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How the solver computes a solution

Solving

Review the Locator Summary

 

User Guide > Dynamics and Effects > Live > Solving > 

Evaluate a solution

Typically, the solver first produces rough solutions and then more and more refined solutions as you make improvements.

To evaluate a rough solution

1. Start by noting the Overall Pixel Slip on the Solve control panel.

   To determine the success of a solution, the solver calculates pixel slip, which is the distance in pixels between the track point and it’s locator. The average pixel slip for all points on all frames appears in the Overall Pixel Slip field.

   To see the average pixel slip for any given frame, refer to the Frame Pixel Slip field. This value is useful if you suspect certain frames have problems.

   NoteAdding track points and survey constraints may increase the Overall Pixel Slip by a small amount.
2. Look in the perspective view to check relative 3D locator placement and camera or object movement.

   Locator positions should have the right shape relative to each other and the camera movement. Scale and orientation to the world grid do not necessarily matter. Later, you can scale and register the solution to the grid using survey constraints.

   

3. Examine the solution curves in the Graph Editor panel.

   Look for unusual, unrealistic changes in the curves and dramatic differences in the range of values.

   

4. Check the Locator Summary panel for 3D locators with mostly yellow or red in the quality graph. (For details on reading this panel, see Review the Locator Summary.)

   

5. For points with low locator quality, look in the shot camera view to check alignment of track points with 3D locators.

   Check only root frames; the other frames may not match. (However, solutions generated by Solve and Finish do apply to all frames.)

   

Once you have a close solution, you should look for any jumps or jitter. Use the following steps. Also repeat the same steps for evaluating a rough solution, if needed.

To evaluate a refined solution

1. Try importing or creating a 3D object in the scene to use as a reference.

   To import, select File > Import. To create an object, use one of the primitive geometry tools on the shelf.

2. Play a movie of the solution with any of the following methods:
   • Click the Playblast button on the Solve control panel to open a movie player window.
   • Use the playback buttons at the bottom of the Maya window, provided you have set aside enough memory cache in the Setup control panel. See Set up image cache for more information.
   • For the best, most accurate evaluation of a solution, render a sequence of frames, composite the images and their matte information, and then record it onto Zap!iT or another digital disk recorder.