Rigging motion-capture data to a mesh

[SuperMonkeyRules]

Hey ive just started using your plugin and have been wondering how to connect an armature/mesh to it. Any easy ways of doing this?
Thanks

[MattiasFredriksson]

.c3d files are 'raw motion capture files' and do not describe the motion of a skeleton armature directly. Instead the data is limited to recordings/samples of 'motion capture markers' placed on the skin/surface of the actor. To get a connected armature (which can be used for animating meshes), one has to reconstruct the motion by fitting a musculoskeletal model mapped to the points found in a .c3d file. The purpose for this addon is to import the motion of the markers found in the .c3d file to Blender with the goals of either:

• Visualization and/or playback of marker recordings
• Facilitate development of tools for editing or reconstructing motion capture data within Blender

To my knowledge there are currently no tools available in Blender for the second use-case above, but there are paid software's such as MotionBuilder with a free trial (if there is a limited set of motions to convert). There might be better options but MotionBuilder will get you there.

I know this reply is a bit late, but there was similar questions in unrelated threads and this needs to be clarified. I will keep this thread and retain it as a FAQ.