ZEISS introduces their new camera tracking system at SIGGRAPH Los Angeles, August 8-10, 2023
ZEISS CinCraft Scenario on set
Oberkochen/Germany, August 1, 2023: With CinCraft Scenario, ZEISS presents a new powerful and flexible camera tracking system as part of their CinCraft ecosystem. Built upon Ncam’s unique tracking technology and ZEISS’ expertise in lens data, the camera tracking system is easy to use and introduces a user experience designed to match the film crew’s workflow.
Designed for all major applications
ZEISS CinCraft Scenario provides camera tracking data for use in real-time rendering engines for virtual production or live compositing. In addition, it lets the user record tracking data for post-production: “While camera tracking is known to be extremely useful for pre-visualization and virtual production, CinCraft Scenario can bring major benefits to any production that includes VFX as it can record the tracking data on set to be then used in post-production, where it can help significantly optimize an artist’s workflow,” explains Tom Evans, Product Manager and Camera Tracking Specialist at ZEISS.
The new camera tracking system can be used in practically every environment, indoors and outdoors, on film sets, with green or blue screens and in LED volumes. This is made possible by its unique hybrid tracking technology that not only allows for tracking specially placed reflective markers – the industry standard – but also tracks features of the surroundings, like object edges. In addition, CinCraft Scenario also works with digital markers on LED walls that are invisible to the main camera.
Plug and Play through ZEISS CinCraft lens data
As part of ZEISS’ CinCraft ecosystem, CinCraft Scenario also makes use of the ZEISS database of lens characteristics: “When used with ZEISS and ARRI/ZEISS cine lenses, Scenario benefits from the CinCraft lens characteristics. Their inclusion makes the system plug and play and eliminates the cumbersome lens mapping and calibration process,” adds Sundeep Reddy, Product Manager Digital Cinematography at ZEISS.
Modular components for individual needs
Designed to work with regular off-the-shelf equipment, CinCraft Scenario is natively compatible with major camera and lens encoder systems to provide all the data the system needs to track properly. It is comprised of several hardware and software components that can be individually configured to exactly match the users’ needs: CinCraft CamBar captures the raw data out of the environment and hands it over to CinCraft Origin that runs the main software and aggregates the data to compute position and movement. CinCraft Link connects CamBar and Origin and enables user interface access through mobile devices. The software components allow for computing position and movement and recording the data, exporting the recorded data to industry standard file formats as well as for real-time inclusion in Unreal Engine.
Availability
Users will be able to configure their CinCraft Scenario camera tracking system according to their specific needs or choose one of four pre-configured bundles. The system will be available through select dealers and the ZEISS CinCraft website by late Fall, 2023.
For more information visit zeiss.ly/cincraft-scenario
ZEISS CinCraft Scenario – Anywhere Anytime Camera Tracking
ZEISS CinCraft Scenario hardware: CamBar, Origin and Link
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Press contact
ZEISS Cinematography
Benjamin Hagen
Phone: +49 7364 20-3979
Email: benjamin.hagen@zeiss.com
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ZEISS Consumer Products
ZEISS Consumer Products combines the company’s business with photography and videography lenses, binoculars, spotting scopes and hunting optics. The unit is allocated to the Consumer Markets segment and is represented at sites in Oberkochen and Wetzlar.
ZEISS Cinematography
ZEISS high-end cinematography lenses have been advancing the film industry for more than 80 years and have received numerous honors, including three Scientific and Engineering Awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Today, around the world, filmmakers choose ZEISS “made in Germany” lenses for their productions.
The ZEISS cine lens portfolio includes the Lightweight Zoom LWZ.3 for Super 35 as well as the Compact Prime CP.3 and CP.3 XD, and Cinema Zoom CZ.2. The families of Supreme Prime and Supreme Prime Radiances lenses combine a generous range of focal lengths with unsurpassed quality for all manner of camera combinations.
The ZEISS CinCraft ecosystem offers lens data-related services for visual effects. CinCraft Mapper, provides frame-accurate lens distortion and shading data for compositing and matchmoving. The addition of the recently acquired, Ncam, known for pioneering camera tracking technology, opens the doors for more developments to enhance camera work in VFX, and virtual production on LED walls and volumes.
Headquartered in Oberkochen, Germany, ZEISS Cinematography is represented in: Los Angeles, California and White Plains, New York, USA; Mexico City, Mexico; Cambridge, UK; New Delhi, Mumbai, and Hyderabad, India; Beijing and Shanghai, China; Taipei, Taiwan; Singapore; and Tokyo, Japan.
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