code: def parse_text(file_name):
      
  
      # Read the header
      fid = open(file_name, 'r')
      point_names = np.array(fid.readline().split())[2:-1:3]
      fid.close()
      for i in range(len(point_names)):
          point_names[i] = point_names[i][0:-2]
  
      # Read the matrix data
      S = np.loadtxt(file_name, skiprows=1)
      field = np.uint(S[:, 0])
      times = S[:, 1]
      S = S[:, 2:]
  
      # Set the -9999.99 markers to be not present
      S[S==-9999.99] = np.NaN
  
      # Store x, y and z in different arrays
      points = []
      points.append(S[:, 0:-1:3])
      points.append(S[:, 1:-1:3])
      points.append(S[:, 2:-1:3])
  
      return points, point_names, times
docs: Parse data from Ohio State University text mocap files (http://accad.osu.edu/research/mocap/mocap_data.htm).