List of motion and gesture file formats
The question of gesture and motion takes more and more importance with the development of gesture controllers, haptic systems, motion capture systems, etc., on the one hand, and with the need of allowing virtual reality systems to inter-communicate through control data.
Motion and gesture file formats are widely used today in many applications that deal with motion and gesture signal. It is the case in domains like motion capture, character animation, gesture analysis, biomechanics, musical gesture interfaces, virtual surgery. Those formats are low-level formats, i.e. formats close to the signal produced by the capture system.
Existing formats that encode gesture and motion
BVA and BVH file formats
stands for Biovision Hierarchical Data, which was developed by a motion capture company called Biovision. The BVA format is an older format which was the precursor to BVH. The BVH format is mainly used as a standard representation of movements in the animation of humanoid structures. It is currently one of the most popular motion data formats and has been widely adopted by the animation community.MNM file format
This file format allows renaming the segments of a BVH file to match the convention used in Autodesk 3D Studio Max. The name defined by the user is associated to the predefined label for the biped segment.eg. Humerus = L UpperArm
This file format also allows renaming the markers of a CSM file to match the convention used in Autodesk 3D Studio Max. A name defined by the user is associated to the predefined label expected by Character Studio.
eg. LeftShoulder = LSHO
MVNX format
The MVNX format is a human-readable open XML based format for storing Xsens MVN motion capture data. The format contains the 3D positions and orientations of all segments captured with Xsens MVN. In addition, the format includes several other variables to be exported such as joint angles, segment velocity and free acceleration, center of mass trajectory and calibrated sensor data of the individual motion trackers. MVNX data can also be imported into leading software programs including MATLAB and Excel.ASK/SDL file format
The format is a variant of the BVH file format developed by Biovision. The ASK file only contain information concerning the skeleton and, as a result, does not contain any information about the channels or the movement. The offset coordinates are absolute, unlike the BVH in which they are relative.The SDL file associated to the ASK file contains the data of the movement but it can contain much other information concerning the scene than the very samples of the movement.
AOA file format
Adaptative Optics is a company dedicated to the creation of hardware support for the motion capture. This ASCII file format simply describes the captors and their position at each sampling period.ASF/AMC file formats
This format was developed by Acclaim, a video game company. Once entered in the public domain it has been used by Oxford Metrics.The Acclaim format is composed of two different files, one for the skeleton and the other one for the movement. The separation between these two types has been done because the same skeleton is often used for numerous distinct movements. The file containing the skeleton description in the ASF file and the file containing the movement data is the AMC file.
BRD file format
The format is uniquely used by the motion capture system Ascension Technology “Flock of Birds” developed by LambSoft. It allowed stocking the data coming from a magnetic motion capture system.GRC file format
The GRC file format is file format to store motion capture data from Synertial mocap system. GRC includes RAW data from inertial sensors, skeleton details, absolute position of the skeleton root and various metadata.Thanks to the fact that the RAW data from this file are read by Synertial SDK and the skeleton structure is recomputed each time they are needed, the file format is memory efficient.
GRC file format data are compatible and can be exported into BVH and FBX file formats using Synertial software tools.
HTR and GTR file formats
The HTR format has been developed as a native format for the skeleton of the Motion Analysis software. It has been created as an alternative to the BVH format to make up for its main drawbacks. A HTR variant exist which is called the GTR format and is the same format less the structural information.TAK file format
The Tak, pronounced "take," file format is used by the software developed by OptiTrack. The file can contain information on:- Marker position and residual error
- Skeleton information and 6DoF Rigid Body position and rotation
- Force Plate Data
- Auido
- General information on capture, like frame rate, calculation properties of markers, camera filters, synchronization method, recording system data/time
- SMPTE Timecode
- Recorded Camera Data
TRC file format
The TRC file format, conversely to most others, is not skeleton-based.
CSM file format
The CSM format is an optical tracking format that is used by Character Studio for importing marker data.V/VSK file format
The V file format is a binary motion data format developed by Vicon Motion Systems. This file is normally used in conjunction with a VSK file also developed by Vicon Motion System. The VSK file contains the skeleton Hierarchy. The V file can contain the following data:- Marker data
- Global segment translation and rotation data
- Local rotation data
C3D file format
The C3D file format is a public domain, binary file format developed in the mid-1980s at The National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. It stores 3D coordinate information, analog data and associated information used in 3D motion data capture and subsequent analysis operations. At the time of its development all 3D motion capture systems stored their data in multiple files, each with a different proprietary format, making the exchange of data between various biomechanics and gait analysis laboratories very difficult. With the introduction and adoption of the C3D file format by all major 3D motion capture companies all necessary 3D information, analog data and parameters describing the data can be seamlessly transferred between researchers and laboratories, regardless of the hardware or environment used to collect the data. The major features of the C3D file format are listed below:- The ability to store 3D positional and analog data in both processed and unprocessed form.
- Store information describing the physical design of the laboratory such as EMG channels used, force plate positions, and marker sets, etc.
- Store Trial information relating to the circumstances of the test session such as sample rates, filenames, dates, EMG muscles recorded, etc.
- Store subject information e.g. ID, age at trial, with physical parameters such as weight, leg length, etc.
- Store calculated analysis results such as gait timing, cycle information and related information.
- Extensibility - the C3D format provides the ability to store new information without making older data obsolete.
- The public specification and description of the C3D format allows anyone to access data without depending on a manufacturer for information.
The C3D file format, conversely to most others, is not skeleton-based, and is binary.
GMS file format
The GMS format is a low-level, binary, minimal, but generic, format for storing Gesture and Motion Signals in a flexible, organized, optimized way. The GMS format takes into account the minimal features a format carrying movement/gesture information needs: flexible dimensionality for the signals, versatile structuration, flexible types of the encoded variables, and spatial and temporal properties of gesture and motion signals.GMS received the support of the FP6 Network of Excellence IST-2002-002114 – "Enactive Interfaces".
The GMS file format, conversely to most others, is NOT skeleton-based, and is binary.