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(As of Motive 1.9.0 we only support systems with AMTI Gen 5 amplifiers)
To install plug each force plate into a separate Gen 5 amplifier, plug a USB 2.0 type B to A cable from each amplifier to your computer, then set up the camera system as normal (see Hardware Setup page).
For better sync using an Ethernet based prime series camera system, connect an eSync2 to your camera system, then connect the eSync2 and your Gen 5 amplifer(s). To connect the two use one of the “50 Ohm BNC Male to 75 Ohm RCA Jack Adapters” included with the eSync as well as an RCA male to male cable in one of the four output ports of the eSync to the sync port of the Gen 5 amplifier.
Diagram for Prime Camera System with integrated force plates.
For better sync using a USB 2.0 based flex series camera system you can do one of two things. Connect a “50 Ohm BNC Male to 75 Ohm RCA Jack Adapters” into the output port on your OptiHub(s) and connect each OptiHub to a corresponding force plate using a male to male RCA cable. (Note: you need an OptiHub for each force plate this way.) Alternately you may use a BNC splitter to use one OptiHub as a master sync for your force plates. (Note: you may need to use an active BNC splitter because you lose some power each time you passively split the signal.) Without the presence of an eSync your motion capture and force plate data may be as much as 1-2 frames off.
Diagram for Flex Camera System with integrated force plates.
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Install Motive (see the Quick Start Guide for more help).
Your force plates should come with some installation files. For AMTI these file are contained on a disk. Install the program Netforce because netforce contains the configuration program and can validate that the force plates are working. (Note: The force plate drivers should install automatically, but you may need to manually point to the Gen 5 device drivers.)
Run either the system configuration program AMTISystemConfig.exe or the same app through Netforce detect your force plates and press save. (Note: If you have multiple hard drive you may need to move the configuration file to C:\AMTI\CFG\AMTIUsbSetup.cfg. Motive should alert you if this has not been done properly.)
Installation Note: If you install AMTI, then Motive everything should work fine. However, if you install Motive, the AMTI you may run into Visual Studio Redistributed 2010 issues.
If you set up the hardware and software correctly, then when you open motive you will see force plates with the numbers 1, 2, etc.. depending on how many force plates you have connected. If you did not set up the hardware and software correctly Motive may notify you.
2) Calibrate the volume as normal to get the orientation of cameras.
3) Pull the force plate alignment tabs out and put the force plate levelings jigs on the bottom on the calibration wand.
4) Place the Calibration wand with the corner of the force plate to the right of where the cable input is located. The direction matters. (Also the nice looking image on our website is the wrong direction.)
5) Select the CS-400 markers in Motive then right click the force plate you want to assign to that position, and click Set position.
6) After you have set all of your force plate’s with steps d+e, remove the CS-400 from your force plates. Right click one of your force plates and Zero(all). This will set the current force on the plate to 0.
7) Now your force plates will be ready to use!
REMEMBER: The BNC to RCA cord goes from the eSync or OptiHub output (BNC) into the force plate (RCA).
Supported frame rates: 2000, 1800, 1500, 1200, 1000, 900, 800, 600, 500, 450, 400, 360, 300…etc These values can be found in the AMTI System Configuration Program.
If you are using a Flex (USB 2.0 system): In the synchronization pane select “Custom Synchronization” set External Sync Output > Type = Recording Level. It should look something like the following:
Note: the sync for the OptiHub may not be as true of a sync as the eSync.
The OptiHub only has one output BNC sync port. So you can only reliably do one force plate, but it may be possible to use a BNC splitter to increase this number. (It depend of the sensitivity of the force plate's receiver.)
If you are not using the eSync, but are using a prime system: Ignore the Synchronization pane. Just make sure that in the cameras pane that the force plate FPS is a multiple of the tracking FPS, ex 100fps and 1000fps. The issue with this method is that because there is no master synchronization device there might be drift in the data and the data will not trigger at the same time. This can be an issue for longer takes and if you want your system to be timed perfectly. Motive should alert you if your cameras and force plates do not have rates that work.
This is what it will look like if you don’t have the force plate sample rate as an integer multiple of the frame rate,
Record some force plate data!!!
