# Decisions needing John

**Status 2026-07-17 (session 2): Lane B1's engine pick is REVERSED** (Decision 1). The disk
work (Decision 2) from the concurrent session is preserved intact. Corrected, license-verified
analysis below + `LICENSES.md`. Prior "SMPL hard-stop avoided / go MoCapAnything" memo
superseded (git @ 7819e12).

## Decision 1 — pose engine: B1 picked an ANIMAL model for a HUMAN job; the gate is LIVE

> **RESOLVED 2026-07-17 — John chose Path B (run local, accept NC risk).** Engine = **HSMR
> → SKEL** on the fleet. Ship only the retargeted mixamorig motion (no Max-Planck file
> redistributed); John explicitly accepts the judgment call that authoring game clips from an
> NC-licensed model is his risk. Path A (email MPI for a commercial licence) stays on the shelf
> as the clean upgrade if that risk ever needs retiring. **MPS verified green on ultra this
> session** (torch 2.13.0, `mps_available=True`, `mps_built=True`). **Sole remaining blocker to
> a first forward pass: the gated SKEL download — John's manual step** (register at
> skel.is.tue.mpg.de → download.php → `skel_models_v1.1.zip`, **must be v1.1.1**, unzip into
> `.engine/HSMR/data_inputs/body_models/skel/` per HSMR `docs/SETUP.md`). Behind a login +
> NC-licence agreement, so it is John's to do — I can't create the account or accept the terms.
> Analysis below is retained for the record.

B1 chose **MoCapAnything V2** for being MIT/MIT with no SMPL, and concluded "the SMPL hard-stop
is avoided." Reading the actual repo this session shows why that's wrong: MoCapAnything is an
**animal** motion-capture system — **71 animal retarget targets** (Alligator…Tyranno), trained
on `zoo1030` (animals) + `obj1k` (objects), **no human/biped/mixamorig reference and no
fingers**. MOCAPGOD's v1 job is capturing **John (a human)** onto mixamorig (PLAN line 1; the
Lane B brief says "monocular **human** motion recovery"). MoCapAnything didn't dissolve the SMPL
gate — it swapped in a task the gate doesn't cover. **Wrong tool for the human path.** (It's a
clean, strong tool for *creature* NPCs — option C.)

**Verified from license text this session (links/dates in `LICENSES.md`):**

| Human-capable option | Code license | Body model | Body-model license | On the fleet? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GVHMR / WHAM / TRAM / OnlineHMR (accuracy leaders) | research/NC (GVHMR NC confirmed) | **SMPL** | NC — commercial via Meshcapade (quote) | PyTorch→MPS ✓ |
| **HSMR** (CVPR25 oral) / SKEL-CF (Nov 2025) | **MIT** (HSMR) | **SKEL** | NC — commercial via MPI `ps-license@tue.mpg.de` | PyTorch→MPS ✓ (unverified) |
| GEM-X (NVIDIA) | Apache | SOMA (not SMPL) | commercial-ready | **CUDA-only — OFF fleet** ✗ |
| MoCapAnything V2 | MIT | none | — (clean) | ✓ but **animal-only** ✗ for humans |

**No free-lunch, commercial-clean, on-fleet, world-grounded *human* model exists.** SMPL and
SKEL are both Max-Planck research licenses with an "email for commercial" path; the one
clean-licensed human model (GEM-X) needs NVIDIA hardware the fleet lacks. Pick a direction:

**A. License a body model, use a proven human model — RECOMMENDED.** Email for an indie
commercial license. Primary: **SKEL → HSMR** (code is MIT, outputs a biomechanical **skeleton**
ideal for the mixamorig retarget) via `ps-license@tue.mpg.de`. Fallback: **SMPL** via
`sales@meshcapade.com` (unlocks WHAM/TRAM, though their *code* licenses also need clearing).
One email + likely a modest fee + a few days. Clean and shippable. *I can draft the email; I
can't send it.*

**B. SMPL-free-outputs path (PLAN Path B) — run locally, ship only your rig's motion.** HSMR's
code is MIT: run on the fleet, extract joint **rotations**, retarget onto YOUR mixamorig, ship
only that — distribute no Max-Planck file. Zero cost, unblocks today. **Risk:** the NC licenses
forbid "production of artefacts for commercial purposes"; whether authoring game clips counts is
a legal judgment call. The clean mitigation (email MPI to ask) collapses into A. John-accepts-risk.

**C. Reconsider scope — creatures now, defer the human license.** MOCAPGOD's downstream is
stylized NPCs + a centaur RPG; some targets aren't human. If the near-term need is creature
NPCs, **MoCapAnything (MIT, clean, on-fleet) does that TODAY**; defer the human-capture license
until you need your own DJ clips.

→ **Recommendation A.** Honest, cheap, converts B's grey into a clear yes. In parallel I keep
MoCapAnything as the sanctioned *creature* engine (free upside, blocks nothing) and verify
HSMR's MPS-runnability so we're ready when a license lands. I will **not** build the human v1
pipeline on an NC model without your explicit go (that's B).

## Path A — SKEL commercial-licence email (READY TO SEND — John sends it himself)

Parallel risk-retirement (session-5 order 2). Path B ships meanwhile; if MPI grants a licence
the grey area in Decision 1 disappears with **zero pipeline rework** (same HSMR/SKEL engine).
**Do not wait on the reply.** John: fill the two `[brackets]`, send from your address to
`ps-license@tue.mpg.de`. I can't send email or create the account — this is yours.

> **To:** ps-license@tue.mpg.de
> **Subject:** Commercial licence enquiry — SKEL body model (indie game developer)
>
> Dear Perceiving Systems licensing team,
>
> I'm a solo independent game developer based in Australia. I'd like to enquire about a
> commercial licence for the **SKEL body model** (v1.1.1, from skel.is.tue.mpg.de).
>
> **Use case.** I'm building a small in-house tool that recovers 3D human motion from ordinary
> single-camera video of myself, to author animation clips for stylised characters in my own
> indie games. SKEL is used inside the pipeline at inference time (via the HSMR pose-recovery
> model) to estimate body pose.
>
> **Redistribution: none.** The SKEL/BSM model files stay on my own machine — I do not
> redistribute them or any Max-Planck-derived asset. What ships in the games is only the
> resulting joint **motion**, retargeted onto my own separately-authored character skeletons
> (a Mixamo-style rig). No SKEL mesh, shape space, or model file is included or exposed in any
> shipped product.
>
> **Scale.** Small and indie: modest commercial revenue, a single developer, no external funding.
>
> Could you let me know whether an **indie / small-developer commercial licence** is available
> for this kind of in-pipeline, non-redistributed use, and the terms and any fee? I'm happy to
> provide more detail on the pipeline or sign whatever agreement you need.
>
> Thank you,
> [your name]
> monsterrobot.party · [contact email]

If MPI replies with terms, record the outcome here and flip Decision 1 from Path B to Path A
(nothing in the pipeline changes — same engine, the licence just retires the NC risk).

## Decision 2 — clear m3ultra disk (RESOLVED pending reboot, 2026-07-17)

Was 98% full (20 GB free). Deleted `unsloth/GLM-4.6-GGUF` (147 GB, re-downloadable, 0 code
refs) from the HF cache with John's OK. **But `df` still shows 20 GB** — the freed blocks are
pinned by macOS **OS-update snapshots**: a **macOS Tahoe 26.5.2 update is staged** (recommended
/ security, "Action: restart") and the box has 18 days uptime. Space realizes on **next
reboot**, which also applies the pending update. No `~/.jobs` heartbeat job is running (load is
just the Claude desktop app), so a reboot kills nothing tracked.

→ **John: reboot m3ultra when convenient** → applies 26.5.2 + reclaims 147 GB (→ ~167 GB free,
ample for Lane B). Not doing this myself — it's your workstation. Kept the FLUX variants
(you deselected them); another ~200 GB is prunable there later if wanted.

## Decision 3 — test footage (blocker for the real quality call)

`capture/inbox/` is empty. Whichever human engine Decision 1 unlocks, the honest
walk/dance/pick-up-object quality verdict — and all of B2/B3 + the acceptance check — needs your
clips. (HSMR has an HF Space + demo images for the MPS/trajectory smoke-test before your
footage.) Film the PLAN's three per `docs/CAPTURE.md` (T-pose bookends, feet in frame), drop
them in the inbox, then `python3 ingest.py`.

→ **John: film + ingest walk / dance / pick-up-object when convenient.**

## Blast radius of the Decision-1 reversal (next session must know)
- **Lane B1 is NOT done** — wrong engine selected. Re-opened; PROGRESS un-ticked.
- **VOID the old note "MoCapAnything is BVH-direct, skip the retarget rig."** Any human model
  emits **SMPL or SKEL, not mixamorig** → **Lane C's constraint-retarget IS required again**,
  and `spec/{smpl,skel}_to_mixamorig.json` is back on the menu.
- Preconditions: disk resolves on the m3ultra reboot (Decision 2); the MPS/global-trajectory
  smoke-test still stands for whichever engine John's pick unlocks.

---
Once Decision 1 is picked and 2–3 clear, the next session installs the chosen human engine,
proves MPS + global trajectory, and proceeds to B2 (service-ize) / B3 (jitter).