VCAM

Peel Virtual Camera Joystick, attached to Directors Cage

Quickstart

Download the software and unzip
Run: desktop/VCamDesktop.exe
Plugin the dongle and check “Connect” at the top left.

Peel VCAM Desktop Application

If the dongle is plugged in to the same pc running the app, you should see “CONNECTED” at the top right.

If the joysticks are transmitting data you should see “Receiving data from NN” for each joystick in the log at the bottom.

Enter the ID numbers at the top:

ID Fields

If a joystick data is not operational, the background color will change to brown:

Peel VCAM desktop application showing a device not operational (left)

Each joystick can be configured as follows:

Button mappings

A/B/C/D – Button Assignment
E/F/G/H – Joystick Axis Assignment. Setting one side will clear the other, allowing for positive/negative mappings. For example setting E will clear G.
I – Visual indicator of current joystick position

Motion Builder

Motion Builder needs to be running on the same PC as the desktop app and the desktop app needs to be running when you “Connect” the motion builder device.

Copy the correct version of the motion builder plugin to the motion builder plugin folder, for example, copy mobu/PeelCam2023Device.dll to:
C:\Program Files\Autodesk\MotionBuilder 2023\bin\x64\plugins

Launch motion builder and drag the PeelCam_Device in to the 3d window

Motion Builder Device

Make sure the desktop app is running, then turn the device online and create a model binding:

Turning the VCAM device online in Motion Builder

Press Ctrl-E over the 3D Viewport to view though the camera.

Motion Builder 3D Viewport

Add a relation constraint to your scene:

Relation Constraint
Drag the camera in to the constraint

Drag the PeelVCAM:Camera object in to the relation constraint and set it as a destination. Right click on the node and set it to local transforms:

Set the camera to being local

The node need to be in “local” mode as the parent node is a “magic carpet” that is used to move the camera around. Your mocap system should drive the camera in local space, relative to the magic carpet.