Capture Studio (early access)

Usage

10min

Getting started

To start the Capture Studio, run /Windows/KioskRenderer/CaptureStudio-[digitalhuman].bat

There is a known issue where if your Windows System/Display Settings is set to a scale other than 100%, the Capture Studio will run at an incorrect resolution and not at fullscreen.

This seems to be an issue with Unreal Engine and Windows

Scene Management

The Capture Studio is able to save/load scenes.

Saving a scene will save all your behaviour settings and configured cameras so you can load them at a later stage.

Here is an explanation of the functions:

  • Rename: Rename the scene. To do this, simply click on the scene name text and edit it
  • New: Creates a new default scene with a name of your choosing. Warning - this will clear any unsaved scene settings
  • Save: Saves the current scene settings to a file with the name of the scene
  • Load: Opens up a window that allows you to select a saved scene to load

If you wish to delete any existing saved scenes, you can find the files in Windows/KioskRenderer/Saved/SaveGames

Behavior Settings

Using these settings, you can fine tune the behaviour of the digital human for your images.

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  • Aliveness: Normal has the digital human behave with full behavior. Low reduces movement to a minimum and is helpful when trying to capture static images
  • Gaze at Camera: Off has the digital human look straight ahead. On has the digital human maintain a gaze at the active camera
  • Smile Strength: Increase or decrease the strength of the smile of the digital human
  • Action: Select the action behavior to be triggered when the action key is pressed

Camera Management

The Capture Studio allows you to have multiple cameras in the scene so that you can switch between them.

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This is helpful if you are recording a video and wish to switch cameras during the capture for a more dynamic video, or you might save the camera positions to capture with a range of different backgrounds.

  • Add (+): Clicking this button creates a new camera with the default camera settings
  • Select camera dropdown: Select a camera from the list of cameras in the scene
  • Delete (-): Delete the currently selected camera
  • Switch camera by hotkey (CTRL+1-9): These keys are automatically bound so you can switch between cameras quickly using these hot keys. This is the same as selecting the camera from the dropdown

Camera Settings

Each camera can be configured, similar to a real world camera.

These camera settings are saved as part of the scene, so if you would like to retain the settings between Capture Studio sessions, make sure to save your scene.

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  • Focal Length: The lens focal length, equivalent to real world lenses running on a full frame DSLR. 85-105mm is typically a good portrait/closeup focal length
  • Focal Distance: The distance at which objects will be in focus. A plane will be rendered to help you find the optimal focal distance. Place the plane so it intersects the part of the digital human that you would like to be in focus
  • Focus On/Off: Enable or disable depth of field
  • Aperture: The aperture value. A lower number results in a shallow depth of field (less in focus) whilst a larger number results in a deeper depth of field (more in focus)
  • Motion Position: Used to setup the A and B points of the motion. Position and frame your composition and click A, then do the same for the finishing position and composition and then click B. Using the start motion hotkey (X) will start the camera traveling from position A to B (including rotation)
  • Motion Duration: The amount of time it takes for the camera to travel from A to B position
  • Background: Enter the local filepath (E.g. c:/images/myBackgroundImage.jpg) of a 16:9 image to load it into the background. The adjustable number slider changes the size of the image. The red X will remove the background image.
  • Green Screen: Enabling this will apply a green screen to the background. This is to be used for chroma keying the background from images and videos. Note: On certain reflective surfaces, you may find the green is reflected. This will need to be manually cleaned up or our team may be able to disable reflections for the build.

Speaking

If you have completed the setup, you will be able to trigger the digital human to speak. Speaking is controlled using the 1-9 keys on your keyboard - which then has the digital human speak the contents of the corresponding numbered .txt file.

The .txt files need to be placed in the following folder:

/Windows/KioskRenderer/Content/SpeakTextFiles

They are to be named 1.txt, 2.txt, 3.txt and so on, up to 9.txt.

There is no formatting or syntax to these files. Just simply place the text you would like spoken into the file. The following are all valid examples:

  • Hello world!
  • <uneeq:action_wavehello />Hello it's nice to meet you.
  • This<uneeq:emotion_anticipation_strong/> is exciting!<uneeq:action_understandnod /> I can speak.

SSML is also able to be used in these files. Here's an example:

Text


Capturing an image

The Capture button at the bottom of the UI will take a single shot of your current view.

There is no pop up that confirms that the image has been taken, however you will see a short pause as the animation freezes for the image.

The images are saved to: /Windows/KioskRenderer/Saved/Screenshots

Limitations

  • There is no dedicated video capture mode. Video capture is achieved by performing a screen capture, using software such as OBS. Resolution is limited to your screen resolution
  • Lighting is not configurable
  • Static image capture is limited to 3840x2160 (4K) resolution