Vicon Tracker User Guide
Vicon Tracker User Guide
VICON TRACKER
USER GUIDE
WHAT'S INSIDE
Introducing Vicon Tracker 6
Finding information about Tracker 7
Prepare the capture environment 8
Tracker system components 11
Connecting cameras 16
Setting up a mixed Vicon camera system 17
Vicon file types used in Tracker 19
About the Tracker user interface 20
Customizing the Tracker user interface 22
Setting properties in Tracker 24
Mouse and keyboard shortcuts 27
Document Description
Vicon Tracker User Explains how to use Tracker with Vicon camera systems.
Guide PDF installed with Tracker and available as online help.
Vicon Tracker Python Introductory information to help you to start using the Vicon
API Quick Start Guide Tracker Application Programming Interface (API).
The User Guide PDF is installed as part of your Tracker software installation.
1 [Link]
Regulatory information
For Vicon Tracker regulatory details, see Vicon Tracker regulatory information in
the Tracker documentation area of the Vicon website2.
2 [Link]
Introducing Vicon Tracker
Introducing Vicon Tracker
Vicon Tracker is a powerful object-tracking solution, providing unrivaled data
accuracy for integration into 3D applications. It enables you to use Vicon camera
hardware for tracking rigid bodies, accurately streaming 6 Degrees of Freedom
data in real time with very low latency.
To get started with Vicon Tracker, you set up your Vicon system and then
prepare the objects for motion tracking.
The user interface guides you through the various tasks. When you are familiar
with the basics, you can customize Tracker to look and behave as you want.
Introducing Vicon Tracker
The version number is displayed in the bottom left of the window that is
displayed. This information may be requested if you contact Vicon Support with
questions about Vicon Tracker.
Introducing Vicon Tracker
Note
This is a 2D shift. All 3D measurements are estimated from the
intersection of several 2D rays, so the resulting 3D shift may be smaller.
Introducing Vicon Tracker
Mounting creep
Scenario: Cameras are often clamped onto a framework that allows their position
and orientation to be easily adjusted. The framework is commonly cylindrical
tube and the clamps depend on friction.
Problem: If a camera is cantilevered so that its weight may rotate the clamp, the
amount of slippage or creep at the clamp/frame junction needed to introduce
200 micro-radians of angular change is tiny: about 5 microns or about 1/50th of
the diameter of a human hair. This slippage is far too small to be seen.
Solution: To minimize the risk of movement, mount cameras so that their weight
does not rotate their mounting point either by bending the mounting frame or
by causing a clamp to slip or creep.
Vibration
Scenario: Many buildings are of steel-frame construction. A steel framework can
transmit vibrations caused passing footsteps, elevators, and passing vehicles.
Most building vibrations are locally translational and, while undesirable, have
little direct effect on camera rotation.
Solution: Ensure that camera mounting brackets, and the structure to which they
are attached, are extremely stiff and cannot wobble if there is any vibration in the
building frame. This applies whether the camera mounting is vertical or
horizontal.
Temperature
Scenario: Thermal expansion and contraction in large structures such as a
building can be very large but the temperature changes that drive them tend to
be relatively slow compared with the duration of a Vicon calibration/trial cycle.
Problem: One part of the system that changes temperature much more quickly is
the camera itself. The inside of a Vicon camera reaches a steady temperature of
around 50° Celsius. While the camera is warming up from the ambient
Introducing Vicon Tracker
Introducing Vicon Tracker
For further information on how to set up a Vicon system, see Vicon system
configuration and connection examples on the Vicon documentation website
([Link]).
Introducing Vicon Tracker
Introducing Vicon Tracker
Note
Except where noted, references to Vicon Lock, Lock units, and Lock
apply to all current models of the Vicon Lock unit (at the time of
publication, this includes Vicon Lock+, Vicon Lock Studio and Vicon Lock
Lab).
Component Description
Vicon Viper Viper cameras and ViperX cameras can be used with Tracker.
and ViperX You can use Viper and ViperX cameras in systems running Tracker 3.8
cameras and later.
Vicon Vero Vicon Vero cameras (v1.3 and v2.2) can be used with Tracker.
cameras You can use Vicon Vero cameras in existing systems consisting of
Bonita cameras, Vantage cameras, and/or MX T-Series cameras, but
note that they cannot be connected to a Giganet.
Vicon Vantage Vantage cameras (V16, V8, and V5) can be used with Tracker.
cameras You can integrate existing systems consisting of Bonita cameras and/
or MX T-Series cameras into a Vantage system.
See also What's New in Vicon Tracker, Vicon Vantage Quick Start
Guide and the Vicon Vantage Reference.
MX T-Series MX T-Series cameras (T160, T40-S, T20-S, T10-S, T10) can be used
cameras with Tracker
Introducing Vicon Tracker
Component Description
Host PC The main PC in the Vicon system, with at least one dedicated
Ethernet port to enable Vicon system communications (in addition to
any other network ports on the PC). Vicon Tracker application
software is installed on this PC. Remote PCs may be used for other
Vicon application software or third-party applications connected to
the host PC via Ethernet.
Vicon cables Proprietary Vicon cables plus commercially available Ethernet cables
connect Vicon system components, providing a combination of
power, Ethernet communication, synchronization signals, video
signals, and data.
Vicon Apex Hand-held tracking device that enables you to interact with virtual
objects in a 3D environment. See also About Vicon Apex devices on
page 99.
Vicon Supplies for the Vicon system, including markers, tape, and Velcro.
accessories
Vicon Vicon Tracker software, DataStream SDK and Vicon Virtual System.
engineering
software
Introducing Vicon Tracker
Component Description
Additional Depending on your licensing options, your Vicon system may also
analog devices include one or more additional devices, such as LVDTs,
accelerometers, and load cells.
See also Set up analog devices on page 85.
Introducing Vicon Tracker
Connecting cameras
To connect cameras into your Vicon system, you must specify the correct IP
address for the network card that is connected to the PoE switch or Giganet.
To watch how to set up Vicon Vero cameras with Vicon Tracker software, see the
Tracker Installation and Training Guide3 on YouTube.
To connect the cameras:
• Open the Control Panel, then click Network and Internet and on the right
side of the panel, under Network and Sharing Center, click View Network
Status and Tasks; or
• Click the Network and Sharing Center icon on the right of the Windows
toolbar and then click Open Network and Sharing Center.
3. Right-click on the network card connected to PoE or Giganet and then click
Properties.
6. In the Properties window, click the Use the Following IP Address radio
button.
9. Click OK.
3 [Link]
Introducing Vicon Tracker
For systems involving only Vero, Vantage and Bonita cameras, the shutter period
characteristics for all cameras match exactly. Irrespective of individual cameras'
strobe (shutter) settings, the center alignment of these periods in any Vantage/
Vero/Bonita camera in the same system align exactly. You do not need to make
any adjustments to ensure that this alignment occurs.
Important
Support for mixed systems' center strobe alignment requires Vicon
firmware 700 or later. (Vicon recommends that you always update to the
latest firmware.)
Introducing Vicon Tracker
For all current Vicon optical motion capture cameras, the strobe 'on' period and
sensor exposure period (the length of time that the sensor gathers data) are
coincident. Strobe intensity actually controls strobe duration and results in
variable strobe and sensor exposure periods across the cameras in the system.
This therefore produces small changes in timing between cameras. If your system
includes MX T-Series cameras, these differences can result in slight discrepancies
in the times of the middle of the pulses.
2. In the selected camera's Properties pane, in the Settings section, ensure the
Strobe Intensity is set to its maximum setting.
This ensures that the center of the strobe pulse and shutter period for the Vicon
Vero/Vue/Bonita cameras matches that of the Vicon MX T-Series cameras.
Introducing Vicon Tracker
You create and edit the following Vicon configuration file types during motion
capture and analysis:
Introducing Vicon Tracker
• View pane: Enables you to set up the way you want to visualize the capture
data from one or more cameras. See Viewing camera data on page 165.
Introducing Vicon Tracker
• Communications pane: Enables you to view log information. See About the
Communications pane on page 162.
• Menu bar: Enables you to exit Tracker, undo/redo, open close panels, view
help, software version, and licensing information. See About the menu bar on
page 191.
In the Resources pane and view pane, you use the tabs and buttons to access
the tools and options for a specific workflow.
Introducing Vicon Tracker
• Click the Dock Pane button on the right side of the pane title bar.
To dock Resources or Communication panes:
• Double-click the pane title bar. The pane is docked in its last fixed position.
2. Drop the pane anywhere in the window to change it into a floating pane.
2. Click and drag the arrow to move the split line left or right to resize the pane
width, or up and down to resize the section height.
Introducing Vicon Tracker
• Click the Hide Section arrow or the Display Section arrow to the
right of the section heading.
Tip
The view pane cannot be undocked or repositioned in the Tracker window.
You can open a separate floating view pane by selecting the New floating
workspace option from the Window menu. This floating workspace can be
repositioned and resized.
Introducing Vicon Tracker
1. In the Tracker window, click on the relevant tab or open the dialog box
containing the properties you want to configure:
• For system components, in the Resources pane, click the System tab.
Introducing Vicon Tracker
• For motion capture objects, in the Resources pane, click the Objects tab.
Introducing Vicon Tracker
• In the Properties pane, click the Show Advanced link to view all of the
available properties.
• Click the Hide Advanced link to show just the basic properties.
• In the Properties pane, view or change the setting for the required property
using its entry field or control:
• Click the current color in the entry field to display the Select color dialog
box. In the Basic colors area, click the square for the required color, or in
the Custom colors area, define a new color.
• Click the drop-down arrow and select an entry from the list.
• Move the slider to the left to decrease the value or to the right to increase
the value displayed in the entry field.
• If you are working in the following areas of the Tracker window, save your
settings to the appropriate configuration file using the configuration
management controls:
• System tab
• View pane
Introducing Vicon Tracker
Tip
To see a list of all current hot keys, on the Help menu, click Hotkeys.
Task Keys
Redo CTRL+Y
Undo CTRL+Z
Introducing Vicon Tracker
Task Keys
Translate object T
Rotate object R
Task Keys
Go to frame CTRL+G
Introducing Vicon Tracker
Introducing Vicon Tracker
Zooming an axis (x or y)
All graph components in a single workspace maintain the same scale for both
the x-and y-axes. The x-axis is shared across all components, but each
component has its own y-axis. The y-axis may show different ranges, but
represent the same number of values.
On the x-axis, the workspace is centered around zero, keeping the zero on the
right edge of the workspace and changing the values displayed on the left.
After you have prepared your Vicon system and selected the objects for motion
capture in the Resources pane, you use the view pane to view the data.
• System tab: Enables you to configure the components of your Vicon system.
See About the System tab on page 36.
• Calibrate tab: Enables you to calibrate your Vicon cameras. See About the
Calibrate tab on page 105.
• Objects tab: Enables you to manage object files for the objects whose motion
data you want to track. See About the Objects tab on page 127.
• Recording tab: Enables you to save and play back recordings of trial data. See
About the Recording tab on page 147.
• Resources lists: Enables you to select the nodes and any sub-nodes to be
configured. The components of this list depend on whether you are using the
System or Objects tabs.
• Properties pane: Enables you to view and change settings for the item
selected in the Resources list. See Setting properties in Tracker on page 24. The
contents of this pane depend on the node selected in the Resources list.
You manage the components of your Vicon system on the System tab. The
System tab may contain the following components:
Component Description
System You create, save, and manage configurations for the settings in the
configuration System Resources pane using the configuration management
management controls at the top of the pane.
System list You select the node for the system component you want to
configure in the System list:
• Local Vicon System The Vicon system capture rate and the
Tracker memory buffer size; real-time processing settings;
and the identification and connection settings for the Tracker
host PC.
• Vicon Cameras The identification and configuration settings
for each Vicon camera connected to your Vicon system.
• Vicon Connectivity The identification and configuration
settings for each Vicon Lock or MX Giganet unit attached to
your Vicon Tracker system.
You view or modify system components in the Properties pane. The properties
displayed depend upon the node selected in the System list.
• On the System tab, right-click the Vicon Cameras node or Devices node and
then click Reorder.
In the Reorder Devices dialog box, choose from the following options:
Option Description
Move Down Moves the selected item down one position in the list
Clean Removes the entries for the devices that are not used or
referred to (Remembered devices) in the current session.
Revert Undoes all the changes you have made in this dialog box
since you last clicked OK.
The Local Vicon System node enables you to configure the Vicon system capture
rate and the amount of memory allocated to Tracker for motion capture, manage
the way Tracker is to produce real-time 3D representations of the objects whose
motion is being captured, and specify the identification and connection settings
for the Tracker host PC.
The Local Vicon System node is the top-level node that is displayed for the
Tracker host PC. This node contains sub-nodes for each device connected to
your Vicon system under the following nodes:
• Vicon Cameras
• Vicon Connectivity
• Devices
The node for the device designated as the Vicon system synchronization master
is highlighted in bold on the System tab in the Resources pane.
2. In the Properties pane, view or change settings for the desired properties to
suit the needs of your motion capture application.
When you first set up your Vicon system, you must configure at least the
Requested Frame Rate (Hz) property.
3. In the configuration management section at the top of the tab, enter a name
and click the Save current configuration button to save your system
configuration settings.
You can also access related options from the Local Vicon System context
menu on page 52.
Note
Some settings are available only when advanced properties are
displayed (at the top right of the Properties pane, click Show
Advanced).
System section
On the System tab, when you click the Local Vicon System node, you can access
the following system-wide settings in the System section of the Properties pane.
These settings affect all the connected cameras and devices:
Setting Description
Requested The rate (in Hz) at which to synchronize the Vicon cameras and the
Frame Rate external video signal. Select from displayed values (multiples of the
base frame rate of the PAL, NTSC, or Film video standard specified in
Standard) up to a maximum of 2,000. The configured Vicon system
capture rate is displayed in square brackets beside the Local Vicon
System node. For example, if the Vicon system frame rate is set to 100
Hz, the node title is displayed as Local Vicon System [100Hz].
Actual Displays the frame rate (in Hz) currently used by the system, as
Frame Rate constrained by the limits of the camera frame rate.
Preferred If multiple connectivity devices are present in the system, enables you
Master to select your preferred master connectivity device. (If your system
contains a Vicon Lock connectivity device, this is automatically selected
as the master.)
Reboot All Resets all the Vicon hardware devices in the Vicon system. Click this
button if a camera has failed to boot, or if you need to reset the whole
system. Alternatively, select Reboot Hardware from the context menu.
Real Time The number of frames (between 1 and 100) that make up the buffer
Buffer Size between the Vicon hardware and the processing engine. If set to 1,
(frames) latency is minimized. If set to a higher value, throughput is improved,
but latency is higher.
Low Jitter When selected, sets the Grayscale Mode for all cameras to Only,
which applies advanced centroid fitting and jitter reduction algorithms
to reduce data noise. Note that running in this mode increases
sensitivity to bandwidth limitations and its effectiveness is related to
system size. For more information, contact Vicon Support4.
4 [Link]
On the System tab, when you click the Local Vicon System node, you can access
the following settings in the Genlock and Timecode section of the Properties
pane.
Setting Description
Genlock Offset Specify the system offset relative to the genlock signal (expressed
as a fraction of the genlock frame period). Values are in the range
0–1
Note: For VESA modes, use VESA Offset (see below).
VESA Offset Specify the system offset relative to the VESA signal (expressed as
a fraction of the VESA frame period). The camera timing can be
offset by up to one VESA frame.
Note: Only applies when you have selected one of the VESA
standards from the Genlock Standard list.
Setting Description
Timecode Enables you to select the required timecode source. The Internal
Source Drop option determines whether the internal timecode source
generates a drop-frame timecode when the Genlock Standard is
NTSC.
Note: VITC and LTC always display a flat line if the system is not
genlocked. This is because these signal types can only be detected
by a master device that is genlocked.
The icon to the left of each option provides additional information
about the availability of that standard:
Icon Meaning
Green If you select a mode with the blue wave icon and
square wave then select the Enable Genlock check box, the
icon turns green.
On the System tab, when you click on the Local Vicon System node, the
following settings are available in the Object Tracking section of the Properties
pane.
Setting Description
Max Boot Iterations The maximum number of iterations allowed for the booting
algorithm. Increasing this parameter improves booting
quality, but has a (small) performance cost.
Reconstruction section
On the System tab, when you click on the Local Vicon System node, the
following settings are available in the Reconstruction section of the Properties
pane.
Settings Description
Minimum Cameras to Start Controls how many cameras (rays) must see the same
Trajectory marker (centroid) to create a new reconstruction and
potentially form a new trajectory. The minimum value
that can create a reconstruction is two cameras. The
maximum value of this parameter is 50 camera rays. If
there are a large number of unlikely reconstructions
being created, increase this value.
Tip: In Tracker 3, the default value for this property is 3
(ie three cameras), so if you are using a two-camera
system, ensure you change the value to two before
starting to work with Tracker.
On the System tab, when you click on the Local Vicon System node, the
following settings are available in the UDP Object Stream section of the
Properties pane.
Setting Description
Data Block Size The size of the UDP datagrams (data blocks). Ensure the
value selected matches the expected value for the
datagram size in the client program.
Options are 256, 512, and 1024.
Object Per Port If cleared, all objects are output on the same port.
If selected, each object is output on its own UDP port.
Port assignments are made whether or not the object is
active. The following image shows how port numbers are
assigned:
Port The starting port for UDP streaming. If Object Per Port is
selected, this is the starting port number. If Object Per
Port is cleared, this is the output port for all objects.
On the System tab, when you click on the Local Vicon System node, the
following settings are available in the VRPN Stream section of the Properties
pane:
Settings Description
Translation Min Cut-Off Enables you to specify the frequency (Hz) below
which noise (translation motion) will not be filtered.
Translation Beta To avoid lag, you can set a value between 1 and 0 to
reduce filtration applied to the position of the object
where there is greater motion. 0 = filtering on all
translation motion; 1 = filtering on very slow
translation motion only.
Rotatation Min Cut-Off Enables you to specify the frequency (Hz) below
which noise (rotation motion) will not be filtered.
Rotation Beta To avoid lag, you can set a value between 1 and 0 to
reduce filtration applied to the rotation of the object
where there is greater motion. 0 = filtering on all
rotation motion; 1 = filtering on very slow rotation
motion only.
• On the System Resources tab, select Local Vicon System and in the
Properties pane, ensure the Advanced properties are displayed.
The data available for output is a subset of the data available using the
DSSDK.
Important:
To stream device data, you must give the device a name.
Property Description
Buffer Size Size of the buffer to allocate to store a frame's worth of data
Subject Name If a single subject is loaded, this option enables you turn on/off
the subject name in the message address (see Packet
contents on page 50).
If multiple subjects are loaded, the subject name is always
included as part of the message address.
Packet contents
Each packet consists of a bundle containing one or more messages. Each
message has an address associated with it to identify its contents. The /vicon/
frame message is always generated; other messages may or may not be present,
depending on the output data types selected.
On the System tab, when you right-click on the Local Vicon System node, you
can select the following options from the context menu:
Option Description
Reboot Hardware Reset all of the Vicon hardware devices in the Vicon
system. Use this command if a camera has failed to
boot, or if you need to reset the whole system for
other reasons.
Alternatively, use the Reboot All button in the
System section of the Properties pane.
Reboot Core Processor Restarts the Core Processor and resets the labeler.
Alternatively, press CTRL+R.
Note
If your system includes only Vicon Vantage and/or Bonita cameras, the
Gain property is not displayed.
You manage the identification and configuration settings for each Vicon camera
connected to your Vicon system with the Vicon Cameras node.
Configuring Vicon cameras ensures that all the camera settings are correct and
appropriate for your motion capture application. You can configure the settings
for an individual camera, several cameras, or all cameras at once.
This node is displayed under the Local Vicon System node. The Vicon Cameras
node lists each Vicon camera connected to your system. For each camera, the
node name includes:
• The camera type listed in parentheses, for example, #1 Over Door (T160)
1. From the view pane tool bar, select Camera. The 2D data being captured by
each Vicon camera selected in the Resources pane in the System list is shown
in a separate Camera view pane.
• In the Options dialog box, under the General View Options section, select
the Target Volume option. In the Camera view pane tool bar, from the
View drop-down list, select 3D Overlay. A virtual representation of your
target volume is overlaid on the 2D data from the camera image.
3. In the System list in the Resources pane, select the Vicon camera node whose
properties you want to configure.
4. In the Properties pane, view or change settings for the relevant properties.
When you first set up your Vicon system, you must configure at least the
following properties in the order shown:
Important
These properties affect the quality of the motion capture data.
Therefore, it is important to optimize them before you collect data
intended for later analysis. In subsequent sessions, you may want to
configure additional properties to suit the needs of your motion
capture application.
6. When you have finished adjusting the Vicon Camera properties, in the
Settings area, ensure that Grayscale Mode is set to Auto.
7. At the top of the System tab, click the Save current configuration button
You can also access related options from the Vicon Cameras context menu on
page 72.
On the System tab, when you click on a Vicon Cameras node or an individual
camera node, the following controls are available in the Identification section of
the Properties pane:
Control Description
Note
The above illustration shows the Settings section for a Vicon Vantage
camera. The Settings section for other Vicon cameras displays slightly
different options.
On the System tab, when you click on a Vicon Cameras node or an individual
camera node, the following controls are available in the Settings section of the
Properties pane.
Control Description
Enabled Whether or not the Vicon camera is currently enabled for use. Default is
selected.
Enable Whether or not the strobes on the camera are used (does not affect the
Strobe shutter period). Default is selected.
Strobe The amount of light emitted by camera strobe units. This value can be set
Intensity between 0-1 to minimize reflections and obtain clear marker images. The
higher the setting, the brighter the markers appear, but this may cause
blobs to be produced from reflections from other strobes. Lower settings
make the markers themselves less visible to the cameras.
In almost all circumstances, you will want to keep the intensity at its
maximum level because the system works by recording light from the
strobes that is reflected from the markers, thus the more light the strobes
send out the more light the markers reflect. However, if you are capturing
a very fast moving object you may achieve better results by reducing the
strobe intensity. The strobe intensity affects the time the strobe is on for
each camera frame. The full strobe intensity corresponds to 1ms (0.5ms
with Bonita) for normal frame rates. Lower strobe intensities mean that
the markers are captured with the strobes on for less time and, therefore,
have less time to move during the frame.
Tip: It is advisable to use full strobe intensity and deal with reflection
problems by closing the camera lens aperture. Adjust this setting and the
Threshold setting until reflections are minimized or gone.
For further tips on setting Strobe Intensity, see Setting up a mixed Vicon
camera system on page 17.
Sensor Tracker 3.9 and later supports the use of the Vantage+ firmware upgrade, e
Mode nabling you to use High Speed mode on your Vantage cameras without
having to change the field of view (FOV) or lens. When you capture
optical data, subsampling (selectively reducing the pixel count) enables
you to run at high camera frame rates without reducing the FOV (frame
size).
In High Speed mode, you can run your Vantage cameras at higher
frames rates while maintaining the FOV. You can change frame rates
during capture and you do not need to set up your cameras again when
you increase the frame rate, as the FOV is [Link] the higher
speeds are achieved through subsampling (removing some pixels from
the frames), some reduction in resolution is incurred.
For details, see High-speed mode in the Vicon Vantage Reference
Guide.
Control Description
Gain (Vicon MX T-Series only) The amplification of the pixel value. Select a
displayed value to determine the intensity of the grayscale from the Vicon
cameras: x1, x2, x4, or x8. (Note that the available values are those
supported by the camera.)
This setting is applied to the camera to change the dynamic range of the
recorded image. Increasing the Gain means that the marker has less
variation in grayscale intensity between its center and its edge, but in
certain circumstances, using a higher gain yields markers that are easier
for the camera to distinguish.
Adjust this setting if the markers appear too faint or if the cameras have
trouble distinguishing them; otherwise, leave the this property at the
default x1 setting.
Grayscale The type of data for processed grayscale blobs that the Vicon cameras
Mode send to Vicon Tracker. (Note that this mode is disabled if Low Jitter
mode is selected.) The Vicon cameras perform data processing to create
2D data for Vicon markers. They generate grayscale blobs for reflections
from objects in the capture volume and then use centroid-fitting
algorithms to determine which of these are likely to be markers by
comparing the shape of the grayscale blobs to the Minimum Circularity
Ratio and Maximum Blob Height settings. During this processing, Vicon
cameras can produce the following types of data for grayscale blobs:
centroids data (x, y coordinates and the radius of the centroid calculated),
grayscale data (pixel and line information), or coordinates data (line
information, that is, grayscale data without pixel values). However, Bonita
cameras do not perform centroid fitting.
You can specify which type of processed data Vicon cameras send to
Tracker:
Auto Send grayscale data only of the grayscale blobs for which
centroids were not generated, that is, those below the
threshold specified for Minimum Circularity Ratio.
Send coordinates data of grayscale blobs for which one or
more line segments, or the total number of lines in the blob,
exceeds the value set for Maximum Blob Height.
If a marker can be centroid fitted by the camera, the centroid
is passed to the capture PC. If it cannot, the full grayscale of
the image is sent, allowing the data to be post-processed on
the PC. This is the default and recommended mode.
Tip: If any optical camera does not capture wand data during a
wand wave, select the relevant camera on the System tab and
look in the Settings section of the Properties pane to ensure
you have set the Grayscale Mode to Auto.
Control Description
None Send no grayscale data; send only centroid data (i.e, x, y, and
radius data).
Any ambiguous grayscale data will be discarded.
Control Description
Enable When selected, the status lights on the Vicon camera strobe unit provide
LEDs feedback on the status of the camera. (Bonita cameras do not have status
LEDs.) For more information, see the documentation that was supplied
with your Vicon camera.
Enable (Vicon Vantage only) When selected, the OLED display on the camera
Display provides feedback on the status of the camera. For more information, see
the Vicon Vantage Reference PDF, supplied with your Vicon Vantage
cameras and available from the Vicon documentation website5.
Enable (Vicon Vantage only) When selected, you can lightly tap the camera in the
Tap to volume to select it (and deselect the other cameras).
Select Note that when Enable Accelerometry is selected (see below), if you tap
a calibrated camera too hard, its status LEDs and OLED display (if
enabled) indicate that it has been 'bumped'.
You can remove the camera's bumped status in Tracker. If this is a
frequent occurrence, you can change its sensitivity to being tapped by
reducing the Bump Detection Sensitivity.
For information on removing a camera's bumped status and changing
Bump Detection Sensitivity, see Camera Status section on page 66.
5 [Link]
6 [Link]
On the System tab, when you click on a Vicon Cameras node or an individual
camera node, the following controls are available in the Centroid Fitting section
of the Properties pane:
Control Description
Control Description
Maximum The maximum number of pixels per line that a grayscale blob can
Blob Height contain in a horizontal line. If the number of pixels exceeds this
value, the Vicon camera determines that the grayscale blob is not a
marker, stops processing it, and discards the pixel values (it
preserves just the coordinates data, which can be sent to Vicon
Tracker, depending on the Grayscale Mode setting).
Set this value between 0–77500 to determine how large a grayscale
blob can be for a Vicon camera to consider it a candidate marker.
The Vicon cameras consider grayscale blobs with horizontal lines
containing this number or fewer pixels to be good-sized, circular
marker images. The higher the value, the larger a grayscale blob can
be; the lower the value, the smaller a grayscale blob must be.
Control Description
Note
The above illustration shows the Status section for a Vicon Vantage
camera. The Status section for other Vicon cameras displays fewer
options.
On the System tab, when you click on a Vicon Cameras node or an individual
camera node, the following controls are available in the Status section of the
Properties pane.
Control Description
Connected Whether or not the Vicon camera is currently connected to the Vicon
system.
Contributing Whether or not there is a socket open to the Vicon camera capable
Grayscale of receiving grayscale. This socket may be dropped when the system
is under heavy load, therefore this property is useful as a system
status monitor. It is not related to Grayscale property in Settings.
Contributing Whether or not the Vicon camera is contributing tracks (that is,
Tracks labeling centroids between frames) during the current session.
Bumped Indicates the whether the Vicon Vantage camera has moved from its
calibrated position.
You can remove the Bumped status for:
• A selected camera: Clear the Bumped check box.
• All cameras: Press Ctrl+Shift+B
Note
The above illustration shows the Hardware section for a Vicon Vantage
camera. The Hardware section for other Vicon cameras displays fewer
options.
On the System tab, when you click on a Vicon Cameras node or an individual
camera node, the following controls are available in the Hardware section of the
Properties pane.
Setting Description
Type The type of Vicon camera (Vantage, Bonita, T160, T40 or T20). The
Vicon Cameras node is read-only.
Strobe Type The type of strobe unit attached to the front of the Vicon camera:
Visible Red (VR), Near Infrared (NIR), or Infrared (IR). MX T-Series
T160, T40, and T20 cameras support only VR and NIR strobe units.
Bonita cameras support NIR. For a Vicon Cameras node, this setting
is read-only.
Setting Description
Strobe Temp Displays data from Vicon Vantage strobe onboard sensor both as a
numeric indicator (in degrees Celsius) and a colored temperature
indicator. The color of the indicator changes to reflect a change in
temperature: yellow (warming up to the temperature specified by the
lower bounds), green (between the specified upper and lower
bounds) or red (overheated above the upper bounds).
To set values that are representative of your laboratory environment,
you can change the upper and lower bounds of the temperature
range. To do this, select the Camera Temperature Range option in
the Options dialog box (F7).
Camera Body Displays data from Vicon Vantage camera body onboard sensor. See
Temp 1 Strobe Temp above.
Camera Body Displays data from Vicon Vantage camera body onboard sensor. See
Temp 2 Strobe Temp above.
Sensor Width The width (in pixels) of the Vicon camera sensor.
Sensor Height The height (in pixels) of the Vicon camera sensor.
MAC Address The Media Access Control (MAC) address assigned to the Vicon
camera during manufacture. This is a hexadecimal value in the
format ##.##.##.##.##.##.
For a Vicon Cameras node, this setting is read-only.
IP Address The Internet Protocol (IP) address assigned to the Vicon camera on
the Vicon Ethernet network.
For a Vicon Cameras node, this setting is read-only.
Destination IP The network adapter IP address to which data from this camera will
Address be sent.
On the System tab, when you click on a Vicon Cameras node or an individual
camera node, these controls are available in the Firmware section of the
Properties pane:
Control Description
Firmware The version number of the Vicon firmware currently installed on the
Version Vicon camera.
On the System tab, when you click on a Vicon Cameras node or an individual
camera node, the following controls are available in the Calibration section of
the Properties pane:
Control Description
Focal Length The camera lens focal length value of the selected camera(s) in mm.
(mm)
On the System tab, when you click on a Vicon Cameras node or an individual
camera node, the following command is available in the Commands section of
the Properties pane:
Command Description
Reboot Stop and restart all cameras or the selected Vicon camera.
Option Description
Reorder Display the Reorder Devices dialog box. This enables you to change
the order in which Vicon cameras are displayed in the System
Resources list.
Reboot All Stop and restart all the Vicon cameras in the system.
Cameras
When you right-click on a node for a specific Vicon camera, you can select the
following option from the context menu:
Option Description
The Vicon Connectivity node is displayed under the Local Vicon System node
when Vicon Tracker is connected to the Vicon system. The Vicon Connectivity
node lists each Vicon connectivity unit connected to your Vicon system.
Depending on the type of Vicon system under which you are running Vicon
Tracker, your Vicon system architecture will contain one or more of the following
Vicon connectivity units:
You can incorporate units and components from MX T-Series systems into your
Vicon Vantage system. For details on configuring a combined architecture, see
the Vicon Vantage Reference or Go Further with Vicon MX T-Series reference,
or contact Vicon Support7.
Note
Except where noted, references to Vicon Lock, Lock units, and Lock
apply to all current models of the Vicon Lock unit (at the time of
publication, this includes Vicon Lock+, Vicon Lock Studio and Vicon Lock
Lab).
7 [Link]
This node is displayed under the Local Vicon System node when Vicon Tracker is
connected to a Vicon system with at least one Vicon Lock unit. The Vicon
Connectivity node lists each Vicon Lock unit connected to your Vicon system.
• Vicon Lock+ Quick Start Guide (PDF), Vicon Lock Lab Quick Start Guide (PDF),
Vicon Lock Studio Quick Start Guide (PDF), available from the Vicon
documentation web site ([Link]).
Note
Except where noted, references to Vicon Lock, Lock units, and Lock
apply to all current models of the Vicon Lock unit (at the time of
publication, this includes Vicon Lock+, Vicon Lock Studio and Vicon Lock
Lab).
You can also access related options from the Vicon Lock context menu on page 77.
Note
Except where noted, references to Vicon Lock, Lock units, and Lock
apply to all current models of the Vicon Lock unit (at the time of
publication, this includes Vicon Lock+, Vicon Lock Studio and Vicon Lock
Lab).
Setting Description
Setting Description
Setting Description
For further information, see the relevant Vicon Lock Quick Start Guide (PDF). For
up-to-date information about the types of GPO triggers that are supported,
contact your local Vicon Support office (for Vicon contact details, see Contact
Vicon on page 219).
Note
Except where noted, references to Vicon Lock, Lock units, and Lock
apply to all current models of the Vicon Lock unit (at the time of
publication, this includes Vicon Lock+, Vicon Lock Studio and Vicon Lock
Lab).
If a Vicon Lock is connected to your Vicon system, when you right-click on the
Vicon Connectivity node on the System tab, you can select the following options
from the context menu:
Option Description
Reboot All Vicon Locks Stop and restart all of the Vicon Lock units in the
Vicon system.
When you right-click on a node for a specific Vicon Lock, you can select the
following options from the context menu:
Option Description
1. On the System tab, select the node whose properties you want to configure:
• A sub node for a specific MX Giganet unit — For Vicon MX systems, the MX
Giganet sub-nodes in the System list correspond to the IDs assigned by
Tracker. If an MX Giganet unit has automatically been designated as the
synchronization master for the Vicon system, its node name is displayed in
bold.
The colored icon beside an MX Giganet node identifies its status:
2. In the Properties section, view or change settings for the required properties.
When you first set up your Vicon system, you configure at least the Name
property and, if you are using synchronization functionality, the Sync Out
properties. In subsequent sessions, you may want to configure additional
properties to suit the needs of your motion capture application.
3. In the configuration management area at the top of the System tab, click the
You can also access related options from the MX Giganet context menu on page
83.
MX Giganet Identification section
If MX Giganets are connected to your Vicon system, when you click on the Vicon
Connectivity node on the System tab, the following controls are available in the
Identification section of the Properties pane:
Setting Description
When you click on an individual MX Giganet node on the System tab, the
following controls are available in the Identification section of the Properties
pane:
Setting Description
Setting Description
Other GPO functionality, available with other Vicon software, is not implemented
with Vicon Tracker.
For further information, see the hardware manual for your Vicon Giganet. For up-
to-date information about types of GPO triggers that are supported, contact
your local Vicon Support office (for Vicon contact details, see Contact Vicon on
page 219).
Setting Description
MAC Address The Media Access Control (MAC) address assigned to the MX
Giganet during manufacture. This is a hexadecimal value in the
format ##.##.##.##.##.##.
The Vicon Connectivity node is read-only.
IP Address The Internet Protocol (IP) address assigned to the MX Giganet on the
Vicon MX Ethernet network.
The Vicon Connectivity node is read-only.
Setting Description
Command Description
Option Description
Reboot All MX Giganets Stop and restart all of the MX Giganets in the MX
system.
When you right-click a node for an MX Giganet, you can select the following
options from the context menu:
Option Description
You can only use an additional device if you have the required license. To check
your current licensing options, from the Help menu, click About Vicon Tracker
and in the window, click the Feature Details button. After a few seconds, the
currently licensed options are listed. To change your licensing options, contact
Vicon Support8.
Depending on the type of additional licenses you are using with Tracker and
your Vicon system, it may contain one or more of the following additional
devices:
• Analog device such as accelerometers (see Set up analog devices on page 85).
8 [Link]
Analog devices such as accelerometers are connected to the Vicon system via an
MX Giganet or Vicon Lock+ or Lock Lab. You add analog devices to the Vicon
system by right-clicking on the Devices node and selecting Add Generic Analog.
The Generic Analog node lets you select the options for your device.
You can only use an analog device with Tracker if you have the required license.
For more information, contact Vicon Support9.
To use an analog device with Tracker:
1. Ensure that the analog device is connected to your Vicon system through a
Giganet or a Vicon Lock+ or Lock Lab.
3. Right-click Generic Analog and from the list, select your analog device.
4. To add outputs for the device, on the System tab, right-click the device and
click the number of components to add.
5. To change the properties of the output, edit the appropriate property in the
Properties pane, for example:
• Name
• Channel gain
6. To change the options for viewing data in the Graph view, in the view pane,
select Graph and then choose the appropriate option from the menu.
Tip
You can receive the raw analog data and relevant device information
through the DataStream SDK.
9 [Link]
Restrictions:
• Tobii integration for only the Tobii Pro Glasses 2.
To include Tobii Pro Glasses 2 in your Vicon Tracker system, complete these
procedures:
Before you begin, ensure your Tracker system is calibrated and that you have
created a subject.
1. Follow the instructions provided by Tobii. The quick start guide provided in
the Tobii Pro Glasses 2 box provides instructions on preparing and
connecting the glasses.
2. To use Tobii Pro Glasses Controller software, connect the Tobii Pro Glasses 2
either through Ethernet or WiFi.
When setting up networking connection properties for an Ethernet port,
ensure that Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6) is selected.
4. After calibration is complete, close the Tobii Pro Glasses Controller Software.
Note
Note that the recording unit requires batteries. A battery charger is
provided, however, please ensure sufficient charging time. The
recording unit requires only one battery, but takes 5+ hours charging
time for a full charge.
1. Ensure the Tobii recording unit is connected to the Tracker computer via
Ethernet or WiFi.
2. Ensure that the Tobii glasses are being worn by a subject in the volume.
(Tobii glasses connect to Tracker only when the glasses are worn: if no eye is
detected, the device is gray in the System Resources tree.)
3. In the System Resources tree, right-click Devices, point to Add Digital Device
and then select Add Tobii Pro Glasses 2.
Tracker searches for the glasses on the network. When the glasses are
discovered, data begins streaming in Tracker.
Note that this process can take some time.
4. Before capturing data, for each subject, perform a calibration on each subject
in the same way as it is done in the Tobii Pro Glasses Controller software.
a. Instruct the subject to look at the calibration card (for correct placement of
the card, see the Tobii documentation).
b. In the System Resources tree, ensure the Tobii Pro Glasses 2 device is
selected and in the Properties pane, go to the Calibration section and
click Start Calibration.
Note that data that is needed for calibration is created on the SD card and
is deleted when the device is deleted. If the connection is lost, projects
and participants may be left on the SD card.
If no data is received for approximately one second, it is assumed that the
connection has been lost and the device reverts to 'discovery' mode to try
to re-connect to the device when it becomes available again.
1. On the Objects tab, add a new object using one of the TobiiGlasses VSK
templates.
3. With the new TobiiGlasses object selected, in the Properties pane, note its
name:
4. On the System tab, under Devices, ensure the Tobii Glasses are selected and
in the General section of the Properties pane, go to the Glasses Object field
and enter the name you noted in the previous step.
Note that specification of the Glasses Object is not a requirement for
receiving the data from the glasses: it is used for visualization in the Tracker
workspace only.
Tobii has an attachment (currently available in the Integration Kit) for the glasses
object.
The Dikablis Eye Tracking System is compatible with both T-Series and Bonita
cameras. A minimum of two cameras are required for use with the system.
Note
Eye tracking is not available with the evaluation license, but is an
optional add-on to the full version of the software and requires an
additional license.
• Calibrate the Dikablis system and connect it to your Vicon system on page 95
• Calibrate your Vicon system and add in your Dikablis device on page 96
2. Ensure the subject is wearing the Dikablis headset and some markers for head
tracking.
3. Start the Dikablis Recorder software on the Dikablis system and run the
calibration wizard.
4. Connect the Dikablis laptop directly to your Vicon system PC with an Ethernet
cable.
2. Calibrate the cameras in Tracker (see Calibrate Vicon cameras on page 107).
3. Set your origin pointing forwards by positioning the T of the wand with the
flat part (the top of the T) facing towards the front of the capture volume.
4. When you have a calibrated system, create an object in Tracker from the
wand markers. To do this:
a. In the Resources pane, click the Objects tab and ensure that in the Object
Tracking Mode section at the bottom of the tab, Track mode is not
selected. This enables you to see unlabeled reconstructions in the 3D
Perspective view pane.
Tip
Viewing unlabeled reconstructions requires additional processing,
so for lowest output latency, when you have finished creating
objects, click the Track button to change to Track mode. When
Track mode is selected, the Track button is green.
c. In the Resources pane, click the Objects tab and in the Create Object
box, type Wand and then click Create .
5. Adjust the wand's origin so it is on the center marker on the cross of the T.
6. With your subject looking straight ahead, create an object from the head
markers and give it a suitable name, such as Head. (You can give it any
suitable name, but ensure you use the same name in the following steps.)
7. On the System tab, right-click Devices, point to Add Digital Device, and then
click Add Dikablis Eye Tracker.
8. Select Dikablis Eye Tracker and in the Properties pane, enter the values:
• Name: Eye
• IP Address: [Link] (or the address of the PC running the Dikabilis software
if different from [Link])
• Calibration Object: Wand
9. Make sure the Eye Tracker remains selected on the System tab, change the
view pane to Graph view and in the Components list, select Components.
Two graphs are shown: X and Y, representing the 2D coordinates for the eye's
gaze. The values are pixel values from the eye camera.
10. Check that the eye's gaze is accurately represented by the X and Y values. To
do this:
a. Get your subject to look left. The X value decreases.
Tip
To see all the data, you may need to click the Scale the graph to
Tip
The X values should not go above 640 or below 0. The Y values
should not go above 480 or below 0.
• X (mm): -20
• Y (mm): -40
• Z (mm): -25
2. Change the view pane to 3D Perspective and look at the Head object.
The eyeball should be approximately where the eye is, relative to the Head
markers.
2. Get the subject to look at the marker at the center of the T on the wand.
3. In the Calibration area of the Eye Tracker Properties pane, click Add.
The Samples box displays 1.
Tip
If an error is made during calibration, you can remove the last sample
you added by clicking the Remove button.
5. Repeat step 4.
The number of samples goes up to 3 and an eye with an eye vector coming
from it appears in the 3D Perspective view pane.
In the Calibration area of the Properties pane, a Residual value is displayed.
6. Get your subject to keep their head still and move the wand around,
following the marker at the center of the T with their eyes.
In the 3D Perspective view pane, the eye vector now follows the wand.
7. On the System tab, select the Eye Tracker. Change the view pane to Graph.
Ray X, Ray Y and Ray Z values are displayed, as well as X and Y values.
c. Start Tracker.
2. After a few seconds, on the System tab, right-click the Devices node, click
Add Apex Device, and in the Add Apex Devices dialog box, select the
required device and click Add.
On the System tab, the selected Apex is displayed under the Apex Device
node.
3. To display all the Apex settings, ensure the Apex is selected on the System
tab and if necessary, at the top right of the Properties pane, click Show
Advanced.
10 [Link]
You will only be able to use an Apex with Tracker if you have the required
license. For more information, contact Vicon Support11.
To set up an Apex to work with Tracker:
1. Ensure Tracker is booted up, the Apex's bluetooth dongle is plugged in and
the Apex is charged and switched on.
2. To add the Apex to the current configuration, on the System tab in the
Resources pane, right-click Devices and then click Add Apex Device.
3. In the Add Apex Devices dialog box, select the device to add and click Add.
After a few seconds, the Apex appears on the System tab. Its name is
displayed in the General area of the Properties pane.
In the capture volume, the tracking LEDs on the device illuminate and object
tracking begins.
4. To check that the Apex is working correctly, in the view pane, select Graph
view and operate the joystick and buttons. The graphs show the current status
of the joystick (the top two graphs are the x and y views) and the buttons.
11 [Link]
5. To change the way the Apex works, use the relevant control in the Properties
pane:
6. To enable Tracker to remember the device that you have added in future
sessions, save the current configuration, using the configuration management
controls at the top of the System tab.
You can also use the Identify button in Tracker to quickly identify a selected
Apex.
1. Ensure that the Apex is switched on and connected in the capture volume.
2. In Tracker, on the System tab, click one of the Apex devices to select it.
Calibration is a two-stage process by which Vicon Tracker calibrates the cameras
based on specialized calibration objects (whose dimensions and relative marker
positions are known):
1. Calibrating cameras During the first stage, the Tracker camera calibration
process calculates the physical position and orientation of each Vicon camera
in the capture volume based on the movement of the calibration object.
Tracker uses this information to determine each camera's physical position
and orientation in the capture volume and correct for any lens distortion.
2. Setting volume origin During the second stage, you set the volume origin in
Tracker. Tracker measures the position of the calibration object and uses this
information to identify the origin of the world and its horizontal and vertical
axes. These volume origin and axes are referred to as the global coordinate
system. The global axes coordinates are given in the form (x, y, z), where x is a
horizontal axis, y is the horizontal axis perpendicular to x, and z is the vertical
axis.
Section Description
Set Volume Origin Define the global origin and the axes of the world
(in the context of the capture volume). For more
information, see Calibrate Vicon cameras on page 107.
The Vicon camera calibration process describes the capture volume to the
system, enabling Tracker to determine the positions, orientations, and lens
properties of all the Vicon cameras. Tracker uses this information to produce
accurate 3D data. During the camera calibration process, Vicon Tracker creates a
calibration parameters (.xcp) file. This file contains the calibration settings and
threshold data specified for the Vicon cameras in your Tracker system and is
used when data from these cameras is processed. An .x2d file containing the
latest calibration data, of the format LatestCalibration yyyymmddnnnnnn.x2d, is
also saved in the same location as the .x2d containing the recorded trial data.
Important
As part of the first stage of the daily Tracker motion capture workflow,
Vicon recommends that you calibrate your Vicon cameras each day
before you capture any data. This ensures that any unexpected changes
in your setup that may have occurred when the system was unsupervised
will not influence the quality of your data. You can perform the level of
camera calibration that suits your requirements: a full camera calibration
or a calibration refinement (for more information, see Understanding
calibration types on page 111).
• If you want to calibrate only some of the cameras, on the System tab in the
Resources pane, expand the Vicon Cameras node and select the Vicon
cameras that you want to calibrate;
or
2. On the Calibrate tab, expand the Calibrate Cameras section and from the
Wand drop-down list select the type of dynamic calibration object you are
using.
3. View or change the settings for the required parameters (if required, click
Show Advanced to reveal additional settings), ensuring that you select the
appropriate option from the Calibration Type list: Full Calibration or
Calibration Refinement.
Tip
If you have already performed a full calibration, Calibration
Refinement is selected by default, as this will normally be the most
appropriate option. (For more information, see Understanding
calibration types on page 111.)
5. In the capture volume, wave the calibration wand throughout the area where
you intend to capture 3D data, ensuring that the markers on the calibration
object are visible to the cameras. Vicon Tracker begins to capture wand wave
data.
6. In each Camera view pane, check the display of colored lines identifying wand
frames, ensuring that a good number of wand frames are spread across the
intended 3D capture volume.
Tip
If no cameras are visible in the Camera view pane, make sure they
are selected on the System tab in the Resources pane.
If any optical camera does not capture wand data during a wand
wave, select the relevant camera on the System tab, look in the
Settings section of the Properties pane, and ensure you have set the
Grayscale Mode to Auto.
7. On the Calibrate tab, in the Camera Calibration Feedback section, check the
Wand Count values returned for each Vicon camera.
(If you selected the Auto Stop option in the Parameters section, Tracker
automatically stops the calibration process when sufficient calibration
information has been acquired.)
9. In the Camera Calibration Feedback section, monitor the progress bar until
the camera calibration process is complete and review the Wand Count and
Image Error data. As a general guideline, Tracker typically takes 15-60
seconds to complete its calculations for a typical Vicon system setup. When
the Vicon camera calibration has successfully completed, it is automatically
saved to an .xcp file.
Tip
Because calibration feedback values are based on factors such as the
size of the capture volume and the camera lens type, it is not
possible to provide general guidelines on typical or acceptable
ranges. Therefore, to determine the optimal values for your Vicon
system, shortly after the system is installed establish a baseline
against which you can compare future daily calibration values.
Control Description
Refinement With auto stop selected, the minimum coverage (in number of frames)
Frames required per camera in the final phase of refining a camera calibration.
Wand Ratio Tolerance of the distance between the markers on the wand
Tolerance (expressed as a ratio), to enable it to be labeled in 2D. Default is 0.2.
Auto Stop Whether or not Tracker is to automatically stop the camera calibration
process when sufficient data has been collected.
Calibration Refinement uses exactly the same process as full calibration, but
without the initialization phase. It provides a reliable way to refine existing
calibration data to produce a calibration that is as good as a full calibration of
the same system, but is much faster.
To save time while maintaining accuracy, you can perform both full and
refinement calibration on any selected camera(s), as well as on all cameras.
Note that the value specified for Refinement Frames affects the number of
frames used:
• By Auto Stop
A full calibration of all cameras has recently Full Calibration on just the moved
been performed, but since then, several cameras, with a short wand wave that
cameras have been repositioned to another concentrates on the moved cameras,
part of the volume.
A full calibration of all cameras has recently Full Calibration on the bumped
been performed, but during capture, one camera, with a short wand wave that
camera was accidentally slightly bumped. concentrates on the bumped camera.
Component Description
Progress bar This bar displays a percentage indicating the progress of the overall
camera calibration process.
Camera This column contains the device ID for each Vicon camera being
calibrated.
Wand Count For each Vicon camera, this value identifies the number of frames it
has captured containing the calibration object. Initially, the entry for
the number of wand frames is displayed in red; the entry turns green
when Vicon Tracker has acquired enough wand data to calibrate that
camera (by default 1000 frames). Because Auto Stop is not selected
by default, the calibration process only stops when you click the Stop
button. If you have selected Auto Stop, the calibration process stops
when the Vicon camera with the lowest frame count reaches the
number of frames specified in the Refinement Frames field in the
Calibrate Cameras section.
World Error Displays the calibration error in millimeters. World error is calculated
per camera from the Image Error in pixels and the distance of the
camera to the center of the volume. Cameras further away, with the
same image error, display a larger world error.
Image Error This value (in RMS distance in camera pixels) indicates the accuracy
of the 3D reconstruction of the markers. This value represents the
difference between the 2D image of each marker on the camera
sensor and the 3D reconstructions of those markers projected back
to the camera's sensor. Acceptable values depend on factors such as
camera type. the size of the capture volume, and the camera lens
type.
Important
Before starting the set volume origin process, remove from the capture
volume all markers and the sources of any unwanted reflections that
have not been accounted for by camera masks previously created. To
set the volume origin, you need a calibration object, which is supplied
with your Vicon system.
2. On the Calibrate tab, in the Wand drop-down list, ensure that the calibration
object that you used when you calibrated the cameras is selected.
Tip
Tracker determines the unit of length for calculating the volume
based on the length of the calibration wand. If you specify a wand
that is a different length from the one you used during the Vicon
camera calibration, the volume will have the wrong unit of length, so
Tracker will be unable to locate the L-frame calibration object.
3. In the Set Volume Origin section, from the L-Frame drop-down list, select the
type of static calibration object you are using to set the volume origin.
4. In the capture volume, place the calibration object flat on the floor in the
position and orientation that you would like to be the origin of the global
coordinate system.
7. Verify that the global coordinate system was set successfully by checking that
the system tracks the static calibration object.
If it does not, check the following:
• Was the correct dynamic calibration object selected from the Wand drop-
down list at the top of the tools pane?
If not, repeat this procedure from Step 2, ensuring that you select the
correct entry for the calibration wand you used for calibrating the Vicon
cameras.
• Was the correct static calibration object selected from the L-Frame drop-
down list at the top of the Calibrate tab?
If not, repeat this procedure from Step 3, ensuring that you select the
correct entry for the L-frame you are using.
After you have set the global coordinate system, you can display the volume axis
marker in the lower-left corner of the 3D Perspective view pane.
You turn the display on or off in the Options dialog box by selecting or
deselecting Volume Axis under General View Options.
From Tracker 3.2 and later, you can also ensure that your coordinate system is
accurately aligned with the floor of the capture volume by automatically
detecting the floor plane, using markers in the volume to define it. For more
information, see Improved floor plane calibration, in What's New in Vicon Tracker
3.2.
From Tracker 3.7 and later, after you have set the volume origin (see Setting the
volume origin on page 113), to improve calibration stability and consistency over
time (particularly in large volumes), you can create a large custom calibration
object from markers permanently placed across the volume. You can then use
this object, coupled with using the Auto Scale option, for subsequent setting of
the system origin. For more information, see Improve volume scaling and set a
fixed origin on page 117.
1. After you have completed the usual calibration and setting volume origin
procedures, load the calibration object that you used for calibration. To do
this, on the Objects tab, click the Load an Object button and locate the
relevant calibration object. The default location is:
C:\Users\Public\Documents\Vicon\Tracker3.x\Objects
• On the System tab, click the object and in the Properties pane ensure
Show Advanced is selected, then edit the Global Position fields and Global
Rotation fields as necessary; or
4. When you are happy with the position of the calibration object, right-click it
and click Save Object As. Enter a suitable name, and click Save.
5. Click the Calibrate tab, and in the Set Volume Origin section, select your
calibration object from the L-frame list.
During the Vicon camera calibration process, Vicon Tracker creates a calibration
parameters (.xcp) file. The changes in the .xcp file are automatically written to the
calibration file, which overwrites the current file. If you want to be able to load
the previous calibration in later, you must save it.
• On the Calibrate tab, go to the Manage Camera Calibration section and click
the required button:
Button Description
Auto Number Enables you to quickly number the currently connected Vicon
Cameras cameras in ascending order, according to their position in the
capture volume. To obtain useful autonumbering, you normally
auto-number the cameras at some point after you have aimed
(and calibrated) the cameras.
Automatic numbering starts with the camera that is furthest from
the volume origin. The cameras are then numbered in a clockwise
direction around the volume. If your cameras are positioned at
different levels, the cameras in the level that contains the most
cameras are numbered first.
Load Displays the Choose a file dialog box, from which you can
navigate to and select the required .xcp file and click Open.
Note
If it is impractical to use permanently fixed markers in your volume, you
can still benefit from following this procedure, but when you come to
recalibrate, substitute a scaled wand object in place of the custom
calibration object. Your results will not be as accurate as they would with
the custom calibration object, but you will still benefit from the scaling
involved. For details, see Step 2 of Recalibrate with the scaled wand
and custom calibration object on page 125.
• Choose LEDs or markers for your custom calibration object on page 118
• Scale the Active Wand and the custom calibration object on page 119
• Recalibrate with the scaled wand and custom calibration object on page 125
• Reflective markers
If you use reflective markers to create your custom calibration object,
remember that as passive markers are continually visible, you may need to
cover them while the volume is in use.
• For best performance, fix the LEDs or markers to the floor (provides both
stability and the ability to spread across the volume).
If this is not possible, position them on a wall or truss.
• For best scaling performance, position the custom calibration object across
the central two-thirds of the volume (to avoid variability introduced by
gaps in coverage at the volume edges). If this is unfeasible, try to make the
custom calibration object as large as possible, and position it towards the
center of the volume.
1. Calibrate using the normal process and standard .vsk files (see Calibrate
Vicon cameras on page 107).
2. Set the origin using a standard calibration object (see Setting the volume
origin on page 113).
3. In Tracker, create an object for the markers of the custom calibration object
(for details, see Creating an object on page 130).
Do not save this object: it is important that the object that is used for this
scaling is created from the current marker observations.
4. On the Objects tab, ensure the custom calibration object is selected, right-
click and then click Use for Camera Calibration.
A line is added to the table containing the Model Distance, which is the
distance between the markers as measured by the current Vicon
calibration.
c. In the Measured Distance column, enter the distance that you measured
in millimeters.
d. For each set of measurements you have taken from the object, repeat
steps b and c.
In the New Settings section, the scale factor that will be applied is
displayed, together with the output names for the scaled wand and
calibration objects.
e. If you are happy with this measurement, click Save to exit the dialog box.
A scaled wand and a calibration object file are saved by default to C:
\Users\Public\Documents\Vicon\Tracker3.x\CalibrationObjects and are
displayed in the Wand and L-Frame lists on the Calibrate tab.
The current calibration is also scaled by the same factor, so you do not
need to recalibrate after this operation.
6. In future, to obtain an accurately scaled volume, use the new scaled wand and
calibration object when performing the calibration and set object operations
(see Recalibrate with the scaled wand and custom calibration object on page
125).
If you do not add measurements, the object is saved as a calibration object with
no scaling modification, and no scaled wand is saved. You can still use the new
calibration object for set origin operations, including auto-scale. This will provide
consistency of scale across set origin operations, but the volume will not be
scaled to external measurements.
2. For the best results, set the origin using the normal process, but:
Tip
If you can't use permanently fixed markers in your volume, in Step 2
above, substitute the scaled wand object in place of the custom
calibration object. Your results will not be as accurate as they would
with the custom calibration object, but you will still benefit from the
scaling of the wand.
Prepare and manage the objects whose motion data you want to track in Vicon
Tracker on the Objects tab. Objects are a rigid, asymmetrical arrangement of at
least three markers. Multiple objects can be defined to track many rigid bodies
at the same time and different smoothing filtration presets can be applied to
each one.
Component Description
Objects list Lets you enable an object for motion capture and data recording. If a
working .vsk file exists for the object, the object symbol is orange
and the object name is gray. If the name is red, the .vsk file is not
suitable for tracking (this may be due to symmetry in the
arrangement of markers, or similarity to another enabled object). To
display a tool tip identifying the problem, hover the mouse pointer
over the object.
To display or hide the model markers defined in the .vsk file, expand
( + ) or collapse ( - ) the Markers list.
Tips To manage specific objects, in the Objects list, right-click on the
relevant node and from the context menu select a command. The
Open Folder option, at the bottom of the context menu, provides a
quick way to locate a relevant file. The color-coded symbols
displayed for entries in the Markers list correspond to the colors
defined for each model marker in the .vsk file.
Object Type Enables you to view and manage the type of smoothing applied to a
Preset section selected object. Smoothing is achieved using a One Euro, low-pass
smoothing filter. You can choose from one of the following supplied
filters:
• HMD: Used for head-mounted devices.
• InteractionDevice: Used for Vicon Apex.
• General: Used as a general purpose starting point
If none of the supplied filter types is suitable for your
application, you can also create and save your own custom
filter presets, so that you can quickly and accurately apply
them to other objects (for more information, see Creating an
object on page 130).
Object To view unlabeled reconstructions in the view pane (to enable you to
Tracking create new objects), ensure Track is not selected.
Mode control Viewing unlabeled reconstructions requires additional processing, so
for lowest output latency, when you have finished creating objects,
click the Track button to change to Track mode.
Component Description
Create Object To create a new object, ensure Track mode is selected (see above),
controls select at least three trajectories in the view pane, enter a name in the
Create Object box, and click Create or press CTRL+E. For more
information, see Creating an object on page 130.
Add Marker To add marker(s) to the selected trajectory of a selected object, click
to Object the Add button.
controls If a calibrated object becomes distorted due to a marker having
been been lost and replaced in a slightly different position from its
original location, to update the marker position, select the affected
marker and click the Recalibrate button.
Creating an object
For motion capture and data streaming recording to take place, you must create
objects. Objects are a rigid, asymmetrical arrangement of at least three markers
whose motion data you want to track. Multiple objects can be defined to track
many rigid bodies at the same time. If necessary, you can apply different levels of
filtration to each object to obtain the required smoothing.
To create an object:
1. If you are streaming live, on the Objects tab in the Resources pane, click
Pause .
2. Ensure that in the Object Tracking Mode section at the bottom of the tab,
Track mode is not selected. This enables you to see unlabeled
reconstructions in the 3D Perspective view pane.
4. Select the (three or more) markers you want to include by doing one of the
following:
• To select markers individually, press and hold the CTRL key while you left-
click on each marker.
• To select a group of markers, press and hold the ALT key while you drag
around the markers to form a box around them.
5. With the markers selected, enter a name in the Create Object box and then
click Create.
Tip
In the Create Object text box, the name is automatically
incremented by 1 each time you click Create, so that, to create
another object with the default name of ObjectName_n, you can just
select the required markers and click Create.
b. Depending on whether you want to use an existing filtration type for this
object, do one of the following:
or
• If the required filtration type does not exist, in the Object Type
Preset section, click Manage Presets and in the Object Presets
dialog box, enter a name in the Create New Preset box and then
click Add.
c. In the Presets section, ensure the new preset is selected, then in the
Smoothing section, change the Translation and Rotation properties as
required.
d. With Translation Beta set to zero, change the value of Translation Min
Cut-Off to eliminate jitter during very slow movements.
Note that decreasing the value of Translation Min Cut-Off reduces jitter
but increases lag.
e. When you have finished adjusting the Translation Min Cut-Off value,
increase the value of Translation Beta by very small increments to
eliminate lag during faster movement.
Note that 0 = filtering on all translation motion; 1 = filtering on very slow
translation motion only.
f. Follow the same procedure for adjusting the Rotation Min Cut-Off and
Rotation Beta.
For detailed information on the One Euro filter and how to adjust these
settings, visit [Link]/~casiez/1euro/.12
g. If you want Tracker to detect the object as static, select the Motion Model
check box.
h. When you have finished adjusting the properties, click Close.
7. On the Objects tab, make sure that in the Object Type Preset section, the
required filter is displayed for the selected object.
8. As required, make the following optional changes:
12 [Link]
a. Left-click and drag the red, green, or blue axis lines emanating from the
center of the object (translation manipulator) to translate the origin of the
object to the desired position.
c. Drag the manipulator axes to orient the object to the desired pose.
9. Save the object by right-clicking it the Objects list and selecting Save Object
from the context menu.
Tracker saves the contents of the object in a .vsk file in the Objects folder.
Important
Viewing unlabeled reconstructions requires additional processing, so for
lowest output latency, when you have finished creating objects, ensure
Track mode is selected. When Track mode is selected, the Track button
is green.
1. On the Objects tab tool bar, click the Load an Object button.
2. In the Choose an Object File dialog box, navigate to an existing .vsk file,
select it and then click Open.
Caution
If the selected .vsk file has the same name as an object currently
loaded in Tracker, the contents of the selected .vsk file replace those
in the currently loaded object.
2. Click any axis. Three circles associated with the axes are displayed.
3. Click on a circle and rotate it until you see a gray rectangular shape snap into
place.
2. Click any axis and drag towards the marker until it snaps into place.
1. In the view pane, select two markers by pressing CTRL while left-clicking each
marker.
A gray, projected marker is displayed at the midpoint between the two
markers.
2. Left-click on the desired axis and move it towards the gray projected marker
until it snaps into the midpoint.
1. In the view pane, to select the marker that you want to add to the object, click
the marker.
Managing objects
After you have loaded an existing .vsk file or created a new object, you can save
or delete the object, or move its centroid as described in the following steps.
See also:
Tracker saves the contents of the object in a .vsk file in the Objects folder.
To delete an object:
1. On the Objects tab, right-click the object and select Delete Object from the
context menu.
• In the view pane, click an axis and move along that axis until you reach the
location you want. Repeat for the other axis until the required location is
reached.
The ability to act on multiple objects simultaneously is useful when you are
working with similar objects, such as the collection of rigid bodies that make up a
single subject.
You can group objects and then select the group, so that activation, selection,
and deletion applies to all objects in the selected group.
Create a group
To create a group of objects:
1. On the Objects tab, click to select the required objects, then right-click and
on the context menu click Group Objects.
3. To see the objects in a group, expand the group by clicking the arrow to the
right of the group name. By default, all objects in the group are activated:
On the Objects tab, right-click the name of the object that you want to add to
the group, point to Add to Group, and then click the name of the required
group.
• All objects in a group: Clear or select the check box to the left of the group
name.
• One or more objects within a group: Expand the group and clear or select
the check box to the left of the object name.
The check box to the left of the group name changes to reflect the activation
status of objects within the group.
When you select a group (that is, click its name on the Objects tab), all the
objects in the group are selected by default:
You can also click, SHIFT-click and CTRL-click to select/deselect one or more
objects within the group.
On the Objects tab, you can ungroup and/or delete grouped objects in either of
these ways:
• All objects in a group: Right-click the group name and click the required
option:
• Delete permanently deletes the group and all the objects within it.
• Ungroup moves all the group's objects outside the group and lists them
separately on the Objects tab. The group name is no longer displayed.
or
• One or more objects within a group: Expand the group, right-click the
required object(s) and then click the required option:
• Remove Object from GroupName moves the object from within the group
to outside the group, so that it is listed separately on the Objects tab.
On the Objects tab, expand the group, right-click the object and click Save
Object.
3. Ensure nothing is selected and then in the view pane, drag or rotate the
object axes to enable them to snap to the grid.
Tip
To change the distance between the lines of the grid to which
objects can snap, in the Options dialog box, select Floor Grid and
adjust as required.
1. On the System tab, click the object and then in the Properties pane, click
Show Advanced.
2. In the view pane, drag or rotate the object's axes and observe the change in
the values in the Global Position fields (the location of the object within the
global coordinate system in millimeters) and Global Rotation fields (the
orientation of the object within the global coordinate system in degrees).
Tip
To set the current position of the object to the global position of 0, 0,
0 (that is, the origin), click the arrow to the right of the Global
Position fields and select Set to Default.
1. On the Object tab, if necessary, expand the node of the object whose
markers you want to change.
3. In the Reorder Markers dialog box, click to select the marker whose position
you want to change and choose from the following options:
• Move Up
• Move Down
Setting Description
Name The name of the selected object. This name is used when the Vicon
Skeleton is saved in a .vsk file.
To change the name, do any of the following:
• In the Name box in the Properties pane, select the current
name and enter a new one; or
• Click the button next to the Name box to display the Name
dialog box, select the existing object name and enter a new
one; or
• On the Objects tab, double-click the current name and enter
a new one.
Global The global rotation of the selected object. To choose the rotation
Rotation order, click the Rotation Order button .
or
2. In the Properties pane, click the currently displayed color in the Color box.
3. In the Select Color dialog box, assign a color in the Basic colors area, or
define a new color in the Custom colors area and then click OK.
Save and play back recordings of trial data, using the controls on the Recording
tab.
Note
You will only see the Recording tab if you have the required license. For
more information, contact Vicon Support13.
13 [Link]
Component Description
Open Folder View the location of the saved files. The default file
location depends on whether files are saved as Shared
or Private:
• File type: Private
File location (English language version): C:
\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Vicon\Tra
cker3.x\CapturedTrials
• File type:Shared
File location (English language version): C:
\Users\Public\Documents\Vicon\Tracker3.x\Cap
turedTrials
Note: For each trial recorded, at least three files are
saved: .x2d, .system, and .xcp files. In addition,
whenever a new calibration is performed, an
additional .x2d file, of the format LatestCalibration yyyy
mmddnnnnnn.x2d, containing the latest calibration
data, is saved in the same location as the .x2d
containing the recorded trial data. (This can be useful
for data analysis and troubleshooting.) If you are using
an analog device to capture data, an .x1d file is also
saved.
Component Description
Playback In the Playback section, click the Load Trial button to select the trial you
section want to play back.
Export In the Export CSV section, select options to save trial data to a CSV file.
CSV For more information, see CSV Export, in What's New in Vicon Tracker.
section
Tip
Before attempting to load a trial, in the Recording section, ensure that the
relevant Location setting is selected (Shared or Private), depending the
option chosen for the trial you want to load.
1. Ensure your system is connected and calibrated and that Tracker is in Live
mode.
3. In the Location area, select whether your trial will be saved as Shared or
Private files.
4. In the Trial Name box, enter a name for the new trial. If you want a number to
be automatically appended to the file name, ensure Auto Increment Trial
Number is selected.
5. If you want existing captured trial data in the same folder to be overwritten
when a new trial is saved, select the Permit Overwrite of Existing Files box.
• If your trial requires any further setup, for example, if you are using remote
triggering, click Show Parameters and supply the necessary information:
• Arm button To set the system to a state where it is ready to accept a
trigger signal for automatic capture based on a signal broadcast
over the network from a remote device, click this button. If you want
to enable the system to remain ready to receive subsequent network
signals after the capture is stopped, click the Lock button to the
right of the Arm button.
Example notifications
The XML file contains the following notifications:
Start notification
The following example shows a Start notification. Note that the broadcast must
fit into one UDP packet.
The indents in the following example are for clarity: the actual packet is not
indented. White space between tokens is removed.
Where:
Name The name of the trial, which is used as the filename for the
capture files, for example <Name>.x2d.
Stop notification
The following example shows a Stop notification. It is a notification that
capturing has stopped.
Note that writing the file to disk may not be complete. Wait for the
corresponding Complete notification before trying to open the file.
• FAIL - Everything was not ok. Perhaps the disk ran out of room, or the system
was unplugged. You may get a truncated file.
• CANCEL - The user stopped the capture process. There will not be a
Complete notification.
Complete notification
The following example shows a Complete notification. It indicates that the
captured file is ready at the path specified. Note that:
• If the file is on a remote drive, it may be captured locally and then copied to
the final location. This may take some time.
Where:
• Hours
• Minutes
• Seconds
• Frames
• Field
• 0 - Even Field
• 1 - Odd Field
• Standard
• 0 - PAL
• 1 - NTSC
• 2 - NTSC Drop
• 3 - Film at 24fps
• 4 - NTSC Film
• 5 - 30Hz exactly
• Sub-Frames Per Frame (the multiple of the timecode rate that the system is
running at)
The values for TimeCode are as listed in Timecode start notification on page 156.
Where:
The packet may contain extra information describing the frame rate:
The frames per second of the system can be calculated as TICKS/PERIOD. This
representation of the frame rate avoids rounding errors for rates such as NTSC,
which cannot be stored in a double without a loss of precision.
1. On the Recording tab, in the Recording area ensure that the relevant
Location setting is selected (Shared or Private), depending on the option
chosen for the trial you want to load.
2. In the Playback area, click Load Trial to access the location of the last saved
trial. If you want to load a different trial, browse to the appropriate location.
Click Open.
The recorded trial is loaded, a time bar appears beneath the view pane and
Tracker automatically enters Offline mode (if this was not already selected).
3. To play the recorded trial, click the Play button on the time bar. To stop or
pause the replay, click Stop or press the space bar on the keyboard. To view a
particular part of the trial, drag the slider along the time bar, or to move
through the trial, press the forward or back arrow keys.
To select from further options for examining the recorded data, click the
More option beneath the Play button on the time bar.
• Zoom to Trial – After zooming in to a selected range, resets the time bar
scale to include the whole trial
• Zoom to Region-of-Interest – After zooming out, resets the time bar scale
to zoom in to the selected range
Tip
To select a region of interest, drag the beginning and end markers
(small green triangles) to the start and end of the required range
on the time bar. To return the markers to their original positions at
the start and end of the trial, double-click them.
• Replay Speed – Enables you to select from preset options (in multiples of
real time) or to specify your own custom speed
The default position of the Communications pane is at the bottom of the Tracker
window. You can resize this pane, detach it from its current location, and move it
to another location within the Tracker window.
Information Description
type
Time The timestamp for the operation being executed in the hh:mm:ss
format.
You can monitor the activity of your Vicon system in the Communications pane.
Its default position is at the bottom of the Tracker window.
A new log is written each time you start Tracker. New entries recorded during
the current session are appended at the bottom of the log. You can copy all or
part of the information in the log and save it to an external file, such as a Rich
Text Format (.rtf) or plain text (.txt) file.
1. In the Communications pane, view the entries for system activity and
processing operations.
2. Use the scroll bar to move down or back up the displayed entries.
2. Right-click and in the context menu click Copy. Tracker copies the text to the
clipboard.
3. Open a text editor, such as Microsoft Notepad, and paste the copied text.
You can also change scrolling behavior and delete and restore entries:
The view pane enables you to view the data of one or more cameras. In the view
pane, you view the objects selected in the Resources pane during any stage of
the Tracker workflow. Depending on the type of view pane selected, there are
additional lists and buttons available to you to manage the display options for
that type of view pane.
By default, the view pane is above the Communication pane and to the right of
the Resources pane. You cannot detach or change the position of this pane, but
you can resize it. In addition, you can open a new floating workspace that can be
displayed on a second monitor, if required.
Component Description
Configuration Enables you manage the configurations that you create in the view
management pane. Saved configurations include the layout of view panes as well
controls as any cameras, hardware devices, and object components selected
in the Resources pane, on the System tab, the Calibration tab, the
Objects tab, and/or the Recording tab when the configuration was
created.
Component Description
View pane list The view pane list allows you to configure the way in which you view
Tracker data. Select from the following types of view panes:
3D Perspective
Reconstructed motion capture data from all active Vicon cameras in
3D.
3D Orthogonal
Motion capture data in 3D viewed from a specified point of sight or
direction of the capture volume.
Component Description
Camera
Raw 2D motion capture data from an individual Vicon camera.
Graph
Various values of one or more selected items, such as the x, y, and z
components of a marker trajectory, plotted against each other or
against time.
Component Description
Split view
Horizontal Split the current view horizontally into two view
buttons
panes.
View pane Enables you to play back recorded trials. Click More or right-click the
time bar time bar to access further options for examining recorded trial data:
To select a region of interest, drag the beginning and end markers (small green
triangles) to the start and end of the required range.
To return the markers to their original positions at the start and end of the trial,
double-click them.
You view the reconstructed motion data from all active Vicon cameras in 3D.
Component Description
Tip
To select multiple objects, hold down the ALT key and drag around
the objects you want to select.
To detach a marker, in the 3D Perspective view pane, right-click the
marker and in the context menu, click Detach Marker.
2. From the view pane tool bar, select 3D Perspective. The reconstructed 3D
data from all cameras is displayed in a single 3D Perspective view pane.
• On the Objects tab, examine the reconstruction and labeling and edit any
errors or inconsistencies; or
Component Description
3D Orthogonal Manage the display of data in the active workspace with the
view pane tool following controls in the 3D Orthogonal view tool bar:
bar
• Orthogonal view list
Set the point of sight by selecting one of the following
orthogonal projections (also called orthographic projections):
• -Z (default)
• +Z
• +X
• -X
• +Y
• -Y
Component Description
2. From the view pane tool bar, select 3D Orthogonal. The reconstructed 3D
data from all cameras is displayed in a single 3D Orthogonal view pane,
initially from the Top view.
3. From the View list in the 3D Orthogonal view pane tool bar, either leave the
default or select another orthogonal projection to set the view to a different
point of sight:
• -Z (default)
• +Z
• +X
• -X
• +Y
• -Y
• On the Objects tab, check the reconstruction and labeling and edit any
errors or inconsistencies; or
Tip
You can select the Detach Marker command from the context
menu displayed when you right-click on a marker in the 3D
Perspective view pane.
Component Description
View Manage the way camera data is viewed in the active Camera view
pane by selecting the following options on the View drop-down list:
Component Description
Zoom to Fit Zoom the selected Camera view pane to fit the full
workspace.
Masks You can create a mask to hide any unwanted reflections and light
sources visible to a Vicon camera (such as stray reflections from other
objects or surfaces in the capture volume, opposing strobe units, and
direct light sources) with the following buttons in the Camera view
pane tool bar:
Paint a mask Paint over any cells in the camera grid (displayed
onto the when the button is clicked) that contain unwanted
reflections. When a cell is painted, its background
camera
color changes from black to blue. The camera mask
consists of all blue cells obscuring unwanted
reflections.
Component Description
circles
Lock / Unlock Lock the current Camera view pane, so that it is effectively detached
Selection Set from the selection set and is not affected by any subsequent
selections in other open view panes. This is useful for displaying views
from different cameras in multiple Camera view panes.
Camera You view and manipulate 2D data in the workspace. You can manage
workspace the visualization of camera data, for example, you can orbit, truck,
dolly, and zoom the displayed data.
2. On the System tab in the Resources pane, select one or more cameras.
3. Expand the Vicon Cameras node and then click on the sub-node for one or
more specific Vicon cameras.
The 2D data from each camera selected on the System tab is displayed in a
separate Camera view.
Tip
To help you to determine the most effect threshold setting for
grayscale blobs, you can set the background color of the Camera
view to the value of the Threshold control in the Centroid Fitting
section of the Properties pane.
To do this, open the Options dialog box (F7), and in the General
View Options, select Threshold.
Important
Before using the automatic mask creation tool, ensure that you remove
from the capture volume any unnecessary objects, such as calibration
objects. For best results, the capture volume should be entirely free
from objects likely to cause background interference.
1. Press F7 to open the Options dialog box and under General View Options,
ensure that Threshold Map is selected.
Any reflections are visible in the Camera view pane, typically as non-circular
areas of grayscale or edge data. Note that reflections can severely affect the
camera data rates, and you may find that the camera overloads. In this case,
the camera automatically sends edge data instead of full grayscale data.
2. On the Calibrate tab, in the Create Camera Masks section, click Start.
All Vicon cameras are selected and a separate Camera view pane is displayed
for each one. The Start button changes to display Stop. Tracker starts
recording the data visible to each of the Vicon cameras connected. Any
camera masks that are created are displayed as blue cells in the Camera view
panes for the affected cameras. If there is no data visible to a particular
camera, Tracker does not create any masks for it. About 30 seconds of
recording is generally sufficient to enable Tracker to collect the data visible to
the cameras.
3. Click Stop.
Important
Before manually creating any masks, ensure that you remove from the
capture volume any unnecessary objects, such as calibration objects. For
best results, the capture volume should be entirely free from objects
likely to cause background interference.
1. On the System tab in the Resources pane, select all Vicon cameras.
2. On the view pane tool bar, select Camera to display the 2D data being
captured by each selected Vicon camera in a separate Camera view pane.
3. From the View drop-down list in the Camera view pane tool bar, make sure
that the 3D Overlay and Combined options are cleared.
4. Press F7 to open the Options dialog box and under General View Options,
make sure that Threshold Map is selected.
Tip
The Threshold Map default color is blue, but you can change the
color in the Options dialog box.
Any reflections are visible in the Camera view pane, typically as non-circular
areas of grayscale or edge data. Note that reflections can severely affect the
camera data rates, and you may find that the camera overloads. In this case,
the camera automatically sends edge data instead of full grayscale data.
6. From the Camera view pane tool bar, use the following buttons to hide any
unwanted reflections that are visible from the selected camera. (When you
click any of these buttons, a grid of small blue tiles is superimposed over the
camera image in each Camera view pane.)
Button Usage
Paint a mask Click an individual tile, click and drag across multiple consecutive
onto the tiles, or hold down ALT and click while dragging the mouse across
an entire area of unwanted reflections visible in the camera grid.
camera
You can drag the mouse horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.
When a cell is painted, its background color changes from black
to blue. The camera mask consists of all blue cells obscuring
unwanted reflections.
Erase a mask Click an individual tile, drag the mouse across multiple tiles, or
from the hold down ALT and click while dragging the mouse across an
entire area of blue cells in the camera grid. You can drag the
camera
mouse horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.
When an individual cell is erased, its background color changes
from blue to black, and any reflection that had previously been
obscured is visible again.
Clear the Click the button to automatically remove the entire mask from the
mask from camera.
the camera When the mask is cleared, the background color of any previously
painted cells changes from blue to black, and any reflections that
had previously been obscured are visible again.
Tip
To zoom in on the view pane, right-click and drag the mouse pointer
forward (to zoom in) or backward (to zoom out). To pan the image,
click both mouse buttons and drag. The camera masks are applied in
real time and are saved along with your camera calibration.
Save a configuration
To save a configuration:
You view and manipulate various values of one or more selected items (such as
the x, y, and z components of a marker trajectory) against time.
Component Description
Graph view You manage the display of graph data in the workspace with the
pane tool bar following controls and buttons on the Graph view pane tool bar at
the top of the view pane. The Graph view pane tool bar is designed
to lead you left to right through the normal flow of operations
required to plot a graph for the selected elements.
Graph type You select the type of graph to be displayed in the workspace from
under the categories in this drop-down list (graph types that are not
available for the current selection are dimmed):
Component Description
Trajectories
• Components – The X, Y, and Z position of
a trajectory over time.
• Distance From Origin – The linear distance
between a trajectory and the origin.
• Distance Between – The distance between
two selected trajectories.
• Distance Between (xyz) – The absolute
distance (as a vector) between two selected
trajectories.
• Angle Between – The angle between three
selected trajectories.
• Trajectory Count – The number of
trajectories being reconstructed.
Metrics
• Latency – A measure of the time taken by
Tracker to perform some task. As data is
received from the hardware and is processed,
Tracker takes timestamps that are used to
calculate the latency [Link] are two
different kinds of latency that are graphed if
you are using Firmware 222.
• Data Delivered – The amount of time taken
between the sync packet being received and
the data for that frame being delivered from
the hardware. This is the integration period of
the camera - the time that it takes the camera
to process the sample and any Ethernet
overheads.
• Data Processed – The amount of time
between the sync packet being received and
the completion of data processing.
Component Description
Segments
• Global Angle – The global position and
orientation of a rigid body.
• Relative Pose – The difference in
orientation between two objects. The
relative pose graph shows the
transformation from object A (the first
object selected) relative to object B (the
second object selected).
Differentiate You specify for the displayed graph the current variable, its first
the Graph derivative (velocity or angular velocity), or its second derivative
(acceleration or angular acceleration) by selecting the desired
options from this drop-down list:
• x (none)
• x' (velocity)
• x" (acceleration)
A graph of a trajectory will have X, Y, and Z axes, but when
differentiated to x' (velocity) will change to X', Y', and Z' axes.
Component Description
Rotation If you select an object on the Object tab in the Resources pane, you
can select Global Angle from the Graph view tool bar. This enables
Order the Rotation Order button. Clicking on the Rotation Order button
lists the angle convention choices of Helical (default), XYZ, XZY, etc.
This enables you to choose either a Helical or an Euler angle
convention. The Euler angle convention itself has multiple rotation
order conventions represented by XYZ, XZY, etc.
Show Legend This button allows you to show a legend to the right of the graph
trace for each component being plotted.
Scaling You manage the scale of the graph (to ensure that the desired
portions of the selected traces are visible) with these buttons:
Axis
Fit Vertically Scale the y-axis so that all the data in selected
traces for the currently visible x-axis is visible. If
there are multiple traces in the selected
components, they are all set to the same range
required to show all the data for all traces.
Lock Vertical Lock the vertical graph axis so that the current
zoom level is maintained.
Axis
Lock/Unlock Lock the current Graph view pane, so that it is effectively detached
Selection Set from the selection set and is not affected by any subsequent
selections in other open view panes. This is useful for displaying
different elements in multiple Graph view panes.
Component Description
Graph view You view and manipulate graph data in the workspace.
pane The workspace contains rulers and axes along the right and bottom
workspace edges and graph traces for the item being plotted.
The y-axis vertical ruler is on the right side of the graph and the x-
axis horizontal ruler is below the graph. The y-axis represents the
selected component. The x-axis represents the time (in frames). It
starts on the right side, which is labeled 0 (current frame) and is
labeled from right to left with decreasing negative values to reflect
the number of frames away from the live frame.
Tips:
• To change the default number of samples to display when a
new real-time graph is opened, press F7 to open the Options
dialog box, click Graph on the left, and on the right side,
change the Default X-axis length value.
• When zooming into or out of graph data, the display of grid
lines in the workspace can be set to guide the eye toward the
selected area of focus. Major grid lines remain at their normal
weight, while any minor grid lines gradually fade. To obtain
this behavior, press F7 to open the Options dialog box,
ensure Graph is selected and in the Properties area, select
Show Minor Grid Lines.
The Graph view pane displays graphs for the types of data that can be produced
in a motion capture trial.
2. Select the markers to be graphed in either of the following ways. (The number
of markers you select depends on the type of graph you want to view, as
described in step 3 below.)
• On the Objects tab in the Resources pane, expand the required Object
node, expand the Markers node, and then select one or more markers; or
3. From the view pane tool bar, select Graph. A single Graph view pane is
displayed with the default Components graph type plotting the X, Y, and Z
components of each selected marker.
Tip
When you have displayed a Graph view pane, you can select
additional markers to add to the Graph view pane. Each trajectory is
displayed in a different color trace. To identify the color trace used
for each trajectory, click the Show Legend button (or hover the
mouse pointer over it) in the Graph view pane tool bar. If the trace
for any additional markers is not visible, use the Fit Horizontally, Fit
Vertically, or Fit Both Horizontally and Vertically buttons.
4. From the Graph Type list in the Graph view pane tool bar, select another
option under the Trajectories section to plot the selected marker trajectories
in a different type of graph:
• Distance From Origin: Plots the distance from the capture volume origin to
each selected marker. This is useful for later plotting velocity or
acceleration of markers.
• Angle Between: Plots the angle between the two vectors formed by three
selected markers. This is useful for seeing how the group of markers move
over time.
• Trajectory Count: Plots the total number of trajectories over time visible to
the Vicon cameras (if streaming Live data in real time) or processed in trial
(if viewing previously captured data in a file).
5. If you want to save a particular graph view (for example, specific trajectories
that you have selected), save your configuration using the view pane
configuration management controls.
Tracker Undo Undoes the last action. This command is available only
after a relevant action has been performed.
Help View Online Opens the online Vicon Tracker Help system.
Help
View User Guide Opens a PDF of the Vicon Tracker User Guide that was
installed with Tracker.
About Vicon Displays the Vicon Tracker startup screen, in which you
Tracker can view version information about the installed
release of Tracker.
Show 3rd Party Displays the Third-Party Licenses dialog box, which
Licenses shows required third-party license agreements and
copyright notices.
To control the way data is visualized in the view panes, you use the controls in
the Options dialog box.
You access this dialog box from the Window menu or by pressing F7. You can
save the settings that you make in this dialog box, which enables you to
customize sets of options to use for different types of motion capture projects.
1. Press F7 or from the Window menu, select Options. The Options dialog box
is displayed.
2. In the Options list on the left, select or clear the relevant check box(es),
depending on the functionality you require.
3. To view or change the settings for an option, click on the option to select it.
The properties for that option are displayed in the Properties section.
Tip
To see any available additional settings, click Show Advanced. To
show basic settings only, click Hide Advanced.
4. In the Properties section, change the settings for the properties, as needed.
5. To save the changes you have made in the Options dialog box, in the
configuration management area, click the save button:
Tip
To indicate that you have made changes to a configuration but the
changes have not yet been saved, an asterisk * is displayed after the
configuration name in the configuration management list.
• Use Tracker's built-in VRPN server to extend your usage of Tracker (see
Working with VRPN on page 196).
• Use the Vicon Control app, to set up, calibrate, and capture with a
Vicon Vantage, T-Series or Bonita system (see Using the Vicon Control app
with Tracker on page 200).
• Use the Vicon DataStream SDK (or UDP) to access Vicon Tracker data from
Simulink (see Accessing Vicon Tracker data from Simulink on page 203).
Note
Head@TrackerPC is the way Virtools connects to the VRPN server within
Tracker. The format is object_name@PC_Name. This configuration file
will look for an object called "Head" on the Tracker server called
"TrackerPC."
=======================================
vrpnTracker_0 Head@TrackerPC
neutralPosition_0 0.0 0.0 0.0
neutralQuaternion_0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.0
axisPermute_0 0 2 1
axisSign_0 1 1 1
trackerScale_0 1
TrackerGroup_0 T[Link]
=======================================
• Add the VRPN settings to a [Link] file, which is in the same folder as
the .cmo. That way it can be tested with Virtools Dev.
• For versions of Tracker before 1.2 in the composition, activate the Use Scale
option and change the value of trackerScale_0 in your [Link] file to
0.001 (converts Vicon mm to Virtools m).
For a full description of any of these configuration options, please refer to the
Virtools documentation.
For sample files that use VRPN to connect Virtools to a tracked object within
Vicon Tracker, please contact Vicon Support on page 219 or download from
the Vicon website14.
14 [Link]
To enable you to do this, Tracker provides a second set of VRPN trackers, which
are output with the existing ones. For easy identification, the names of this
second set of VRPN trackers are suffixed with _2.
1. On the System tab, select Local Vicon System and in the Properties pane
ensure Show Advanced has been selected.
Before you can use your iOS device with Tracker, you must pair it with the PC
that is running Tracker (the Vicon host PC).
1. Ensure that your iOS device is connected to a Wifi access point that is on the
same subnet as the Vicon host PC.
2. On the Vicon host PC, ensure that the required connection is used, that
Tracker is running, and the system is connected.
5. To use the same connection in future, select Remember this choice for future
connection attempts. To permit Control to access Tracker, click Allow.
Tip
If later you need to revoke authorizations for Vicon Control, on the
Window menu in Tracker, click Reset Control Authorization. This
revokes all stored authorizations.
6. To select a camera and display a camera view, tap at the bottom of the
screen.
You can swipe the camera view right or left to change to the next or previous
camera and use stretch and pinch as normal to zoom in and out.
To access the dial control, tap and hold in a selected camera view.
Use the dial to view and change settings, calibrate and capture.
Important
The UDP stream contains only a small subset of the data that is available
via the Vicon DataStream SDK, so if possible, use the Vicon DataStream
SDK in preference to the UDP stream.
To help you access Tracker data from Simulink, examples of both types of access
are installed with Tracker. They can be found in the following default location:
C:\Program Files\Vicon\Tracker3.#\Simulink
Tip
You can use configurations other than compiled S-functions (such as
using MATLAB code within the Simulink block) but there may be a
performance disadvantage to using interpreted code. Alternative
configurations have not been investigated or tested by Vicon.
• A properly installed C or C++ compiler. Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 was used
during the development of the examples.
To access data from this stream you must write a 'client' to access the stream and
parse the data block to access its contents. The example clients provided with
Tracker illustrate the block parsing and some possible configurations for block
outputs.
For each frame in Tracker, one or more data blocks are sent. The number of
blocks per frame sent is dependent on:
On the System tab, when you click on the Local Vicon System node, the
following settings are available in the UDP Object Stream section of the
Properties pane.
Setting Description
Data Block Size The size of the UDP datagrams (data blocks). Ensure the
value selected matches the expected value for the
datagram size in the client program.
Options are 256, 512, and 1024.
Object Per Port If cleared, all objects are output on the same port.
If selected, each object is output on its own UDP port.
Port assignments are made whether or not the object is
active. The following image shows how port numbers are
assigned:
Port The starting port for UDP streaming. If Object Per Port is
selected, this is the starting port number. If Object Per
Port is cleared, this is the output port for all objects.
4 ItemsInBlock 2
6-7 ItemHeader:ItemDataSize 72
32-39 TrackerObject:TransX
40-47 TrackerObject:TransY
48-55 TrackerObject:TransZ
56-63 TrackerObject:RotX
64-71 TrackerObject:RotY
72-79 TrackerObject:RotZ
81-82 ItemHeader:ItemDataSize 72
107-114 TrackerObject:TransX
115-122 TrackerObject:TransY
123-130 TrackerObject:TransZ
131-138 TrackerObject:RotX
139-146 TrackerObject:RotY
147-154 TrackerObject:RotZ
• Translation X, Y, and Z
The values match the values received from GetSegmentGlobalTranslation
through the Vicon DataStream SDK.
• Rotation X, Y, and Z
The values match the values received from
GetSegmentGlobalRotationEulerXYZ through the Vicon DataStream SDK.
• Single object and multiple object examples on the same port are provided
using the Vicon DataStream SDK as well as the UDP stream. The only
difference in these examples is the method of data access.
• An additional example for the UDP stream is provided, which illustrates the
Object Per Port functionality. This functionality is not available using the
Vicon DataStream SDK.
• The examples use block parameters to specify the object names to be output.
Important
When you compile the code for the custom blocks, files are created in
the same folder as your source file. It is recommended that you copy the
example files to a folder other than the Tracker installation folder before
compiling, running, or modifying the example files.
To run an example:
2. The examples reference objects named Object1 and/or Object2. If you need
to change the objects that are displayed, modify the block parameters to
reference the desired object(s).
3. Open MATLAB.
A MATLAB window similar to the following is displayed:
4. Change your current folder to one containing the example you want to run.
5. Compile the example file. For more information, see the specific compile
information below. Vicon DataStream SDK examples need to link in the
proper Vicon DataStream SDK file as well.
6. Load the model by dragging the desired .mdl file from the file listing to the
command window.
This issues a uiopen command passing in the file you are dragging and opens
the model window.
7. In the model window click the Play button to run the simulation.
Tip
If the model contains a scope block to draw a graph of the data, you
must double-click on the scope to open it – it does not open
automatically.
1. Copy the CPP files from the Vicon DataStream SDK installation folder to the
folder containing the example files.
Your file names might be slightly different from those in the following
illustration, depending on the version of the Vicon DataStream SDK you are
using.
2. To compile and link C++ code, use the mex command. You need to compile
the .cpp file and then link it with the Vicon DataStream SDK .lib file. You can
do this in a single step that looks like this
All of the example S-functions have been written in C. Before using any of these
examples, they must be compiled.
• To compile C code, use the mex command, supplying the name of the .c file
as input, as follows:
ObjectPerPort folder
This folder contains two models:
[Link] and [Link]
You must configure the UDP Receive blocks in the models to match Tracker
output with regard to data block size and port numbers.
Contact Vicon
Contact Vicon
If you need more information than that supplied in the documentation or
on the Vicon Support web pages15, please contact Vicon:
Oxford, UK
Vicon Oxford
Unit 6, Oxford Industrial Park
Mead Rd, Yarnton, Oxford
OX5 1QU, United Kingdom
T: +44.1865.261800
E: support@vicon.com18
15 [Link]
16 [Link]
17 [Link]
18 [Link]