4.4 Antilatency
The Antilatency panel allows the user to manage a list of Antilatency trackers connected to EZtrack and loading a new scene configuration.
4.4.1 Device list
The top of the panel is reserved for displaying the list of tracking devices connected to the system. Each row corresponds to a device, and displays an icon followed by its name.
4.4.2 Environment link
Antilatency configuration maps can be exported as a link. A configuration can then be imported to EZtrack by copying it to this field and pressing the Return key.
4.5 Optitrack
The Optitrack panel allows the user to set up a connection with a Motive streaming server and use its rigid bodies as tracking devices.
4.5.1 Motive endpoint configuration
Clicking on the “Streaming Engine” dropdown displays a list of every Motive servers currently streaming on your local network. Selecting one from the list will directly connect it to EZtrack. Rigid bodies and tracking should be available soon after.
4.5.2 Rigid body list
The bottom is reserved for displaying the list of rigid bodies connected to the system. Each row corresponds to a rigid body, and displays an icon followed by its name.
4.6 Vicon
The Vicon panel allows the user to set up a connection with a Shogun streaming server and use its rigid bodies as tracking devices.
4.6.1 Shogun endpoint configuration
At the top is displayed the connection status between Shogun and EZtrack.
You can connect to a Shogun server by specifying its IP address and port, and clicking on the “Connect” button.
4.6.2 Rigid body list
The bottom is reserved for displaying the list of subjects connected to the system. Each row corresponds to a subject, and displays an icon followed by its name.
4.7 Encodacam
The encodacam tab provides a way of configuring the port you are using for your Encodacam and the data you get from it.
At the top, the dropdown defines the COM port used to receive data from the encodacam. Setting it to “COM Disabled” will disable the encodacam reception.
Below it, there is a list of the channels available for configuration. By default, only the first five channels are enabled. Other channels can be added by clicking the “Add” button and choosing the one needed in the list that just appeared.
Each list item shows the name of its channel, index and last value received (formatted as “value received” -> “remapped value”). Clicking on a channel will display its configuration in a new panel.
A channel can be renamed by clicking on the edit icon next to its index, which will render the channel’s name editable. The edit can then be saved by clicking on the same button again, or pressing the “enter” key.
4.7.1 Channel configuration
The “Min” and “Max” define respectively the minimum and maximum coder value that will be sent to this channel by the encodacam. Every value between the min and max will be remapped to fit the “Min remapped to” -> “Max remapped to” space.
Example : given min = 0, max = 10000, min is remapped to 1 and max is remapped to 2, if value = 5000, it will be remapped to 1.5.
4.8 Freed Input
The freed tab provides a way to configure different freed receivers, enabling the use of an external source of tracking (such as a PTZ, for example) as a tracking node.
Displayed here is a list of all the freed receivers created. Receivers can be created by clicking on the “Add” button. If a receiver is currently receiving a free-d stream, a green indicator will lit up next to its name.
A receiver can be renamed by clicking on the edit icon next to its index, which will render the receiver’s name editable. The edit can then be saved by clicking on the same button again, or pressing the “enter” key.
Clicking on a receiver will display its configuration.
4.8.1 Configuration
• port defines the port on which the socket will listen for freed packets
• buffer allows you to delay the freed input by a certain number of frames. For example, if set to 1, rigs using this receiver will not use the last packet received for computations, but the one before that.
• is synced needs to be set to true if your freed source is synced on the same genlock source as EZtrack, false otherwise
The focus and zoom fields under Lens mapping allows you to specify the boundaries used by the tracking source on the lens data. EZtrack will then map it to a range defined in Settings → Free-D
Below, the last packet contents are displayed at a refresh rate of 1Hz. An estimation of the frequency can be found here. It should not be taken as a precise measurement of the frequency as it can be off by a 0.5Hz margin, but serves as an indication.
Rig list
Displays the list of rigs. Each rig is represented as a tab.
Each rig features (from left to right):
• A status indicator. Blue if the rig is not sending any data, green if the configuration is valid and the communication has started or red if the communication failed due to invalid configuration
• Its name
• A rename button. Clicking on it will open a pop-up window with an input field to edit the rig’sname.
• A delete button. Clicking on it will remove the rig. On the right of the rig list are two buttons used to create new rigs.
The first (“+”) one adds a single empty rig to list. The second one (“++”) adds a rig for every tracking device connected and automatically adds the corresponding tracking node to it.
Rig
A rig defines an object to track, the data to send and how it should be sent.
A rig is composed of a list of transforms. These will be resolved sequentially to determine the data packet to send to the render engine.
Example: A Transform node will set the orientation and position according to the chosen device tracked pose. A Focus node would then set the focus field based on its configuration. A static Translation node added to the end of the list would then modify the position that was set before by doing a translation of a defined value, etc…
The rig’s network and synchronization configuration is located just below the node list.
Inversion Settings
This window displays a checkbox for every value that can be inverted, depending on the node type.
For example, a “Zoom” node will have access to the “Invert zoom” parameter, while a “Pan” node will have access to its “Invert pan” counterpart. “Transform” nodes have access to every pose-related inversions. (X, Y, Z, Pan, Tilt and Roll)
Ignore Data Settings
This window displays a checkbox for every value that can be ignored, depending on the node type. It is typically used if you know a tracking source cannot move on one of the axes and you cann safely ignore what it’s sending.
For example, a “Zoom” node will have access to the “Ignore zoom” parameter, while a “Pan” node will have access to its “Ignore pan” counterpart. “Transform” nodes have access to every pose-related chekboxes. (X, Y, Z, Pan, Tilt and Roll)
Configuration
Provides a way of configuring how the tracking data will be synced and sent over the network.
Type:
The type of sync to use for this rig, two types are available:
• Freerun : the data will be sent based on an internal timer. A complementary dropdown can be used to choose the desired frequency (ranging from 25 to 360Hz).
• Genlock : the data will be sent whenever EZtrack receives a genlock pulse input (This option is disabled if no genlock source is detected). The Genlock configuration is located in the [Hardware Settings](#3.11.2. Hardware) window.
Protocol:
The data can either be sent as Free-D or TCD packets. You can choose which one here.
When using the TCD protocol, you’ll need to choose a profile too. Profiles allow you to choose the advanced data to send, they can be configured in Settings → TCD.
Destinations:
Two fields define the IP address and port to which the tracking data will be sent. Another destination can be added by clicking on the “+” button, in which case another row will be added.
Clicking on the “Start” button will start sending the data to the configured endpoint(s).
3D View
EZtrack shows you a real-time view of your virtual scene, displaying all the rigs you created, every offset that you applied and the referential points.
You can navigate into the scene by :
• holding right click and moving the pointer to move
• holding left click and moving the pointer to rotate
• using the mouse wheel to zoom in or out
The space is scaled such that every grid cell is 1 x 1 meters.
Every rig is displayed as a pyramid, with its peak corresponding to the rig position, and the base showing its direction. A triangle indicator is present to show the current roll.
In the top-left corner is shown the position of the rig and the lens information.
Action bar
The checkbox on the left allows you to show the Field Of View of the base stations.
The buttons in the middle can be used to switch from an internal view (first person view, from the selected rig) to an external view (by default) or even a top view. Note that issuing movements while in “internal mode” will not move the camera, you are limited to the rig’s pose.
The refresh button on the right resets the point of view to the default position and orientation.
The cogwheel button on the far right can be used to display another submenu containing various options detailed in it’s own section.
Rig pose
Displays the position and orientation of the currently selected rig.
Can be toggled to display the position along coordinate system agnostic axes (Front, Right, Up) or using the selected protocol (Free-D or TCD) system using the “Show Free-D output” or “Show TCD output” checkbox. The orientation is displayed as the Euler coordinates “Pan”, “Tilt” and “Roll” (Similar to “Yaw”, “Pitch” and “Roll”). It also displays the lens information such as “Zoom” and “Focus” if your lens is linked to EZtrack.
Note : EZtrack uses meters as the unit of distance, but the Free-D and TCD values are displayed in millimeters.
Viewer settings
At the top is displayed the list of rigs. Each row presents two buttons. Clicking on the first one will switch between hiding and displaying the rig in question, whereas the second one will show the “Marker Edit modal” (detailed in it’s own section)
Below are displayed 3 parameters :
• FOV: you can set the viewer’s camera vertical field of view by setting this value
• Grid: you can choose to display or hide the grid by enabling this switch
• Axes: you can choose to display or hide the axes by enabling this switch
Marker Edit Modal
This window allows you to change the appearance of a rig when displayed in the 3D view. For this, you can use the geometry dropdown and the color picker. A preview of your selection is displayed on the left
Log viewer
The log viewer displays a list of logs coming from the server, ranging from simple information to error messages.
Each log displays the time of its creation, its type (severity) and a message.
Logs can be filtered using the top bar. It features 4 checkboxes to filter log types and a search field to display only the logs that contain a certain character string. This search can be case-sensitive or not, depending on the state of the “Aa” button in the search field (insensitive by default).
The following 3 buttons are (from left to right) :
• Display all current session logs : clicking on it will fill the log viewer with the complete list of logs from the current session.
• Download previous log files : clicking on it will download the logs files from the previous 10 sessions as a .zip archive.
• Clear logs : clicking on it will delete every log from the viewer (but not from the log files).
Load pop-up window
This pop-up window provides a way of loading a previously saved configuration file or uploading one from your pc. At the top-left, it features a list of config files available. Each file can be renamed, downloaded or deleted using the three buttons displayed on the right of its row.
On the right, a new file can be uploaded by dragging it to the upload area, or clicking on it and then choosing a file in the appearing browser.
At the bottom, an input field allows setting the name of the file you want to load the configuration from. Clicking on an item from the list will automatically enter its name in the input field.
Note that when a file is being uploaded, the input field and the file list will be disabled. The loaded file will be the one ready to be uploaded.
By checking “Also load the lighthouse universe”, EZtrack will synchronize it’s lighthouse universe with the one contained in the chosen save file.
Save pop-up window
This pop-up window provides a way of saving the current EZtrack configuration in a config file for quick later setup.
At the top, it features a list of all the config files previously saved. Each file can be renamed, downloaded or deleted using the three buttons displayed on the right of its row.
At the bottom, an input field allows setting the name of the file you want to save the configuration to. Clicking on an item from the list will select it to be over riden. If a file would be over riden by the new save, a confirmation prompt will be displayed when clicking on “Save”.
FBX Recorder
This pop-up window provides a way of recording rig data to a FBX file, as well as managing previous takes.
Record
At the top is a list of rigs, that can be checked or not. When starting the recording, unchecked rigs will be ignored and won’t be included in the resulting fbx file.
Below are three fields used to change the name and format of the fbx record, and start/stop buttons.
After recording a file, the start/stop buttons, as well as the filename of the next record will be shown on the right of the header so you can start recording at any time.
• The first input box lets you define the name of the sequence to record. The file will be named “[SequenceName]_[TakeNumber].fbx”.
• The second lets you set the take number. It will be automatically incremented when ending a record
• The selector is used to set whether to generate a binary or ascii fbx file
Takes
Here is a table displaying every take that has been saved on the system. Each one can be renamed, downloaded or deleted using the appropriate button on the right of its name.
Any number of take can be selected using the checkbox on the left. Selecting takes allows you to download or delete them at once using the buttons at the top.
Settings pop-up window
This pop-up window provides a way of configuring the settings of the EZtrack application, as well as managing the license and the software version.
On the left, the menu is used to choose the category of settings you want to see. The different categories are:
• Refresh rates, which defines the frequency at which the server notifies the application of its configuration, values, statuses…
• Hardware, which defines settings relative to the sync and lens connection.
• Timing, which defines multiple settings to bufferize and and phases to your datas.
• Tracking, which defines settings relative to the tracking
• Free-D, relative to the freed packets sent by Eztrack
• Autoload, that allows you to define a configuration you want EZtrack to load on startup.
• Network, which allows you to edit Eztrack’s network configuration.
• License, which displays information about the license.
• About, which displays information about the software versions, copyright and allows the upload of another version of EZtrack for updating.
Refresh rates
Determines the frequency at which the server communicates its configuration and values to the client. (Higher is generally better but can lead to higher bandwidth usage)
• Preset : choose a preset between three (low, medium and high frequency). will change itself to custom upon changing the individual values below.
• Configuration : frequency at which the server sends its configuration (such as referential, rig configurations, encodacam configuration or settings)
• Tracking devices : frequency at which the server sends the list of tracking devices
• Rig values : frequency at which the server sends the position and orientation of the rigs and their transforms (will limit the 3d view framerate if set low)
• Encodacam values : frequency at which the server sends the last values received over the encodacam channels
Hardware
Provides a way of configuring the EZtrack hardware:
• The Genlock frequency is used to indicate the frequency at which your setup runs. It is a theoretical setpoint to guide EZtrack.
• The Lens type is used to specify to EZtrack what Lens technology you’ve linked to the system.
Lens profiles
Provides a way of uploading, creating and viewing lens profiles in EZtrack.
At the top are two buttons:
• Clicking on the Upload profile button will let you choose a .ezplens file on your computer to upload to EZtrack. You can also drag&drop your file directly on top.
• Clicking on the Create profile button will bring a modal asking you to name the profile you want to create. Clicking on “Ok” will create the profile, you’ll then be able to see and edit it in the list below.
Below is a list of all lens profiles present on the system. Each profile can be renamed, downloaded or deleted using the buttons on the right of its row.
Lens profiles created from within EZtrack can also be editted, whereas profiles imported from EZprofile can only be displayed. This can be done by clicking on the first button on the right of the profile name. Creating a lens profile from EZtrack should be used only for testing purposes, it does not allow setting every important lens parameter.
Timing
Provides a way of configuring different buffers and phases:
• The Genlock phase corresponds to the delay in milliseconds between the reception of a genlock tick and the retrieval of the different data composing the next packet sent (rig pose and zoom/focus).
• The Pose buffer corresponds to the delay applied to the rigs pose when sending data (i.e if the buffer is set to 2, the pose data sent will correspond to the pose recorded 2 frames earlier).
• The Lens buffer is similar to the pose-related one, except it affects the zoom/focus values instead of the pose. This value can be set to 0 in some conditions, but we recommend settings it to at least 1 frame in the vast majority of scenarios.
• The Send phase corresponds to the delay in milliseconds between the reception of a genlock tick and the expedition of a freed packet
• The Timecode offset is a fixed number of frames that will be added to the timecode sent in TCD packets or recorded in FBX records.
