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Introduction
After assembling and before starting to calibrate a tracking system, you must make sure they are connected properly to your PC and that Aximmetry receives native data from them. This short article will help you through this process.
Basic Settings
Setting up the Communication Protocol in Aximmetry
Start Aximmetry Composer.
In the Startup Configuration window, switch to the Camera Tracking tab.
Then, drag and drop the relevant camera tracking protocol into the Available Input Devices field, or onto an occupied slot under Video Inputs (Mapped Devices):
Some tracking systems will automatically be listed under Available Input Devices when you are on the Camera Tracking tab.
The procedure after this to set up the protocol may vary depending on the specific protocol chosen.
You can browse the documents in the Setting Up Specific Tracking Systems category for information about different tracking systems and protocols.
Some less common camera tracking types or protocols may not be listed, or may have protocol-wide settings that are not directly accessible in this view. To see the full list, click the Manage Devices... button at the bottom of the Startup Configuration window.
You can find professional camera tracking systems and object tracking systems in the Camera Tracking menu. If you are using other tracking systems that are made mainly for games, look for them in the Game menu.
Both Inputs & Outputs... and Manage Devices... are available at any time through the Edit menu while Aximmetry Composer is running.
Checking the Tracking Data Flow
Ensure the communication and data flow between the tracking system and Aximmetry is stable.
Tracking Systems
Create a new compound and insert a Camera Tracking module.
In the module's Pin Values, define the tracking device in the Device menu. If you did everything well until this point you must see your tracking device in the dropdown list.
Click on the 3 brackets to see the extended pin list. If you then peek at the Native Transf pin, you can observe the raw, uncalibrated transformation and rotation data received by Aximmetry.
NOTE: With a properly working tracking system, you must see the tracking data values the tracking device sends.
NOTE: The Native Transf is raw, uncalibrated tracking data coming straight from the tracking system. The calibrated tracking data will be received on the Cam Transform pin.
NOTE: Most tracking protocols can show the unprocessed binary data received from the network in the Raw Packet pin. It allows examining the network packets using the BytesToText module, either in hex or text format.
NOTE: If your tracking system has lens encoders, you can peek at the Zoom Sensor, Focus Sensor, and Iris Sensor (Aperture) and pins to check if lens data flows in.
Lens Encoders
In the Startup Configuration window, switch to the Zoom Encoder tab.
Then, drag and drop the relevant lens encoder into the Available Input Devices field, or onto an occupied slot under Video Inputs (Mapped Devices):
The procedure after this to set up the protocol may vary depending on the specific encoder chosen.
You can browse the documents in the Setting Up Specific Tracking Systems category for information about different tracking systems, encoders, and protocols.
Lens encoders can also be found in the Zoom Encoder menu in Manage Devices.
Both Inputs & Outputs... and Manage Devices... are available at any time through the Edit menu while Aximmetry Composer is running.
Set up the Zoom device in the Zoom Device menu.
NOTE: In some special cases, you may need to specify the same device here as the tracking device. More on this later.
To see lens encoder data, peek at the Zoom Sensor pin if the encoder is on the lens's Zoom ring, the Focus Sensor pin if it's on the Focus ring, or the Iris Sensor pin if it's on the Iris (Aperture) ring:
NOTE: With a properly working lens encoder, you must see the lens data values the encoder device sends.
NOTE: The Zoom Sensor, Focus Sensor, and Iris Sensor are raw, uncalibrated lens data coming straight from the tracking system/encoders. The calibrated lens data will be received on the Zoom Factor, Focus Distance, and Aperture pins.
NOTE: Most Zoom Encoder protocols can show the unprocessed binary data received from the network in the Zoom Raw Packet pin. It allows examining the network packets using the BytesToText module, either in hex or text format.
Special Cases
Aximmetry is capable of combining the tracking data input of two different tracking systems in order to track a single camera. It is also capable of specifying individual delay values for the tracking data and zoom data of a single tracking system. For both of these use-case scenarios the same parameter, called Zoom Device, is used.
The Zoom Device is essentially a secondary tracking device that provides additional tracking data in combination with the tracking Device. There are three use cases for this parameter:
- specifying third-party zoom encoder devices to receive additional lens data,
- specifying PTZ cameras' tracking data stream when PTZ cameras are tracked with additional tracking devices to determine their position,
- specifying the same tracking device specified at the Tracking Device parameter to be able to independently adjust the Tracking Delay and Zoom Delay parameters for it.
Continue to the Calibration
After setting up the tracking system in Aximmetry, you can start its calibration process. Please refer to the following documents to learn more about calibration:
