Manually set up a retarget

If you're using versions of Shogun Post earlier than 1.7, or if you want to use the manual process to set up a retarget, see the following videos and instructions.

If you are using Shogun Post 1.8 or later and are new to retargeting with Shogun Post, or if you want to copy an existing constraint setup to other retargeting skeletons, see Automatically set up a retarget.

Manual retargeting tutorial videos

Vicon Shogun 1.3 Post Tutorial - Retargeting Setup

Vicon Shogun 1.3 Post Tutorial - Retargeting Test

Vicon Shogun 1.3 Post Tutorial - Streaming Retargets into Unreal

Import the target skeleton into Shogun Post

You can import the target skeleton as an FBX or USD file, or VSR, if a setup already exists. Ideally the imported file will contain just the skeleton and skin and as little else as possible.

To import the target skeleton:

1. In Post, open the relevant .MCP file and ensure that the required solving skeleton is selected in the Current Subject field.

2. To check that no target skeleton has been imported, open the Subject Management panel.

   The Retargeting column displays a red circle, indicating that no retargeting setup is present.

   

   For more information on the Subject Management panel, watch Vicon Shogun 1.3 Post Tutorial - Subject Management on YouTube.

3. Do either of the following:

   • In the Subject Setup panel, select the Retargeting tab, select Load and then select the required target.

   • Drag the target skeleton file into the Shogun Post view pane.

     When you are prompted, choose Skeleton.

     

The target skeleton is imported into the current subject hierarchy with the topmost bone of the target skeleton parented to a Retargeting node.

Prepare the skeleton before posing

1. Hide any unnecessary joints. To do this, select the bone, and in the Attributes panel, clear the Showing box.

   

2. On the Retargeting tab, select Map Mode (see About map mode) to enable this mode.
   This creates a separate clip that you use to pose the target skeleton relative to the source skeleton.
3. In the Target Skeleton Setup section, in the list of bones, find the bone that is the root, then right-click and select Set Root. This ensures the root has six DoFs and any bones above it have zero DoFs.
4. Confirm the target skeleton's DoFs were imported or set them as required.

5. If the source and target skeletons don’t have roots in the same position or have a differing orientation, select Align Skeletons.

   Shogun Post tries to put the skeletons into the same positions and root pose.

   You can more closely align the skeletons using the Translate and Rotate manipulators (not the Special manipulator).

   

   Be sure to move the root, not any dummy bones above it.

6. If you need to globally scale the target skeleton to be the same size as the source skeleton, on the Retargeting tab, change the Target Scale value. Ensure that the ankles and clavicles in the target and source skeletons match.

Pose the skeleton

1. Make sure that the target skeleton is keyed in the same pose as the source skeleton.
2. Start with the root. Make sure that you’ve selected the actual root and not any dummy bones above it. Using theTranslate and Rotate manipulators (not the Special manipulator), move it to the same place as the source skeleton.

3. Use the Rotate manipulator (or enter values in the Channels panel) to rotate all the target bones to the same pose as the source skeleton.

   Note you can also rotate the source skeleton to match the target skeleton or a mix of the two.

4. If you need to change bone length to make the target skeleton exactly the same proportion as the source (assuming your pipeline both allows this), use the Special manipulator. Note that you must remove the GlobalScale retargeting parameter. This removes the ability to perform global scaling and unscaling (using the Unscale button), so ensure you've scaled your target skeleton first.
5. When you have finished posing the skeleton, in the Subject Setup panel, on the Retargeting tab, click the Map Mode button again to store the matching pose. If you later modify the pose, remember to click this button again so that the map pose is updated.

Create constraints

1. In the lists on the right of the Retargeting tab (or anywhere else in Shogun Post), select a matching source and target bone, then click Add Position or Add Rotation to create a constraint between them. The order of selection does not matter.

   

2. As a starting point for the constraints, add a position on hands, feet and hips; and rotation on all joints.

   If your target skeleton has more joints than the Vicon source skeleton, you can constrain multiple target joints to the same Vicon source joint.

   Tip: You can use HSL scripting to speed up creating constraints. For information and examples, see attach in HSL scripting with Vicon Shogun.

   Another way to speed things up is to mirror the changes you make to one side of the source and target skeletons onto the other side. See Mirror constraints and Mirror joint manipulation.

3. You can alter multiple constraint weights in the table on the Retargeting tab.

   To enable you to immediately see the changes you're making, in the toolbar at the top, ensure the Enable interactive retargeting button is selected (green).

   You can also select or clear Active to turn constraints on or off.

4. To check targets, ensure that the View Filters option for Constraints (for Retarget) is selected.

   

5. Set weights for all rotations. The recommended value for Rotation weights is 200. To set multiple rotations to 200, on the Retargeting tab, drag to select the required rows in the table and then in the Weight column, set the value of one of them to 200.

   All the selected rotation weights are updated to 200.

   Tip: If you want to automatically copy your changes to weights from one side of the skeleton to the other, ensure the Mirror Weight Changes option is also selected (see Mirror weights).

6. To add keys, select the relevant line(s), right-click and select Set Key.

   To fine-tune keyframes, you can use the controls in the Graph view. For example, you can use the right-click (context) menu in the Graph view to to cut or insert sparse keys. You can also change the time of a key by clicking and dragging on the Graph view.

7. To save the VSR mapping file, at the top right of the Retargeting tab, click the Save button.

   By default, VSR files are saved to C:\Users\Public\Documents\Vicon\Retargets.

For information on the relevant HSL commands, see the following commands in HSL Scripting with Vicon Shogun.

• getInteractiveRetargetCmd
• setInteractiveRetargeting

Mirror constraints

To make the creation of retargeting constraints faster and less error prone, you can choose to mirror the changes you make to one side of the source and target skeletons onto the other side.

The same option enables you to mirror edits to retargeting constraints.

To mirror retargeting constraints:

1. In the Subject Setup panel, click the Regargeting tab.

2. When you create or edit retargeting constraints, at the top of the Constraints section, ensure the Mirror Creation check box is selected (the default setting).

   The constraints created between the source and target skeletons on one side are automatically mirrored on the opposite side.

Mirror joint manipulation

When posing a target or source skeleton during retarget setup, you often need to make the same adjustment to each side. To speed up pose adjustments, you can automatically mirror the change you've made to one side to the other side. You can use the same mirroring option when setting up a solve to mirror changes to the pose or bone length. A new button in the manipulator toolbar enables you to do this.

To mirror changes to the pose or bone length of a skeleton:

• In the Manipulator toolbar on the left of the view pane, ensure the Mirror manipulation button is selected (green).

  When you create make changes to one side of the subject, they are automatically copied to the other side.

Mirror weights

When you're adding or editing weights, you can use the mirroring option, Mirror Weight Changes. to make the same changes on both sides of the skeleton simultaneously.

To mirror weight constraints:

1. In the Subject Setup panel, click the Regargeting tab.

2. At the top of the Constraints section, ensure the Mirror Weight Changes check box is selected (the default setting).

   When you adjust the weight values between the source and target skeletons on one side, they are automatically mirrored on the opposite side, so that weight values adjusted between, for example, the left lower arm on the source and target skeletons, are mirrored on the right lower arm of the source and target skeletons.

Test the retarget setup

You can test the retarget setup in Shogun Post or in Shogun Live.

To test the retarget setup in Post:

1. When you have finished setup, ensure you have selected Map Mode again to turn it off (the Map Mode button is not green).
   You are returned to the motion in the file, ideally a ROM.
2. In the toolbar at the top of the Subject Setup panel, click the Retarget skeleton(s) over current frame button.

   

3. If the skeleton looks good, select the Retarget over frame range button (or select a range and use the Retarget skeleton(s) over selected range button).
   After retargeting has finished, scrub the time bar to check that the motion and positioning of the retargeted skeleton now matches that of the target skeleton over the whole range (or selected range).

To test the retarget setup in Live:

1. Load the VSR. To do this, in the Tracking panel, ensure the subject is selected and click the Properties tab.
2. Click the Retarget field to display the files found in your Retargets folder, and select the retarget from the list.

3. In the Processing panel, in the General section, ensure that the Processing Output Level is set to Retarget.

   Your FBX is displayed and is driven by the source skeleton. The retarget skeleton is recorded as part of the MCP capture.

If after testing, you find that further changes are needed, return to map mode and modify the setup (see Modify a retarget).