
Rokoko
Rokoko is a Danish motion capture ecosystem pairing wearable sensors with Rokoko Studio and AI tools that turn plain video or text prompts into 3D animation, built for animators, game developers, studios and research labs.
What is Rokoko?
Rokoko is a complete motion capture ecosystem that combines wearable hardware, desktop animation software and browser-based AI tools. The company behind it, Rokoko Electronics ApS, was founded in 2014 in Copenhagen and now runs offices in Denmark, Greece and the United States. It claims more than 250,000 creators worldwide, and its homepage carries a public counter that has passed 1,632,398 motion assets created by the community.
The hardware line grew out of the Smartsuit Pro, an inertial suit shipped to more than 100 countries. Today it covers the Smartsuit Pro II for the body, Smartgloves II for the fingers, Coil Pro for drift-free absolute positioning, and Face Capture with the Headrig for iPhone or the Headcam for Windows, macOS and Android. A Full Performance Capture bundle puts body, hands and face together, for up to three synchronised performers.
The software side is Rokoko Studio, a free download for Windows and macOS that handles recording, near-zero-latency preview on the Newton reference avatar, cleanup filters, character retargeting, skeleton presets, export and live streaming. Alongside it, Rokoko Create is a web platform hosting two AI products: Vision AI, which converts an ordinary video into 3D motion and whose rebuilt 3.0 solver is advertised at ten times more processing per dollar than rivals, at 1 USD per minute on the Basic tier, and Text-to-Motion, a proprietary foundation model of human movement that generates original clips from a written prompt. A Motion Library marketplace offers ready-made animation assets, and a Device SDK at sdk.rokoko.com exposes raw IMU readings, quaternions and 3D positions over TCP/IP at up to 200 Hz on Windows, macOS, Linux x64 and Linux Arm64.
The selling proposition is professional motion capture with no optical stage, no cameras and a setup measured in minutes. Rokoko targets animation, film and VFX, games, AR and VR, education, and robotics and research. The business model is mixed: hardware is bought outright, while the software runs on a five-tier freemium subscription that starts with a permanently free Starter plan.
What it does
- Capture full-body motion without cameras using the Smartsuit Pro II inertial suit
- Turn any video file into 3D animation in the browser with Vision AI
- Generate brand-new motion clips from a written prompt with Text-to-Motion
- Capture fingers with Smartgloves II, facial performance with an iPhone or a Headcam, and drift-free position with Coil Pro
- Clean, smooth, loop and retarget takes onto your own characters inside Rokoko Studio
- Live stream performances into Unreal Engine, Unity, Blender, Maya, Cinema 4D, Houdini, MotionBuilder, iClone and VRChat
- Export to FBX, BVH or CSV with Human IK, Mixamo, Newton and UE5 skeleton presets, or read raw sensor data through the Device SDK
When to use Rokoko / When not to
A quick filter to help you decide if Rokoko is the right fit.
When to use Rokoko
- 3D animators and VFX artists who want studio-grade mocap without an optical stage or a studio budget
- Game developers producing walk cycles, idles and character animation in volume
- Indie creators and solo filmmakers, served by a free Starter plan, hardware bundles at up to 30% off and Vision AI that works from a single video file
- Animation studios and real-time productions that livestream performances into Unreal Engine or Unity, with up to three synchronised actors
- University labs and robotics teams that need low-level access to raw IMU data through the Device SDK, with Linux and Arm64 support
When not to use Rokoko
- Teams expecting a software-only answer: high-precision body, finger and face capture still requires buying the Smartsuit Pro II, Smartgloves II or Coil Pro
- Free-plan users who need real volume from AI video-to-motion, since Vision AI is capped at 30 seconds of processed footage per month
- Small budgets that need live streaming into third-party tools, which starts at the Plus tier, or Face Capture inside Studio, which requires a Pro subscription
- Buyers with strict procurement or data-governance requirements, as no DPA, no sub-processor list and no named hosting country are published
- Productions that need more than three simultaneous performers, or drift-free absolute positioning without adding the Coil Pro accessory
How to use Rokoko
A typical end-to-end flow, from setup to results.
- Create a Rokoko account on id.rokoko.com and download Rokoko Studio free for Windows (Windows 10 64-bit minimum) or macOS
- For a software-only start, open the Rokoko Create web app: Vision AI and Text-to-Motion need nothing but a browser
- Drop a video file recorded with any camera into Rokoko Create, or type a prompt to generate a motion clip
- For hardware capture, suit up with the Smartsuit Pro II, Smartgloves II or a bundle, power up and connect to Wi-Fi, which takes a few minutes
- For facial performance, mount an iPhone on the Headrig or use the Headcam, launch the Face Capture app and connect it to Rokoko Studio
- Record unlimited takes, automatically stored in your Rokoko Studio account
- Bring the AI-generated capture back into Studio to review, edit, loop and retarget it like any other take
- Edit in Studio: correct footlocks, smooth the motion, loop segments and retarget onto your own character
- Export at your chosen frame rate to .FBX, .BVH or .CSV with a Newton, Human IK, Mixamo or UE5 skeleton, or live stream through the engine plugins
- For robotics or research, follow the platform install guide for the Device SDK, attach the licence to a team on the Team page, then discover devices and subscribe to their data streams
Pros & Cons
Pros
- A single ecosystem covers the whole chain from sensor to export, with no optical stage required
- Permanently free Starter plan with recording and .FBX export, and Rokoko Studio downloadable at no cost
- Low paid entry point at 10 USD per month on annual billing
- Vision AI is advertised at 1 USD per minute against 4 USD for QuickMagic and 3 USD for Uthana, in a comparison published on the site
- Native real-time integrations with the main game engines and DCC applications, plus an open Device SDK for robotics and research with Linux and Arm64 support
- Setup in minutes, indoors or outdoors, with an active community around Discord, YouTube tutorials, free 3D resources and a sponsorship programme
- Established European vendor: privacy policy explicitly grounded in the GDPR, Danish governing law, on-device TrueDepth processing, 30-day money-back returns on hardware and generated clips cleared for commercial use
Cons
- The core of the offer is still hardware you have to buy: the software alone does not replace the suit or the gloves
- Key features are spread across tiers, with live streaming starting at Plus and Face Capture and the advanced Command API at Pro
- The free Vision AI quota is very tight at 30 seconds of video per month, and it drops back to 30 seconds during the trial period
- Monthly prices run 20% to 50% above the advertised annual rate (Basic 12 against 10, Plus 28 against 20, Pro 70 against 50 USD)
- No DPA, no sub-processor list and no SOC 2 or ISO 27001 certification are published
- No hosting country or region is disclosed, transfers outside the EEA are possible without detailed safeguards, and retention is left at "as long as we consider it necessary"
- No documented way to exclude your data from training, while Rokoko sub-licenses a motion dataset fed by its own user base; support replies run 2 to 4 business days by tier with no commitment on the free plan, and three simultaneous actors is the ceiling everywhere
Pricing & Plans
Rokoko operates a freemium model. Rokoko Studio is a free download and the Starter plan is free for life. The paid software subscription is organised in five tiers priced in US dollars, with annual billing discounted by 30%: the lowest paid entry point is Basic at 10.00 USD per month on annual billing, or 12 USD per month billed monthly, followed by Plus at 20 USD, Pro at 50 USD and Enterprise from 100 USD per month on annual billing, quoted through sales@rokoko.com. Vision AI processing beyond the included quota is charged by processing time, at 1 USD per minute on the Basic tier. Hardware is sold separately and its prices are not published on the pages reviewed; free quotes are available for volume and education purchases, buy-now-pay-later is offered in the United States and the European Union, and hardware carries a 30-day money-back return, subject to fabric damage fees of 50 to 395 USD where applicable.
- mocap recording and export
- cleanup filters
- .FBX export
- Vision AI 30 s/month
- unlimited Text-to-Motion clips with 5 Studio imports per month
- 1 month of cloud storage
- 1 Creator and 0 Member
- 3 actor profile presets
- everything in Starter plus custom character import and retargeting
- .BVH export and advanced export options
- smoothing filter and loopable segments
- Vision AI 600 s/month
- 100 Text-to-Motion imports per month
- unlimited cloud storage
- 5 actor presets
- 3 offline days
- everything in Basic plus live streaming to third-party tools
- unlimited team members and user management
- custom skeleton presets
- chat and email support
- Vision AI 3
- 000 s/month
- 1
- 000 Text-to-Motion imports per month
- everything in Plus plus Face Capture
- the advanced Command API
- UDP trigger messages
- .CSV export and a dedicated Customer Success Manager
- Vision AI 15
- 000 s/month
- unlimited Text-to-Motion imports
- 50 actor presets
- everything in Pro plus local storage without cloud synchronisation
- additional offline days
- custom support hours
- a custom onboarding plan and a custom SLA
- quoted through sales@rokoko.com
Data, GDPR & hosting
A consolidated view of how Rokoko handles your data.
GDPR overview
Implementation is explicit but partly undocumented. The privacy policy states it was composed pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2016/679, and Rokoko Electronics ApS is established in Denmark, so an Article 27 representative does not apply. Data subject rights are listed: access, rectification, erasure, restriction, objection, portability, withdrawal of consent and complaint to a supervisory authority, with support@rokoko.com as the privacy contact and hi@rokoko.com for the terms. Transfers outside the EEA to staff or suppliers are possible with safeguards that are asserted but not detailed; recruitment processing cites Articles 6(1)(f), 9(2)(f) and 9(2)(a) and standard contractual clauses. Security measures include end-to-end SSL, hashed and salted passwords, role-based access and logged actions. No DPA, no sub-processor list, no named DPO and no SOC 2 or ISO 27001 certification appear on the site. The Terms of Service are governed by Danish law.
Who owns the data?
Rokoko Electronics ApS is the controller of the personal data processed through its services, under Regulation (EU) 2016/679. Users keep the benefit of their own captures: the privacy policy grants portability, letting an end user obtain and reuse personal data across different accounts, and on termination Rokoko states it provides access to all information stored for you before it may delete it, unless retention is legally required. Motion and facial assets produced with Rokoko tools, including Text-to-Motion clips, are cleared for commercial use under the Terms of Use. Rokoko says it does not sell personal data, but reserves the right to share aggregated or anonymised data with third parties.
Reuse rights
Assets generated with Rokoko tools can be reused commercially without asking further permission, subject to the Terms of Use. On Rokoko's side, the declared purposes are providing and managing the account and access to it, personalisation, replying to your communications, sending subscribed emails, market research and usage analysis to improve the services, on the legal bases of contract performance, legitimate interest, legal obligation and consent. The data collected ranges from name, date of birth, age, weight, height and other body characteristics to company name and identification number, contact details, demographics, IP address, device and browser identifiers, browsing behaviour and activity captured by worn sensors or by a video-processing application. It may be shared with other group companies, suppliers and partners, authorities and regulators, a potential acquirer in a merger or acquisition, and third parties with your consent; anonymised usage statistics may also go to investors, affiliates, partners and advertisers. Beyond that, Rokoko maintains a human motion dataset built from a user base of more than 50,000 people, described as fully anonymised, used primarily for its own product development and sub-licensed to selected third parties under strict conditions, while its Text-to-Motion foundation model is trained on millions of motion assets paired with text descriptions. No opt-out from that training or licensing is documented on the site.
Data retention & training
Hosting summary
Rokoko does not name a hosting country or region anywhere on its site. The privacy policy states only that personal data may be accessed by staff or suppliers in, transferred to, or stored at a destination outside the European Economic Area, where data protection standards may be lower, and that safeguards are put in place, without describing them. Recorded assets are kept in what Rokoko calls the Rokoko cloud, retained for one month on the Starter plan and without limit from Basic upward, while the Enterprise tier allows local storage with no cloud synchronisation. Two processing paths are documented more precisely: on iOS, TrueDepth capture stays on the device, the live video feed is never used or stored, and only the 52 ARKit blend shapes are transmitted, whereas video files uploaded to Rokoko Video are stored by Rokoko in order to produce the animation. The online store is hosted by Shopify Inc. DNS resolution sits behind Cloudflare on an anycast address geolocated in the United States, which indicates an infrastructure choice rather than the location of the data. No data processing agreement and no sub-processor list are published.
Things to keep in mind
Risks and trade-offs to weigh before adopting Rokoko.
- The price displayed by default is the annual rate: billed monthly, the same tier costs 20% to 50% more, which is easy to miss when comparing tools
- Tier traps to check before buying: Face Capture inside Studio requires a Pro subscription rather than just the mobile app, live streaming to third-party tools does not exist below Plus, the Vision AI quota falls back to 30 seconds during the trial even on a higher tier, and three simultaneous actors is the ceiling on every plan
- Hardware is sold separately and its prices are not published on the product pages reviewed, so the real cost of a full performance setup only appears in the store
- Returns carry conditions: outside the EU the original shipping cost is not refunded and is used for the return, fabric damage is billed from 50 to 395 USD and deducted from the refund, and customs and import taxes on non-EU orders fall on the buyer
- No DPA, no sub-processor list and no published security certification leaves a compliance review with very little to work with
- Retention is left to the vendor's judgement, described only as "as long as we consider it necessary", so plan your own deletion requests instead of relying on an automatic expiry
- Rokoko sub-licenses to third parties an anonymised motion dataset fed by its own users, with no documented opt-out: think about what a performance recorded with the suit reveals about the person wearing it, including body measurements, before capturing minors, clients or identifiable talent
Setup & Integrations
Technical difficulty
Low to moderate. Vision AI and Text-to-Motion need nothing but a browser. Rokoko Studio requires an account on id.rokoko.com and a free download for Windows 10 64-bit or macOS. Hardware setup is advertised in minutes: put on the suit or gloves, power up, connect to Wi-Fi, no cameras. Difficulty rises with custom character retargeting, skeleton presets and live streaming into an engine, and the Device SDK is genuinely technical: per-platform install guides, a team-bound licence and a TCP/IP protocol to integrate yourself. Support: a free Zoom demo, YouTube tutorials, a help centre, Discord and dedicated onboarding from Plus.
Deployment
Apps stores
Integrations
Supported languages
Behind Rokoko
Fundraising
Social
Resources
All the official URLs gathered for verification and reference.
Alternatives
Tools that compete with or complement Rokoko.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to buy hardware to use Rokoko?
Is there a free plan?
What is the cheapest paid plan?
Which 3D applications can Rokoko live stream into?
What export formats are available?
How does Text-to-Motion work?
Can I use the generated motion commercially?
Is there an API?
Is Rokoko GDPR compliant?
What do I need to run Rokoko Studio, and is there a mobile app?
Should you pick Rokoko?
Rokoko set out to make professional motion capture available outside optical stages, and the range it has built delivers on that ambition. Its strength is the continuity of a single chain, from an inertial suit, gloves and a phone-mounted face rig through to cleanup, retargeting and export inside Rokoko Studio, doubled by a purely software entry point: Vision AI turns an ordinary video into animation and Text-to-Motion generates clips from a written prompt, both in the browser and both usable without owning any hardware. The paid entry price is low and the Starter plan is free for life, but the tier structure matters, since live streaming into third-party tools begins at Plus, Face Capture and the advanced Command API at Pro, and the free Vision AI quota is limited to 30 seconds of footage a month. The legal foundation is credible for European buyers: a Danish company, Danish governing law, a privacy policy explicitly written under Regulation (EU) 2016/679 and facial data processed on the device. The main reservation is contractual transparency, with no data processing agreement, no sub-processor list, no named hosting country or region and a retention period left to the vendor's own judgement. A second reservation follows from the business model itself: Rokoko sub-licenses to selected third parties an anonymised human motion dataset fed by its own user base, and no opt-out from that use is documented anywhere on the site. Weighed together, Rokoko is the strongest fit for 3D animators, game developers, real-time production studios, university labs and robotics teams who need usable motion data quickly and can accept hardware costs on top of a subscription. Buyers with strict procurement or data-governance requirements should ask for the missing contractual documents before committing.
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