🎯 Camera Placement & Capture Volume for Motion Capture
Three rules cover most of it: place your cameras as close as possible while the whole movement stays in frame, spread them around the actor, and when in doubt pick the ultra-wide lens. The interactive simulator below lets you rehearse your exact setup before you record.
Try your setup in 3D
Drag to orbit, pick your movement and camera count, and compare arrangements. The distances and warnings update live using the same geometry rules this guide explains below — click any camera to check its framing.
Interactive camera placement simulator
The golden rule: get close
Place every camera as close to the actor as possible — while keeping them fully in frame for the entire movement, not just the starting pose.
The reason is physics, not preference: a camera's ability to resolve depth degrades with the square of its distance. A camera at 3 m reconstructs depth roughly 4× more precisely than the same camera at 6 m. Nothing else in your setup — resolution, lighting, camera count — buys back accuracy as cheaply as simply moving closer.
The catch is the second half of the rule. A camera that crops your hands mid-swing is worse than one standing a step farther back. So frame the movement, not the pose: perform the full take once before recording and check that your head, hands, and feet stay inside every camera's frame the whole way through.
Plan your capture volume first
Your capture volume is the space the actor actually moves through during the take — not the size of your room. It's what dictates how far back your cameras need to stand, so decide it before you place anything:
| Movement | Typical capture volume |
|---|---|
| Idle, standing gestures | ~1 × 1 m |
| Dance / exercise in place | ~2 × 2 m |
| Walking | ~3 × 2 m |
| Running, combat, action | ~5 × 3 m |
A tighter volume lets every camera stand closer — which, per the golden rule, is where accuracy comes from. If a movement can be performed more in place (walking on the spot, a shorter run-up), your tracking will thank you.
Lens choice: go wide
If your phone has an ultra-wide (0.5×) lens, use it. It earns its place twice:
- It keeps the full body in frame from much closer, which is exactly what the golden rule asks for — especially in small rooms.
- In mimem.ai's solver, the stronger perspective of a wide lens actively helps the system lock in depth. We correct the lens distortion automatically, so you get the geometric benefit without the fisheye look in your results.
A telephoto lens does the opposite: it forces cameras far away and flattens perspective. It's only worth considering for very large capture volumes when you have the space to back up.
Working in a tight space? Put your cameras in the corners — the longest diagonals the room has — and ultra-wide is the difference between "the room is too small for mocap" and a clean full-body take.
How many cameras?
- 1 camera works and is the fastest way to start — see the single camera guide — but a single view has to infer depth.
- 2 cameras unlock true 3D: two views triangulate every joint instead of estimating it. Place them ±45° in front of the actor (90° apart) for the ideal crossing angle.
- 3–4 cameras give solid results for most movements — the jump from 2 to 3 is the single biggest upgrade, since each early camera covers occlusions the others can't see. Decent, but not hi-fi: with only 3–4 views, an arm crossing the torso or a quick turn can still leave a joint seen by too few cameras.
- 5–6 cameras in a full ring are what we recommend for high accuracy. Every side of the body stays covered by several cameras at once, so turns, spins, and crossed limbs keep tracking — and detail like hands and feet improves with the extra views.
- 7–12 cameras pay off for large capture volumes, fast athletic action, and multi-actor captures.
Placement quality beats camera count. Three well-spread cameras will outperform eight bunched together on one side. Spread them; don't stack them.
The free plan records with up to 3 cameras; the Pro Plan supports up to 12.
Surround the actor: 360° or 180°
The best default is a ring around the actor — cameras spread the full 360°, roughly evenly. Every side of the body is seen by some camera, and viewing angles stay wide, which is what makes the 3D reconstruction sharp.
A 180° arc (all cameras on the front half) is a legitimate choice when a wall or screen occupies one side, or when you also want usable footage with no cameras visible in shot. Just know the trade-off: the actor's back is never seen, so choreography that turns away from the arc can briefly lose tracking. Keep the movement facing the cameras — or break the rule with a single extra camera behind.
Two arrangements to avoid: all cameras in a straight line (they see nearly the same thing), and two cameras exactly opposite each other (front + back views triangulate depth poorly — offset them instead).
Height and angle
Mount cameras at about waist height (roughly 1 m) on tripods or stable surfaces, aimed at the middle of the capture volume.
Keep them roughly level. Cameras looking steeply down tend to lose the feet behind the rest of the body, and straight top-down views hide most of the body entirely.
To go further
- Set up your recording end-to-end with the Multi Camera Capture guide.
- Connect your phones in seconds with the Smartphone Setup Guide.
- Even light matters: the Lighting Guide takes minutes and pays off in every take.
- Capturing a duo or a group? Read the Multi-Actor Capture guide.