion capture trials. For information on how to do this, see Prepare a data storage location.

It also enables you to:

• Assess trial health with the tools on the Quality tab. For more information, see Review data quality.
• View processing history on the History tab. For more information, see Review processing history.
• Set up and control monitors for your trials with the Monitor tab.
• Interact with MATLAB.
• View system status information on the Status tab.
• View a log of Nexus system activity since start up on the Log tab.

Manage system and subjects in the Resources pane

To manage Nexus system connection and real-time data-streaming, click the system connection buttons at the top of the Resources pane:

• Go Live: Connect the system and start real-time data streaming. The button's label changes to Go Offline.

  

• Go Offline: Disconnect the system and stop real-time data streaming. The button's label changes to Go Live.

  

• Pause: Pause real-time data streaming. When you click the Pause button while the system is in Live mode, the button turns blue and a pause symbol is displayed in the view pane. When the system is in Offline mode, the button is unavailable.

At the top of the Resources pane, click the tab for the resources you want to manage:

• System: View and configure Vicon system components
• Subjects: Load and manage files for mocap subjects

In the System Resources tree or Subjects Resources tree, select the item(s) you want to configure.

Depending on whether you are in Live mode, you can then:

• Right-click a node to display a context (shortcut) menu of commands that can be applied to that item, if one exists.

• In the Properties pane below the Resources tree, view the settings for the item(s) selected in the tree. To view all of the available properties, click Show Advanced.

  

For more information, see Set properties in Vicon Nexus.

Set properties in Vicon Nexus

You can configure certain aspects of the Nexus system, such as system components and motion capture subjects, by configuring settings in the corresponding Properties section of the user interface.

Required properties for which you must specify a value are indicated in the Nexus user interface with a shaded background.

Some properties settings automatically persist, so Nexus remembers them in subsequent sessions. You must explicitly save other settings using the relevant configuration management controls for that area of the Nexus window.

To set properties in Nexus:

1. In the Nexus window, open the pane or dialog box containing the properties whose settings you wish to configure. For example:
   
   • System components - System Resources pane
   • Motion-capture subjects - Subjects Resources pane
   • Camera calibration process - System Preparation Tools pane
   • Subject calibration process - Subject Preparation Tools pane
   • Data processing operations - Pipeline Tools pane
   • Monitor and event actions - Monitors tab in the Communications pane
   • Data visualization - Options dialog box
2. To view all of the available properties, click the Show Advanced link. To show only the basic properties, click the Hide Advanced link.
3. View or change the setting for the desired properties using its entry field or control.
4. When you are working in the following areas of the Nexus window, you can save any changes you have made to the settings, using the configuration management controls (indicated in the following images). Your settings are saved to a configuration file, so that you can re-use them later.
   
   
   • System Resources pane

     

   • Pipeline Tools pane

     

   • Monitors tab in the Communications pane

     

   • Options dialog box (press F7 to display)

     

   • Nexus toolbar (working with the layout of the view panes)

     

For more information on configuration files, see Manage configurations in Vicon Nexus.

Display data in the View pane

At the left of the View pane toolbar, click the drop-down list and select one of the available views:

• 3D Perspective: Display 3D reconstructions of Vicon camera data.

• 3D Orthogonal: Orthogonal views of 3D data: -Z, +Z, +X, -X, +Y, or -Y

  RGB = XYZ

• Camera: Display 2D optical data from Vicon cameras or video streams from connected video cameras.
• Graph: Display variables (model outputs), or system components such as force plate or EMG activity.
• Subject Viewer: Display the base (default) pose for the labeling skeleton template (VST) of the currently selected subject. This is useful when you are calibrating and manually labeling a labeling skeleton, which are explained in Prepare a subject.

At the right of the View pane toolbar, click the buttons to specify the number and arrangement of views displayed:

• Horizontal
• Vertical
• Close

Depending on the view selected, additional lists and buttons are available to manage the display options.

Manage the motion capture workflow in the Tools pane

At the top of the Tools pane, click the buttons for tools relating to the stage in the workflow that you want to display. The buttons are displayed in the order of a typical Nexus workflow (from left to right) and are enabled appropriately, depending on whether you are in Live or Offline mode (the following image is in Live mode).

System Preparation: Prepare your Vicon system for motion capture.

Subject Preparation: Prepare subjects whose motion is to be captured.

Capture: Collect motion data.

Label/Edit: Label and fill any gaps in trial data.

Pipeline: Create and manage sequences of operations to process trials.

To find out more about the motion capture workflow, see Vicon Nexus motion capture workflow.

Play back data with the time bar

To explore the time bar:

1. Ensure a 3D Perspective view is displayed (see Display data in the View pane).

2. On the Data Management tab at the bottom of the Nexus window, navigate to an existing database. You can do this by expanding the displayed hierarchy and using the Go forward to the next node, Go back to the last node, and Move up one folder level buttons .

3. In the Name column, double-click the trial that you want to load.
   Nexus opens the trial.

4. On the time bar, click the Play button or drag the current time indicator (blue vertical line) to play back offline capture data. To crop a trial (restrict playback to a range of frames), you can drag the Start and End Range indicators (the blue triangles at the top of the timeline) along the time bar.

   

5. To hide or display the Data Management window, double-click the Data Management tab at the bottom of the Nexus window.

Access menu options from the Nexus menu bar

The Nexus menu bar enables you to access common commands.

Access common commands from the Nexus toolbar

Access frequently used commands from the Nexus motion capture workflow from the Nexus toolbar.

The Nexus toolbar contains buttons that enable you to save the current trial, close the current trial, and undo and redo actions. In addition it contains the following controls:

Reconstruct Runs the Reconstruct pipeline defined in the Pipeline Tools pane. (Reconstruction is the process by which Nexus calculates the position of markers in three-dimensional space and links these points frame-by-frame into a trajectory.) For examples of using this pipeline, see Calibrate a labeling skeleton.

Reconstruct and Label Runs the Reconstruct and Label pipeline defined in the Pipeline Tools pane. (The Label process is where labels defined in the labeling skeleton template for the subject are applied, either manually or automatically, to a point in the trajectory of a marker.) Normally used when processing trials. For an example of using this pipeline, see Reconstruct and label movement trials.

KinFit Runs the Kinematic Fit pipeline defined in the Pipeline Tools pane. This pipeline is often used before running a Fill Gaps - Kinematic operation for filling gaps in trajectories, and for visualizing or graphing segment- or joint-based data in realtime.

AutoInitialize Runs the Auto Initialize Labeling pipeline defined in the Pipeline Tools pane. Often used as part of calibrating a labeling skeleton For an example of using this pipeline, see Calibrate a labeling skeleton.

Auto Gap Fill Runs the Auto Intelligent Gap Fill pipeline defined in the Pipeline Tools pane. This enables you to quickly fill gaps in your trial, without having to choose which fill method is best for each gap. For good results, you must configure the relevant pipeline operations for your particular trials. For information on using this command, see Automatically fill gaps in trial data.

Add To Quick Report Adds the current trial to a Quick Report. For more information, see Quick Reports in the Vicon Nexus Reference Guide.

Any user-customized buttons If required, you can create your own additional buttons and configure them to run a specified pipeline or load a previously created view configuration. You can create or change toolbar buttons in the Customize Toolbar dialog box.

View Type list Lists any saved view types. The adjacent configuration buttons enable you to create and save custom view types.

Clicking a button on the toolbar executes the defined action for the button. A button is dimmed if it is not available, for example, if it cannot be run at that stage of the workflow or if a customized button has been deleted or renamed.

Manage configurations in Vicon Nexus

You can determine how Nexus looks and behaves by creating and editing configurations in the configuration management controls in the Nexus window. To view and select any default configurations that were installed with Nexus, click the dropdown list in the relevant configuration management controls, for example, for View Types:

You can create different configurations to suit different types of motion capture applications and then select the appropriate configuration when required. You can also save configurations for use by multiple users (Shared) or for a specific user (Private), to suit your organization:

• Shared These configurations can be viewed by all users; they can be changed only by the user who was logged on when the file was first created and saved. Shared configuration files are stored in the appropriate folder, by default under:
  C:\Users\Public\Documents\Vicon\Nexus2.x\Configurations
• Private These configurations can be viewed and changed only by the user who was logged on when the file was first created and saved. Private files are stored in the appropriate folder under the logged-in user's Application Data files folder, by default under:
  C:\Users\<UserName>\AppData\Roaming\Vicon\Nexus2.x\Configurations\
• System These configurations are the default configurations that are installed with Nexus and are stored in the Nexus configurations folder, by default:
  C:\Program Files (x86)\Vicon\Nexus2.#\Configurations

For more information, see Recognize Shared, Private, and System files.

To manage configurations in Nexus:

1. In the Nexus window, open the pane or dialog box containing the type of Nexus configuration file you want to manage (see Configurations table).
2. Depending on whether you want to create a new configuration or change the current configuration either:
   
   • Leave the currently loaded configuration file. (If no configuration file has been created yet, Untitled* is displayed and no other options are available.)
     or
   • Select another configuration file from the dropdown list. If you have made changes to the current configuration file, Nexus prompts you to save these before changing the configuration file.
3. In other areas of the Nexus pane or dialog box, make any desired changes to settings, such as those in a Properties section.

4. Click the configuration menu button and select the required command from the displayed list:

   • New: Create a new configuration in which to save the current settings. The name Untitled* is displayed in the Choose configuration list.
   • Save As: In the Save As dialog box, enter a name to overwrite the default new configuration file name Untitled* or to create a new system configuration file in which to save a copy of the current configuration file and click OK.
   Additional options include:
   
   • Rename: In the Rename dialog box, enter a new name for the currently loaded configuration file and click OK.
   • Delete: At the Delete prompt, click Yes to delete the current file displayed in the configuration dropdown list.
   • Mark Read-Only: Select to protect the current configuration file from further changes.
   • Set Defaults: Returns values to their default settings.
   • Import: Enables you to select and import a configuration file. This is useful when you want to copy a configuration file from another machine.
   • Reload: Reload or delete an automatically saved configuration file. You can select from the list of timestamped files or, if required, delete all the saved configurations.
   • Refresh List: Re-display the contents of the configuration dropdown list. This is useful if you copy a file into one of the Configurations sub-folders, enabling you to update the options displayed in the relevant list, without having to re-start Nexus.

   
   

5. In the Configuration type dialog box, select the user permissions for the configuration: Shared or Private.
   The new file name is displayed in the configuration dropdown list.

6. Click the Save button to store the settings in the configuration displayed in the configuration dropdown list.

   

For more information, see Set properties in Vicon Nexus.

Configuration types and settings locations

Recognize Shared, Private, and System files

When pipelines, view types, monitors, labeling skeleton templates, and configurations are displayed in Nexus (ie, listed in menus, etc), you can immediately recognize whether they are Private, Shared, or System files:

Customize the Vicon Nexus user interface

In addition to the usual resize and close window options, you can slide the Resources and Tools panes to either side of the Vicon Nexus window and or minimize the Communications pane, to give you a larger workspace area.

Customize a View pane

The View pane cannot be undocked, repositioned, or resized in the Nexus window. However, you can open a separate floating view pane by selecting the New floating workspace command from the Window menu. This floating workspace can be repositioned and resized.

The width of the View pane is affected by resizing panes to the left and/or right of it. The height of the View pane is affected by resizing the panes below it.