Supported Tracking Protocols
This page provides an overview of the capabilities of each tracking protocol supported by Pixotope.
Protocol | Position | Rotation | Distortion | FOV | Focus Distance | Aperture | Filmback size | LTC (available in certain modes) | Timestamp | Packet number | Lens Encoders | Recommended with Pixotope? | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Manual | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | N/A | Yes | Yes | Not suitable for production | For debug use and testing connections |
EZtrack | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | N/A | Yes | Yes | Yes | We only support the OpenCV distortion model from EZtrack |
FreeD | No | No | No | No | No | No | N/A | No | Yes | Yes | Must be used with local lens files | ||
Mosys F4 | Maybe | Maybe | Maybe | Maybe | Maybe | No | No | No | N/A | Yes | Maybe | Yes | Very flexible protocol, so no guaranteed fields |
Ncam SDK (TCP) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | N/A | No | Yes | Yes | Distortion Map implementation is discouraged, use Ncam Cinelens as distortion model instead |
Ncam Lite | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | N/A | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
SMT TP11 SMT TP12 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | Timestamp can be converted to timecode | Converted to packet number | No | N/A | Yes | Lack of focus distance is ok because they are only used in huge stadiums |
Sony FR7 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | N/A | No | Yes | Yes | Prefer local lens files |
Spidercam Frame B | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | N/A | No | Yes | Yes | Must be used with local lens files |
SPNet | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Timestamp can be converted to timecode | Converted to packet number | No | Yes | Yes | |
Stype HF1.1 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Maybe | No | No | Yes | N/A | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
Technocrane | Yes | Yes | No | Maybe | Maybe | Maybe | No | Yes | N/A | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
Telemetrics | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No | No | No | N/A | Yes | Yes | Yes | Must be used with local lens file |
TrackMen | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Packet number can represent timecode | N/A | Yes | N/A | Yes | Lens values always supplied so no need for encoder values |
UX v2 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | N/A | Yes | Maybe | Maybe | We prefer directly supporting the protocols ourselves |
Unreal Live Link | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | Yes | Offsets, delays and other camera settings have to be configured inside Unreal Live Link |
Legend
Green: Included
Yellow: Might be included, depending on the situation
Red: Not included
Blue: Not included/Not needed
Consequences of missing fields
Position/Rotation
Camera cannot move
Distortion
Bad lens replication. Objects will slide around when moving the camera
FOV
Cannot zoom in/out. Must find FOV manually and set it to static value
Focus distance
We must turn off focus (DOF). No replication of where the lens has focus
LTC
We cannot use LTC for video/tracking sync (frame matching)
Timestamp
Not needed, but can replace packet number for detecting packet loss
Packet number
No way to detect packet loss
Lens encoders
Needed if we want to use our own lens files. We only need our own lens files if the tracking protocol does not have lens values (distortion,fov,focus distance)