[Plugin] Voodoo Camera Tracker Importer - March 9, 2011

xrok1

now you need a shadow catcher.

ktslambieng

now you need a shadow catcher.

I think it just used to create shadow by photomatch in sketchup

Mike Lucey

Well done Chris,

Thanks for taking on this project. I looked at camera tracking possibilities some time back and thought there was great potential. I even researched some devices for keeping the camera steady while walking, cycling past the 'scene'.

It would be fantastic to have a marriage of Camera Tracking with SketchUp at it would allow for very realistic 'This is how the building would look in reality' videos for presentation to clients and Planning Authorities. A plugin that would do this would definitely be worth its weight in gold and I am sure you would be well compensated for your efforts.

Like Csaba I to will keep a close eye on your progress and send you the bits and pieces that I have filled away somewhere on my HD.

Mike

thomthom

This is a very interesting plugin.
I can see it being useful for arch viz. Grab a camera, go to location and film the project site from a human perspective and then insert your Sketchup model.

Sir

Syntheyes is what we're currently experimenting with for our uni project. been used in films and things, its amazing...

dont think it integrates with SKP tho, we've been using c4D with it.

expensive too, but there are free demos

This is the interesting bit

Developing New Exporters

currently exporters 'only' available for these

@unknownuser said:

Included exporters for MAXscript (3ds max, 3D Studio VIZ); Maya scene file; Softimage dotXSI; Lightwave; Maxon C4D (via .LWS); Modo; Bentley Microstation; Houdini; Blender; Carrara; Electric Image; Hash Animation: Master; Poser, Realsoft 3D; trueSpace; Vue 5 & 6 Infinite; Discreet Flame/Inferno/Smoke2008(3-D); Combustion(3-D); Combustion/Flame/Inferno 2-D ASCII tracker file; After Effects(2- & 3-D); Shake (2- & 3-D); Apple Motion(2- & 3-D); Nuke; FLAIR motion control cameras; Fusion (2-D); Fusion 5 (3-D); toxik; Mistika; Particle Illusion

Chris Fullmer

Yes, Syntheyes seems to be a popular option from what I've seen.

It would be amost equally easy to make my pluing incorporate synthese exports also. In fact, I could perhasp just make my script read in the 3ds max export file. Then theoretically it might be able to import the camera match data from any camera match software. Maybe that would be a good solution,

Chris

floric

This plugin was exactly what I was looking for. But it seem not to work correct.
I generate a .txt (from 360 pictures, 132 kb) and then I import it with the plugin. The plugin asks me about the framerate, I klick OK and the scenes are generated. But all have the same perspective and there are no points from voodoo.
If I play the animation every "picture" is exactly the same. The camera also seems to be nearly exactly at the point of origin.
What went wrong? I used SU 8.
Please help me. Thats a really great tool and would be if I can use it!
Thanks, floric

Chris Fullmer

Hmm, that is a good question. This plugin was a bit of an experiment by me, but it definitely should work. I guess could you upload the .txt file here? You might need to zip it so the forum accepts it. I'll take a look at it and see if there is an oddity in the file that my script is not able to understand. Thanks,

Chris

floric

Thanks for your answer.
I attached the file in a ZIP.

Track.txt

floric

PUSH

Any changes at this problem. Or is there any other possibilitie to use Voodoo in Kerkythea?

Chris Fullmer

Sorry, I have not yet got to it. Perhaps this weekend I can though. Work has been unexpectedly bust the last couple of weeks - but we got a BIG project completed yesterday and this weekend I can finally relax.

floric

No problem. There is no hurry.

floric

I really don't want to ennoy but ANY changes?
It would be great if this plugin would work.

EDIT: Sorry. I studied the camera-file of the tracker and it seems to be a bug of voodoo.

Chris Fullmer

Hey Floric, I am finally finding some time to look into this, and the first thing that I'm seeing is that the data is not coming out of Voodoo tracker correctly. So somehow I think you have not got Voodoo set up right. Is there any chance you could uploade the video that you are trying to track?

Chris

Bertier

Chris

that is great !

I'll give it a try.

sims

At first, I apologize for my pretty poor English, I don't speak it really fluently.
Whatever, I only wanted to thank you ! It's a pretty amazing work !
I'm a student in movie/photography and it's so useful for green screens !
Thanks a lot !

sims

After some tests, I still got a question: how do you make axes generated by voodoo match these of your sketchup model?
Maybe my purpose is not really clear... (Shame on my pretty poor English ^^)
So I join a screenshot:

As you can see, there is some problem... And of course, if I simply rotate the model to make surface parallel to the ground, I lose scene views.
I'd like to make red and green axes match initial sketchup axes (and horizon to get realistic light while rendering) but I absolutly don't know how to do so ! I've been looking for solutions over the web for hours, but I didn't find anything !
No way to move horizon line in sketchup, nor to manually set axes in voodoo after tracking.
Well, I'm lost, can anyone help me, please?

Chris Fullmer

Hi Sims, I've been out on vacation for a few weeks, but I'm back now.

I admit that I can't tell what it wrong with that image. It looks like it imported well to me. Could you upload the .txt file?

Or in your PM you sent me, you mentioned just trying to use another file format. If you could give me some better detail on what file format it is, I might be bale to write another version that reads their file format.

Chris

sims

Hope you enjoyed your vacation !

First, about Voodoo, it generated a text file and it works. But as you saw, the wrong thing is that it didn't correctly find horizon... But I didn't manage to fix it.

Then, I tried Boujou. It's much more flexible and userfriendly. It generates several kind of files. But its txt is not the same as Voodoo.

You'll find attached both Voodoo and Boujou txt files from the same tracking test movie.

Voodoo.txt

Boujou.txt

Chris Fullmer

The picture is unclear. To me it looks like the camera path is oriented correctly with the model axes. It looks your "flat" plane and person component are the things that are wrong. The blue axis should be pointing upwards, but in your image, it is slanted, which is wrong. But I'm probably just not understanding what I'm seeing.

As for Boujou, sounds good. I'll see if I can look at it. How quickly do you need it? I'm really swamped. But I might be able to get you something simple.