What Output Formats Does FreeMoCap Support?

Updated

FreeMoCap exports motion capture results in several formats, including CSV for data analysis and FBX and .blend files for animation and research pipelines. According to the official site, results are "available in multiple formats, including CSV for analysis and FBX and .blend files for professional animation and research pipelines, along with many others." All output is generated by a local processing engine, so the files land on your own machine and can be imported into existing workflows without a cloud round-trip.

The Confirmed Output Formats

Format Typical use Why it matters
CSV Data analysis, statistics, custom scripts Plain tabular data you can open in spreadsheets, Python, R, or MATLAB
FBX Professional animation, game engines, 3D pipelines A standard interchange format for rigged/animated 3D content
.blend Blender-native work Opens directly in Blender for editing, rendering, or further rigging

The site also states "many others" exist beyond these three, but it does not enumerate them, so treat CSV, FBX, and .blend as the formats you can count on from the published material.

How the Output Is Produced

Understanding the pipeline helps you plan your workflow, because the format you get depends on how you recorded:

  1. Setup — Position two or more standard cameras (webcams, GoPros, or smartphones) around your space. No specialized motion capture hardware is required.
  2. Calibrate — Wave a printed ChArUco board within view of all cameras. This synchronizes the feeds and defines the 3D coordinate system.
  3. Record — Capture synchronized footage through the FreeMoCap interface, or record offline on your mobile devices and import the video files later.
  4. Process & Reconstruct — The local processing engine converts video into 3D data and writes out the result files.

The key point for output planning: processing happens locally, so your exported CSV, FBX, or .blend files are created on your own computer rather than downloaded from a service.

Choosing a Format for Your Task

  • Analyzing movement numerically (joint angles, velocities, statistics): use CSV. It drops straight into analysis tools without needing 3D software.
  • Animating a character or bringing motion into a game engine: use FBX, the common currency of 3D animation pipelines.
  • Working inside Blender: use .blend to skip an import step and edit natively.

If you are unsure, export CSV first — it is the least lossy choice for checking that the capture itself is good before committing to an animation pipeline.

Practical Notes and Limits

  • The source material does not list every supported format, so if you need a specific one (for example, a particular engine's native format), verify it in the FreeMoCap documentation before building a workflow around it.
  • Because processing is local, output quality and file generation depend on your own machine, not on any hosted service.
  • The site describes the software as completely free and open source, but it does not publish pricing or account requirements, so do not assume any login or paid tier behavior from this page alone.

For the definitive, current format list, check the Docs and Code links on freemocap.org, since the format set can expand as the project develops.