I work for, and am part owner of, Motion Lab Systems, Inc., a company that designs and manufactures electromyography systems for gait analysis laboratories, as well as being the developer of a number of software applications that use the C3D file format.  Motion Lab Systems, Inc., supports and runs the c3d.org web site.

The document has its origins in a collection of conversations, notes and emails that I have collected over several years as we have written software that creates and accesses files that use the C3D file format.  My own personal experience with the C3D file format goes back to 1987 with the original commercial implementation of AMASS on Digital Equipment Corporation PDP-11 computers while operating Oxford Metrics Inc., (1984-97) in the USA.

Motion Lab Systems, and its employees, maintain a vendor relationship with almost all the motion capture system and other equipment manufacturers, which use the C3D format.  Neither Motion Lab Systems Inc., nor I, are employees of, or maintain any direct contractual relationships with, any companies that use the C3D file format.

I acknowledge the assistance and encouragement of many people in compiling the information within this manual.  While, for the most part I have taken their advice, the structure and presentation of the information within this document has been my own.  Please let me know it you find an error or typo, or feel that I have failed to explain some particular aspect –general questions or comments about the C3D format should be sent to the C3D list server at c3d-L@c3d.org 

 

Edmund Cramp, February 19, 2008

Motion Lab Systems, Inc.