I'm new to the forums so forgive me if I ask something that's already been answered.
I just got my foundation package + 2 more cams to make a 8 camera set up, the space I have allocated for the set up measures a 3.67 x 4.22 meters that's about 12 x 13 feet. I setup up the cameras 2 on each corner of the room the lower ones at 5.25 and the higher ones at 7.5 feet from the ground.
The higher cameras cover from the raised hand + wand of the actor to it's waist, and the lower ones from the ground to the actor waist, the marker is also fully visible on both left and right with the actor's hand stretched and the wand on hand.
I just can't get my system calibrated it fails every single time even tough the boxes have a good mount of green in them.
I was looking at the camera setup diagrams for a 6 cam setup and I noticed the lower cameras were rotated on their sides, I tried this and it didn't seemed to improve the situation.
I blocked all extra lights on the cameras, I didn't had to block that many. And have no red flashing camera views.
I'm just out of ideas, the calibration halts most of the time saying calibration failed and asking me to up the points or redo the calibration which I've done up to 3000 and with slow calibration. sometimes the calibration succedes but I get mostly poor and fair, the best I managed to do had the calibration square on the ceiling when I placed it on capture volume to set the ground plane.
The computer I'm using to calibrate the sistem is a macBook pro with 2.2 ghz core duo, and 2 gigs of ram, running vista ultimate, got 4 cams on each hub and each hub to a separate ubs port on the laptop all hubs are powered.
Please help...
Can't calibrate my setup
Re: Can't calibrate my setup
For starters, try aiming the cameras so they all point at waist or mid-chest height, they need to all have a lot of view overlap in order to calibrate. See if you can get a calibration with that arrangement, then after you have some success you can work on optimizing the camera coverage.
If you have not already, double check the sync cables.
Yes, having the lower cameras rotated on their sides is definitely recommended for the size of your capture volume and camera count.
Also, if it is possible to raise the upper cameras from 7.5 feet up to around 9 or 10, it will improve coverage and might slightly increase your potential volume.
If you have not already, double check the sync cables.
Yes, having the lower cameras rotated on their sides is definitely recommended for the size of your capture volume and camera count.
Also, if it is possible to raise the upper cameras from 7.5 feet up to around 9 or 10, it will improve coverage and might slightly increase your potential volume.
Re: Can't calibrate my setup
thanks for the quick response i'll try to overlap my cameras a lot to see how I do, one thibg that's still not clear to me is what the lowered cameras should be seeing when they are on their sides, because the image is also rotated, should i orient it so it looks at the capture volume as it or ignore the rotation and work with them the same way as the other cameras.
Re: Can't calibrate my setup
Hello:
When the cameras are rotated on their side, you get more vertical coverage, the cameras don't really know what position they are in, they just know what they see in terms of coverage. I would point them so you get a lot more overlap, as Birch suggests, that is most likely the problem.
Another user suggested an 8 camera setup with all 8 cameras at the higher location, all "looking down" on the capture volume. That might make it easier to get a calibration to start with. If they are all up high, I would rotate all the cameras, to increase the capture volume.
When the cameras are rotated on their side, you get more vertical coverage, the cameras don't really know what position they are in, they just know what they see in terms of coverage. I would point them so you get a lot more overlap, as Birch suggests, that is most likely the problem.
Another user suggested an 8 camera setup with all 8 cameras at the higher location, all "looking down" on the capture volume. That might make it easier to get a calibration to start with. If they are all up high, I would rotate all the cameras, to increase the capture volume.
Re: Can't calibrate my setup
gotcha, so do all cameras need to have full view of the volume?
Re: Can't calibrate my setup
turning the camera on the side is just a way of dealing with the biased aspect ratio of the camera. Since the camera's view is rectangular rather than square, you can attempt to make better use of your resolution and lense by having the wide part aligned differently in your capture space. Best trick I ever learned about it: if you rotate your camera 45 degrees, its shooting a diamond like shape. The points of the diamond can be wedged into the near corner of a rectangular volume so you're not wasting resolution on the areas outside the volume. The opposite corner reaches far into the distance, and is the widest part of your lense by far.
also, when calibrating, try not to block the marker with your body. You can lay on your back and twirl it above you, or put it at the end of a longer stick to keep it away from you.
also, when calibrating, try not to block the marker with your body. You can lay on your back and twirl it above you, or put it at the end of a longer stick to keep it away from you.
Re: Can't calibrate my setup
Hello:
What Brad suggests is great advice.
No, all cameras do not need to have a full view of the volume, but they do need to overlap in their coverage by about 50% from one camera to the next. So, the "upper camera" can see up to the top of your head, and say down to your knees, then the lower camera can see from your sholders to your feet, or the edge of your capture volume. When having all cameras in the higher position, it can be easier to get good coverage by rotating them all, so that a single camera sees most all of your body area, you then overlap them in a "chain" manner, where one overlaps the next.
These are just ideas, to get you started, so you can see what works for your setup and get calibrated, then you can become less conservative and see what works for you.
What Brad suggests is great advice.
No, all cameras do not need to have a full view of the volume, but they do need to overlap in their coverage by about 50% from one camera to the next. So, the "upper camera" can see up to the top of your head, and say down to your knees, then the lower camera can see from your sholders to your feet, or the edge of your capture volume. When having all cameras in the higher position, it can be easier to get good coverage by rotating them all, so that a single camera sees most all of your body area, you then overlap them in a "chain" manner, where one overlaps the next.
These are just ideas, to get you started, so you can see what works for your setup and get calibrated, then you can become less conservative and see what works for you.
Re: Can't calibrate my setup
I finally managed to pass calibration, even tough all result were poor but all the rest seems to work just fine, my cameras are still pointing a bit too low to capture a rising hand but I'll tweak that later.
I know the larger the space the better, but would the size of my volume be the cause of my poor calibration results or could I tweak the camera positions to achieve exelent calibration results, could the way I have my cameras arranged have anything to do with it? my cameras are not exacly in a circle, more like an ellipse, to maximize the usage of my space, so should I move the cameras to fit a circle more closely? Thanks for all the help.
I know the larger the space the better, but would the size of my volume be the cause of my poor calibration results or could I tweak the camera positions to achieve exelent calibration results, could the way I have my cameras arranged have anything to do with it? my cameras are not exacly in a circle, more like an ellipse, to maximize the usage of my space, so should I move the cameras to fit a circle more closely? Thanks for all the help.
Re: Can't calibrate my setup
Glad to hear you got it to calibrate. All the variables you mention are in play when defining a capture volume. We have had Excellent results with 8 cameras, 2 on each tripod and about 15' between all the tripods, in a square. I would suggest just playing around with the configuration and also your calibration technique to see how it all goes.
Now that you have a calibration, you can send us the file, or post a screen capture of what the calibration volume looks like inside Arena and we can offer more detailed feedback.
Now that you have a calibration, you can send us the file, or post a screen capture of what the calibration volume looks like inside Arena and we can offer more detailed feedback.
Re: Can't calibrate my setup
Finally managed to get come exelents on the calibration, turns out I had a sync cable on sync in when it should have been sync out, now I feel stupid...
Now that I can do captures I was wondering where to get some info on how to export and what to export into 3D studio. I've tried to export but the captures don't seem to work on the biped, I tried the boxing file on the samples and that works so atleast I know the import works, just not sure how to export my captures so they work.
Just not clear on what exactly I'm exporting.
Edit: I was just reviewing the capture and BVH video, I noticed the trajectorization, is that only to edit the capture or is that the step I'm missing to export properly?
Now that I can do captures I was wondering where to get some info on how to export and what to export into 3D studio. I've tried to export but the captures don't seem to work on the biped, I tried the boxing file on the samples and that works so atleast I know the import works, just not sure how to export my captures so they work.
Just not clear on what exactly I'm exporting.
Edit: I was just reviewing the capture and BVH video, I noticed the trajectorization, is that only to edit the capture or is that the step I'm missing to export properly?