Best placement and orientation For Flex13 cameras

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TheMaksiest
Posts: 6
Joined: Thu Jul 01, 2021 6:54 am

Best placement and orientation For Flex13 cameras

Post by TheMaksiest »

Hello.

I am installing an Optitrack system, which consists of 8 Flex13 cameras in a space of 6 by 6 m and height of 3.6 m.
The planed use for the system is to get the position of UAV while in flight.

I have installed the cameras at the corners of the space and the mid points of the sides, all at the same height of about 3.5m.
My question is, which would be the optimal camera orientation to get the most volume to track a flying object? Maybe someone has experience with similar setup and is willing to share?

As I see it, there are 2 scenarios.
1. To orient cameras so that the field of view roughly end below the opposite camera, therefore covering the blind spot below the camera. in this way I would get the most useful volume and height, but the resolution of the objects close to the ground and under the cameras would be worse.
2. Point cameras downward, so that their field of view covers as much area on the ground (bottom of the camera image aligned with the installation construction). This way the object would be in high resolution at the edges of the area (from the camera above), but there could be blindspots between the cameras and in the center of the volume, above a certain height.

Any suggestions? Maybe there is some tool for this in motive, to calculate the visible area, as it seems that there is an option to view field of view of the cameras.
steven.andrews
NaturalPoint Employee
NaturalPoint Employee
Posts: 737
Joined: Mon Jan 19, 2015 11:52 am

Re: Best placement and orientation For Flex13 cameras

Post by steven.andrews »

Hi TheMaksiest,

Your number 1 is the most common setup in a situation like this.

We will typically mount the cameras about the maximum height we would need to track the UAV, and aim them so their field of view is just below the camera on the other side. This gives you maximum height, with maximum floor coverage near the camera you are aiming. The hope is the cameras on the other sides of the volume will help with tracking on the floor underneath.

Motive has a rudimentary volume visualizer that shows what camera overlap is like. This is the Capture Volume option, on the button that looks like an eye ball, at the top of the perspective view. By default this shows you where three cameras overlap. This can be configured in the Cameras tab of the Application Settings. The setting is called Camera Overlap.

Cheers,
Steven
--
Steven Andrews
OptiTrack | Senior Customer Support Engineer
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