Creating CSV Tracking files

Go to the video section of www.RigVadar.com and load any video. This can be an mp4 or QT or almost any other format.


  • You can select which portion of the clip you want tracked by selecting the 'from' and 'to' frame numbers on the right.

  • Make sure the displayed frame rate value matches the video frame rate.

  • Reference frame can be selected here as well, which will be recorded in the metadata of the generated CSV file.

  • This will be a neutral face pose which serves as a starting point for deviations from neutral pose which can be a metric for expressions.

  • This is so a file can be produced of deviations from the reference frame which translates as relative movement.

  • A CSV file can be produced containing just these deviations from neutral which compresses the data further.

  • If you require additional points to be tracked, simply point and click on the video and name the point to be tracked. Select the tracking parameters (number of levels,patch size, iterations), which have an accuracy/speed tradeoff. Press 'ANALYZE' and the tracking occurs as the video plays in almost real time.

    • After tracking is completed, press the 'DOWNLOAD COORDINATES' button.

    Save the csv file to desired location. The CSV file is human-readable and can be inspected using any spreadsheet program such as Excel.

    The position data for each tracked point appears, along with scale, rotation and mask movement data.

    Alternatively, you can choose the 'folder' section of the rigvadar site, which uses a folder of images. This might be useful if you have larger files to deal with.

    Select a folder which contains the image set you require. Or you could also select 'convert video file to a set of images'....in this case, it's the Data folder containing the newsreader footage...

    Click on a frame you wish to serve as the reference frame then press 'analyze' as before...

    The csv file will be produced as before.

    Real Time Performance capture

    If real time performance capture is important to your studio, the RT component can be downloaded from the RigVadar site at reasonable cost.

    You may then navigate to the Live A/V section of the RigVadar site.

    You will be prompted to mute your speaker. Otherwise annoying feedback will occur.

  • Press 'connect' to connect to the RT component, then set up a camera feed.

  • Press 'record and tracking', and the CSV file will be written as the subject performs in real time.

  • Press 'stop' and the CSV file becomes immediately available for download, along with the video record of the performance.

  • It will be possible to set up real time connection with rigs in other applications such as Maya 3ds Max and Unreal.

  • Contact RigVadar technical support if you require this feature.

    • Importing Tracking Data into TBX

    Open TBX and navigate to the CSV file location.

    • You may at this time include the audio file if you have it, otherwise you may use the 'extract' function of TBX to extract both the image set as well as the audio track.
    • The output location can be chosed. If no location is chosen ,the generated FBX file will be imported by default into the same folder as the CSV file.

    The frame rate of the CSV file along with the range of frame numbers will appear in the input boxes:



  • It is possible to change the start and end frames to achieve a simple edit.

  • Frames either side will be static. This is useful for layered animation from different takes.

  • All the FBX markers are parented to a Root marker ( dummy or null).

  • This makes it easy to move the set around in your chosen application.

  • The name of this root will be the same as the name of the CSV file.

  • You may at this time choose to change the size (scale) of the root marker as well as the other markers in the FBX file.

  • The local orientation of the root can also be changed before export.

  • This will of course radically change the postion and orientation of all the linked markers.

  • This will depend on the particular application you will be working with.



  • 'Apply Position' when checked will use the mass movement of the mask (the set of facial markers linked to the root marker which is part of the CSV capture data), to animate the root.

  • This is not always what we want when doing facial animation but the option is there if, for example , we want to do a face swap in a video.

  • The marker prefix is useful in creating a set of markers with a prefix in order to distinguish them from another set , as the markers all have generic names and this may cause conflicts in the application into which they are imported.

  • The local orientation of the markers is very important when linking them to control splines, as their axis vectors must align with those of the splines for correct movement.

  • Place 180 in the local Rotation X input box for example, to have the x axis of the markers pointing in the opposite direction.

    • Up Vector selection and frame rate:


    The up vector will be chosen dependant on the application you will import it into.

    Extracting audio and image sequence from a clip

    If you wish to extract the audio from the source clip, you can do so here, along with the set of images from the clip:


    You can choose to extract just the audio or just the image set, or neither. The frame set and audio will be placed in the same location as the CSV file. The audio file will be automatically placed in the input for audio, and will become part of the generated FBX file.

    Converting to FBX

    Now you are ready to generate the FBX file by pressing the 'Convert FBX' button.


    This will produce a file in the same folder as the CSV file, or at the location specified in the output requester. This usually takes only a few seconds.

    Exporting your FBX file

    The FBX file can now be exported to many 3d application such as Maya, 3ds max, Blender etc.

    The FBX file audio track can be read by all except 3ds max, which requires the user to give the location of the audio file, which you can do by navigating to the original folder containing the FBX file.

    Using FBX to animate rigs

    The FBX file is essentially an animation of major facial landmark features, and can be used to connect facial performance data to any rig in any 3d program.

    In the case of 3ds max, we connect the major controls to dummies which move as the relative distance between two markers in the FBX file. For example, the difference between the chin and nose moves the mouth control and reflects mouth open/closed.

    Note that since these controls move many adjacent points on the face, the need for many morphs and countless control splines vanishes.

    In this case, each master control on the rig can control 9 morph targets, so that each of the 5 controls around the mouth can , potentially, control 45 morph targets with only a few movements.

    In the example below , there are no morph targets at all, as it is all bone(muscle) based. However this can easily be converted into a morph based rig.

    This rig was built in a matter of a few minutes using the RigVadar rigging software for 3ds max.

    It also makes possible the rapid design of any rigging UI, with connections to either objects, morph targets or custom attributes such as wrinkle maps for procedural animation of almost any parameter via one control only.

    Similar rigs can be built for Maya using MEL scripts.