Specifying import format

Some hardware devices are able to output what we call “motion control data”. That is, information about its position, rotation and/or internal parameters. All this information can be fed into the MatchMover solver.

It can be used as an initial solution, and MatchMover will then compute the remaining missing parameters, or simply to fine-tune these data, usually not so accurate.

The only need to do so is that the motion control data is stored in an ascii file, which can be easily sequentially processed (that’s to say the data are stored frame by frame). You can then use the Import File Format window to describe and parse your custom files.

1. Select 3D Tracking > Motion Control Import or press F12.

   

2. The Currently Loaded Files list displays any files that you have loaded. To remove one, select it and press Remove. You can also reload it by pressing Reload if data have changed.
3. Either select an existing file format from the drop-down list, or create a new one using the New/Edit button (see next paragraph for details).
4. Click the Browse button to import an existing file.
   NoteClick the button to the right of the User Data or the File Data text fields .
5. Set the Default Accuracy of the motion control data (either from file or from user).

   

6. Set the Status and Valid Range if needed.

Specifying the import format

Click the New/Edit button of the Motion Control Import window to edit a file format. The Import File Format window opens.

For example, this corresponds to the dummy file.

>> begin of sample file

This is motion control data

These 2 lines will be skipped

# these are comments lines

# camera 0 with focal 25.65

# data is frame number, OCX, OCY, OCZ

0 12.34 5 2.56

1 45.3 6 3.45

1	44 7 4.55

<< end of sample file

For a new format, enter a name in the Preset Name text field or select an existing one to modify it. Press Delete to remove the current one from the list.

• The Skipped Lines size specifies the number of header lines to skip not counting comments and empty lines.
• The Comment Lines Tag is used to specify a list of single characters selected from the list or user entered. Each line starting with such a character will be ignored. Click the Add or Del button as appropriate.
• The Data order specifies how data is read for each frame. Select an item from the drop-down list and click Add. Dummy data type can be used for any value/word to ignore. The default frame number starts at 0 and increases after each read frame if not specified.

  Options.

  • Use Radian Angle: Default angles are specified in degrees.
  • Reverse Rotation: Rotation angles are reversed after import.
  • Use Frame Shift: Specifies an offset for the frame index.
  • Default Value Range: This range will be applied to all imported data. You can also set these parameters in the Motion Control Import window.
  • Default Optical Center: This value is added to all imported optical center.
  • Default Rotation: This value is added to all imported rotation.

  All changes can be reset using the Reset Changes button.

Motion control is then automatically applied for all imported data.

A dummy motion control constraint is then created under the corresponding camera, to show where motion control data is available and used.