What Equipment Do I Need to Use FreeMoCap?

Updated

You need two or more ordinary cameras—webcams, GoPros, or smartphones—plus a printed ChArUco board for calibration. FreeMoCap is designed around "universal design," so it explicitly avoids requiring expensive or specialized motion capture hardware. If you already own a couple of cameras and can print a calibration pattern, you have everything the system needs to start.

The camera setup

FreeMoCap positions two or more standard cameras around your space to capture movement from multiple angles. The official guidance names three device types:

  • Standard webcams
  • GoPros
  • Smartphones

The key requirement is quantity and placement, not brand or price. Two cameras is the stated minimum; the more you add, the more viewpoints the system has to reconstruct 3D motion. The cameras should be arranged around the space so they see the subject from different sides—this is what makes 3D reconstruction possible rather than a single flat view.

Because the design is universal, the same workflow applies whether you use a laptop webcam, an action camera, or a phone. You do not need matched cameras or a dedicated capture rig.

The calibration board

Before recording, you need a printed ChArUco board. This is a physical pattern you wave within view of all cameras during the calibration step. Calibration does two things:

  1. Synchronizes the camera feeds so frames line up in time.
  2. Defines the 3D coordinate system used for accurate spatial reconstruction and tracking.

Without a printed board, the system has no shared reference for where each camera sits in space, and the 3D output will not be reliable.

What you do not need

According to the project's own description, FreeMoCap requires no expensive or specialized motion capture hardware. There is no mention of required suits, markers, depth sensors, or dedicated mocap cameras. The whole point of the "universal design" philosophy is to get research-grade results from everyday devices.

Equipment checklist

Item Requirement Notes
Cameras 2 or more Webcams, GoPros, or smartphones
Placement Around the space Multiple viewpoints for 3D reconstruction
Calibration board 1 printed ChArUco board Used to sync feeds and set the 3D coordinate system
Specialized mocap hardware Not required Everyday devices are sufficient

Recording and processing

You have two options for capture:

  • Record through the FreeMoCap interface, which records synchronized footage directly.
  • Record offline on your mobile devices, then import the video files for later processing.

Processing happens on a local processing engine that converts your video into 3D data. Output formats include CSV for analysis, plus FBX and .blend files for animation and research pipelines, among others.

Practical starting point

If you are setting up for the first time:

  1. Gather at least two cameras and place them around your capture area.
  2. Print the ChArUco board.
  3. Run calibration by waving the board in view of all cameras.
  4. Record your movement, either live through the interface or offline for later import.
  5. Process locally and export to CSV, FBX, .blend, or another supported format.

The main thing to verify before you begin is that all cameras can see the calibration board at the same time—if one camera is blocked or too far, calibration will not define a usable shared space.