Configure camera tracking

Add a camera system

A camera system is a camera including its lens and a tracking system. The result is a tracked camera with various other tracked parameters depending on the tracking system you use.

1. Click "Add camera system"

2. Give it a descriptive name

Configure the camera and lens

1. Choose a filmback size that matches your output video aspect ratio

   • Choose from the drop-down of known cameras

     • All supplied camera definitions are either 16:9 or 17:9 in aspect ratio. Their aspect ratio is defined by their filmback width and height dimensions. If you do not match aspect ratios, the output image may be “letter-boxed” or “pillar-boxed” into the output video frame.

   • Or create your own for non-standard aspect ratios

     • Click on "Add camera type"

     • Enter camera type name

     • Enter width and height of the filmback (sensor size in millimeters) - check the documentation of your camera for the filmback size related to the aspect ratio you are shooting in

2. Choose your lens aperture

   • This is important when visualizing depth of field later on

Configure camera tracking

Here you configure everything related to the camera tracking system.

1. Choose the assigned tracking service

   • Best practice: Use the tracking service on the machine the camera system will be routed to

2. Choose the transmission method

   • Unicast

     • Send data from a single tracking source to a single tracking service

     • Recommended if you have a single tracking source per tracking service OR if your tracking system can send reliably to multiple IP addresses

   • Multicast

     • Send data from a single source to a group of interested tracking services in a single transmission

     • Recommended if your tracking system does not allow sending to multiple IP addresses

Unicast

1. The IP address field shows all network adapters of the machine the tracking service is running on.

   • Note down the IP address of your preferred network adapter
     NOTE: We recommend using a different network adapter for tracking to the one specified in Machine settings, which is used for Pixotope communications.

2. Change the UDP Port if needed

   • This is the UDP port that tracking data is received on. Note it down.

3. On your camera tracking system:

   1. Set the destination IP address and UDP port number to the values noted down.

      • For Ncam: the IP address should be entered in the Advanced section of the camera tracking protocol - the port number cannot be changed

Multicast

Most current IP stacks support the IP multicast routing protocol. Check the manual of your network hardware for details.

1. Note down the suggested default multicast IP address or change it if needed

   • Available range: 224.0.0.0 - 239.255.255.255

2. Change the port if needed

   • This is the UDP port that tracking data is received on.

3. Choose your preferred network adapter which should handle the multicast data

   • NOTE: We recommend using a different network adapter for tracking to the one specified in Machine settings, which is used for Pixotope communications.

4. For any additional camera system which should use the same tracking data

   1. Choose the same multicast IP address and port as well as the preferred network adapter of the tracking service

5. On your camera tracking system:

   1. Enter the noted down multicast IP address and UDP port number

      • For the Ncam SDK it uses TCP-IP, not UDP for communication. Multicast is not valid for use with TCP-IP so the option is disabled.

Continue configuration

1. Choose the camera tracking protocol for your camera tracking system

2. Check the status field

   • Your tracking configuration is set up correctly if it shows incoming data

   • You can also check the Network status in the Editor

Learn more about our Supported Tracking Protocols

Advanced

1. Optionally override some advanced settings

   • The "Advanced" section covers protocol-specific details and how the data should be mapped. When you calibrate tracking, you might have to come back here if the camera movement is mapped wrongly.

Camera mount

1. Choose a camera mount

   • Depending on the camera tracking protocol, you can choose between up to 3 different camera mount types:

     • No mount setup

       • For advanced camera tracking systems that provide correct position and rotation values of the nodal point out of the box e.g. Ncam

       • For untracked cameras

     •  Tripod/Dolly

       • For tripods and dolly-mounted cameras

       • For PTZ cameras

     • Camera crane

       • For Mo-Sys F4 1.7 Mechanical

   • The helper images provide information on the measurements needed.

     

     

2. Optionally choose a lens file under Lens tracking > Advanced

   • Camera tracking systems most often have lens data (focus and/or zoom) integrated into their configurations. However, if you need to use a custom lens configuration, choose the lens file from the drop-down menu, and ensure that the zoom and focus encoder limits are correctly set.

     • A lens file contains additional calibration data for the lenses you are using. It can include the following parameters: Focus Distance, Distortion, Nodal Offset, FOV, and Center offset. These files can be generated:

       • manually by using the provided lens file template

       • by our internal Lens Calibration tool

       • from lens files of other manufacturers, using our internal conversion tools

         

The lens files Distortion model will be enabled if Center offset is enabled.

Learn more about Lens files in Pixotope

Next step

Continue to Configure object tracking