SynthEyes is a standalone Windows/OSX/Linux application optimized for camera, object, geometry, and planar tracking. 360VR tutorials Download Demo.
AE/SE Two-Pass Distortion Workflow (OLD)Shows the two-pass workflow, where a lens distortion calculated in SynthEyes is used to configure both SynthEyes Undistort and SynthEyes Redistort effects in AfterEffects. With these nodes and this workflow, you can use AfterEffects (instead of SynthEyes) to convert your distorted footage to clean footage for tracking and 3D work, generate CGI effects that match the clean footage, then use the Redistort node to composite the CGI effects back to the.original. footage, so that you can deliver footage with higher quality,2012-01-05. All-Far Tripod-Type Stereoscopic ShotsStereoscopic shots do not normally require that the camera physically translate, since there are already two camera views. That is only the case, however, if there are many trackable features relatively nearby to the camera rig. If all the trackable features are far away, the same situation arises as with monocular cameras on a tripod: no depth information is available.
This tutorial introduces such shots, showing how to track them. The tutorial also briefly reviews several methods of locating problematic trackers in stereoscopic shots.2009-07-23.
Bad Tripod Solves Require Known LensesWhen a tripod shot doesn't contain enough significant information, it is impossible to determine a field of view from it. When that happens, the solve will produce indeterminate results-both 1806 and 1709, although you may think that 1709's results are good. These video addresses customer concerns that 1806 isn't handling these shots properly, showing what needs to be done in ALL versions-switch to Known lens mode. It shows how the Fuzz First Path control (Tripod Fuzz in 1809+) can be used, and gives some more insight into the solver in general.2018-08-31. Black Rock Sanctuary - StabilizedThis is a 360VR tour of the interpretive trail at Black Rock Sanctuary, Chester County, PA.
SynthEyes was used to stabilize the original Ricoh Theta S footage (using the method described in The virtual-world/real-world lock is fixed throughout the shot, which is the hallmark of advanced SynthEyes stabilization. As a result, the shot is very watchable. See 2:50, 5:55, 8:40, 10:45 also 13:55, 15:45, 17:25 for trickier spots. Of course, to be a good tour we really need a higher-resolution camera! Remaining artifacts in the footage: up and down motion due to walking and remaining unfixed tracking issues, but most significantly due to rolling shutter (jello) in the two CMOS camera sensors.
That manifests itself in spots where a portion of the shot moves, while the rest remains stationary. So make that a higher-resolution global shutter camera!2017-05-18. Black Rock Sanctuary Tour - As Shot (unstable)This is a 360VR tour of the interpretive trail at Black Rock Sanctuary, Chester County, PA, as shot on a Ricoh Theta S camera (2K with only accelerometer-based in-camera stabilization).
See: 2:50, 5:55, 8:40, 10:45 also 13:55, 15:45, 17:25. This is the raw footage for our Solving Long Shots tutorial (The resulting stabilized, and much more watchable, version of this video can be found at You can open both in separate tabs, and compare the two.2017-05-18. Coordinates systems and the Constrained Points ViewThis tutorial will advance your understanding of the coordinate system setup process, and show you how to interpret the Constrained Points view, which is always the first place to look when trying to understand or diagnose the coordinate system setup of a scene.
The initial portion of the tutorial shows a shot being manually aligned. We show this process to help you understand what SynthEyes is doing with your coordinate system setup information-not telling you that you should be manually aligning all your shots.2007-12-07. 22:51 long.★★. Dynamic Projection ScreenTalks about the dynamic projection screen generator in SynthEyes's perspective view. The projection screen shows an undistorted version of the original footage and can show a keyed version of the original shot. It adapts immediately to changes in field of view and distortion.
The screen can be locked to the location of a tracker (or extra) in the 3D environment. Footage from Hollywood Cameraworks, greenscreenplates.html2013-08-07. Franken-Tracking with Splice PathsSometimes you need to combine two separate tracks together exactly. Most commonly, this involves a shot consisting of normal sections and tripod sections, but other situations might include a shot with a major occlusion in the middle, or as a starting point for a shot that transitions from a wide shot to a full-frame moving object (still tricky). In the past, you needed to assemble the tracks in your favorite animation package, but it is quicker and easier to do it in SynthEyes.
Largely but not always superceded by Hold Mode!2007-12-09. Fusion 3-D Comp ExportThis extended tutorial shows a 3-D scene being exported from SynthEyes to fusion. There's a quick run-through of the shot being auto-tracked in SynthEyes, trackers cleaned up generically, and two meshes and a planar tracker being created. Once in Fusion, the tutorial runs through the different nodes and points out the lens distortion setup, then shows how to reconfigure for a true compositing-based insert. For more information, see 'Fusion' in the 'Exporting to Your Animation Package' section of the SynthEyes user manual.
Source images: soccer.zip in the Example Files area. See also the 'Softening Edges of Inserts' tutorial.2015-01-31.
Hybrid Geometric Hierarchy TrackingIn hybrid geometric hierarchy tracking, normal supervised trackers provide the raw tracking needed to power geometric hierarchy tracking, allowing you to produce object tracks, including hierarchical tracks, even for thin objects and very difficult images that aren't suitable for the more regular area-based geometric hierarchy tracking. A note on the track in this tutorial: you do see some jumping as the middle object switches back and forth between alternate solutions-the modeling needs to be more accurate.2015-08-24. In-Plane MaskingShows some of the features of the planar tracker's in-plane masking system, used to control which portion of the rectangular tracker is actually used for tracking. Useful for trackers of different shapes, or to exclude some areas, as shown here. Includes 2-D AE export.
Source footage courtesy Hollywood Camera Work, available at trackingplates.html Statue of Liberty footage courtesy of Aerial Exposures, 10:48 long. Measuring Rolling Shutter - DetailedShows the preparations to run the Rolling Shutter Analysis script: shooting, initial setup, auto-tracking, and tracker cleanup. This tutorial complements the separate overview tutorial, which talks about rolling shutter issues and shows results, and the python setup tutorial, which is necessary to be able to run the script. Requires SynthEyes versions AFTER 1511, or that you download the script and related materials from the Customer-Only area.2016-01-08. Measuring Rolling Shutter - OverviewShows how to precisely measure the amount of rolling shutter distortion created by a given camera (in a given shooting mode). This is a valuable performance measure of a camera, which is otherwise hard to obtain.
This particular tutorial is an overview of rolling shutter and shows the method in operation and some results. This tutorial isn't intended to be particularly software-specific, per se. Other related tutorials show more detailed button-pushing steps, and the (python) setup required to use this method. Note that SynthEyes versions AFTER 1511 are required, or you can download the script and related material from the customer-only area of the website.2016-01-08. 10:13 long.★★★. Moving-Object Track with GeoH Secondary TrackingGeoH tracking can be combined with regular moving object tracking, especially when there's no preexisting model, but some secondary tracking is required, or to be able to work with an unknown or zooming lens field of view. Starting with already-tracked supervised trackers, a moving object track is accomplished, then GeoH tracking added to accommodate the opening of the box.
Then two additional levels of GeoH tracking are added to deform the corners of the lid to match up better, using a two-channel gradient.2015-08-24. Offset Tracking in More DetailREVISED! This tutorial shows offset tracking being used for temporary tracking when the primary feature is occluded.
It shows a complete sequence of a basic offset-tracked section, a second section with a different temporary feature, shows what happens when the tracking direction is changed, and shows different reference features being used during the same occlusion. New version for SynthEyes 1502+. See Walkway.zip in the Download Examples.2015-01-31. 14:32 long.★★.
Setting up Python for use with SynthEyesThis is a run-through of how to set up Python to talk to SynthEyes, and vice versa, based on the material in the Configuring Python and SynthEyes section of the SyPy: Python Reference Manual available in versions AFTER SynthEyes 1511, or from the Customer Only area before that. Here's a recap of the folder names on all OSs: Windows: C:Program FilesAndersson Technologies LLCSynthEyesSyPy into C:Python27Libsite-packages; Mac OS X: /Applications/SynthEyes/SyPy into /Library/Python/2.6/site-packages; Linux: /opt/SynthEyes/SyPy into /usr/lib/python2.6/site-packages. Note that folder names may need to be modified if you have other versions on your machine, or to install into the python of other applications.2016-01-08.
Synthia, an IntroductionThe SynthEyes Instructible Assistant, ie Synthia, enables chat-style natural language control. Unlike simpler assistants such as Siri or Google Now, Synthia responds to specific instructions, simple or complex, and can be instructed by the user in English to add additional functionality.
Cloud communications make possible rapid improvement based on users' experiences. This tutorial shows the tip of the iceberg; for more information see the Synthia Manual in the SynthEyes product or demo version-it's fun and you'll learn a lot.2014-07-24. 12:21 long.★★. Understanding SlidingObject misplacement is often the hidden source of sliding in inserted objects. While the tracks must be correct, and users intrinsically understand that, users frequently fail to understand the importance of proper object placement, relative to the trackers. This tutorial tries to correct that.
BTW, the sliding demonstration in the initial example was because the pyramid was intentionally located a bit below the field level. Objects.above. the right location are more easily detected, so objects that are too low are a common mistake.2014-11-13.
ViewShift: IntroductionThis tutorial introduces the ViewShift system of SynthEyes, which leverages camera tracking data and 3D models to change the viewpoint of imagery to accomplish object removals, combining split takes, and animated texture map creation. Here we walk through the control panel on an example, removing a car from a shot under control of an animated spline. We also show illumination level compensation for higher-quality inserts.
Imagery download: CarVS.zip2019-03-25. Wait, Over Here: Intro to Offset TrackingOffset tracking is a new feature in SynthEyes 2011 that allows difficult tracks to be performed using nearby easier tracks as a base. This is most useful when a track must be created for a corner moving over a rapidly-varying background. A tracker in the interior can serve as the base. This tutorial also shows using the Hi-pass filter option in the image preprocessor to make tracking easier on something changing rapidly in brightness.2010-11-23.
The powerful but affordable SynthEyes camera tracking application is now available in a 64-bit version for OS X Leopard. The new version provides a bit of a speed increase, but the main benefit with a 64-bit app is the ability to use more than 4 GB of RAM. This is useful for maintaining longer and higher resolution imagery in RAM for playback, calculations, and such.The 64-bit app is available as a $200USD upgrade from the current OS X 32-bit SynthEyes 2008. Other upgrade paths are also available.
Click through to read more from the press release.64-Bit Mac OS X Is Latest SynthEyes Tracking TargetMalvern, PA. January 12, 2009Andersson Technologies LLC is delighted to announce the availability of the 64-bit OS X version of its match-moving application, SynthEyes. The new version continues their commitment to delivering the highest performing tracking products and support for the most advanced platforms available—all for an affordable price. SynthEyes introduced support for 64-bit Windows in 2005 and now leads the market to 64-bit OS X, all with extensive multi-core optimization for the latest 8-core machines.The 64-bit version offers improved workflow performance and reliability. Though the AMD/Intel 64-bit instruction set provides approximately 10% direct boost in performance, the 64-bit version’s main advantage is the ability to use more than 4 GB of RAM.Thirty-two-bit applications can access at most 4 GB of RAM, roughly 3 GB after overheads, even though many customers configure their Macs with 8-16 GB.
With the limited accessible RAM, applications must repeatedly reload shots from slow disk drives.With the new 64-bit SynthEyes, the entire RAM can store large HD and film shots, and the volumes of tracking data they produce, for quick access during supervised tracking, post-solve fine tuning, track verification, and RAM-based playback. That rapid RAM access is what accelerates workflow the most. The increasing number of stereo 3-D movies, with their doubled storage requirements, makes this capability even more important.As an additional benefit, the 64-bit version enhances reliability by eliminating the possibility of running out of 4 GB memory space.SynthEyes offers a complete high-end feature set, including tracking, stabilization, motion capture, and mesh building. It handles camera tracking, object tracking, object tracking from reference meshes, camera+object tracking, multiple-shot tracking, tripod (nodal, 2.5-D) tracking, mixed tripod and translating shots, zooms, lens distortion, and light solving. It can handle shots of any resolution—DV, HD, film, IMAX—and can solve shots with thousands of frames.
A nifty feature simplifies and speeds tracking for green-screen shots. The image preprocessor can help remove grain, compression artifacts, off-centering, or varying lighting; improve low-contrast shots.SynthEyes offers complete control over the tracking process for challenging shots, including an efficient workflow for supervised trackers, combined automated/supervised tracking, incremental solving, and a hard and soft path locking system. You can set up a coordinate system with tracker constraints, camera constraints, a line-based single-frame alignment system, or manually.