# Decisions needing John

Lane B stops here per the PLAN's John-decision protocol. Full analysis in `B1_BAKEOFF.md`.

## Headline: the SMPL hard-stop is (probably) avoided

The gate the plan feared — "SOTA model needs SMPL, which is research-licensed, so a
commercial license decision blocks everything" — **does not fire for the recommended
engine.** The fresh search turned up **MoCapAnything V2**: MIT code + MIT weights,
commercial use permitted, **no SMPL anywhere**, and it emits BVH straight onto our
mixamorig rig. So the remaining decision is lighter and strategic, not a legal wall.

## Decision 1 — pose engine (the real choice)

| Option | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|
| **A. MoCapAnything V2** (recommended) | commercial-clean (MIT/MIT), no SMPL, BVH-direct onto mixamorig (kills a spec file + most of Lane C), runs on the fleet, cross-species bonus for centaurs | newer/less battle-tested; linked code is a re-implementation; global-trajectory + MPS not yet proven (cheap to verify) |
| B. Pay for GVHMR-grade | best measured accuracy (beats WHAM 18–28%) | GVHMR code is **non-commercial** → must negotiate a paid ZJU license *and* separately clear SMPL. Two negotiations for one engine. |
| C. GEM-X | cleanest license + best output format | **CUDA-only** — needs an NVIDIA box the fleet doesn't have; renting cloud CUDA breaks the zero-cloud rule |

**Recommendation: A.** Go MoCapAnything V2. It's the only option that is commercial-clean,
on-fleet, and BVH-direct at once. Verify its two unknowns (global trajectory, MPS) on the
sample data next session before committing B2 code to it. Keep GVHMR as a research-only
accuracy yardstick if you ever want to know what B would buy.

→ **John: confirm "go MoCapAnything," or say if you want the paid-GVHMR route explored.**

## 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. I can smoke-test MoCapAnything on its bundled sample, but the
honest walk/dance/pick-up-object quality verdict — and all of B2/B3 + the acceptance check —
needs your clips. Film the PLAN's three per `docs/CAPTURE.md` (T-pose bookends, feet in
frame) and drop them in the inbox, then `python3 ingest.py`.

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

---
Once Decision 1 is confirmed and 2–3 are unblocked, the next session installs MoCapAnything
on m3ultra, proves MPS + global trajectory, and proceeds to B2 (service-ize) / B3 (jitter).