VizWorld.com

The Pixel Farm has just announced the newest version of their industry-leading camera tracking & matchmoving app, PFTrack 2011.  Already setting the standard for motion tracking, the newest version adds support for their new node-based flowgraph and tracking of deformable objects, among other features.

The acclaimed Geometry Tracking functionality of PFTrack has been enhanced to support tracking of deformable objects, such as an actor’s face while speaking, in addition to solving camera and rigid object motions. Since the track is accomplished using the tracking geometry’s vertices as opposed to point or pattern trackers, Geometry Tracking in PFTrack 2011 conquers many of the typical pitfalls that plague conventional tracking operations such as glints and highlights. Image Modelling and Texture Extraction nodes generate detailed geometry for scene fitting, shadow boxing, and set reconstruction. A set of modelling primitives can be positioned in 3D space and edited to match the image data, or new models can be constructed. Per-pixel Z-Depth extraction now supports masks, used to specify the relative depth ordering of objects in the scene, producing a grey-scale depth map image and triangular mesh geometry. Reengineered Optical Flow tools calculate dense optical flow fields describing the apparent motion of objects relative to the camera plane, and features retiming of clip and motion data to increase or decrease the apparent frame-rate of the camera. Retiming after a camera solve will also retime the camera solution, meaning shots do not require a re-tracking do to editorial decisions later in post production.

It’s available today for $3,300 USD.  Read the release after the break for all the details.

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Graphics motion tracking, pftrack, pixelfarm

The Pixel Farm has released a fun new gadget called ‘AirGrade’ completely free, bringing some of their colour-grading prowess to the masses.  It opens a full world of professional film & TV grading tools to the user, all controllable via a fun iPhone app.

To grade an image using Airgrade, users roll a 3D trackball and rotate a radial wheel on their iPhone to adjust precise tonal ranges using Lift, Gamma, Gain controls – recognised by professional colourists as Shadow, Midtone and Highlights – plus a Saturation control for overall colour intensity. The result appears interactively on their Mac, and on any other connected monitoring device, such as a digital projector. A shake of the iPhone resets the parameters, allowing a fresh grade to be made.

Get the full details after the break.

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Graphics color, iphone, pixelfarm

In response to demand for a lower-price point for The Pixel Farm’s amazing 2d/3d tracking and matchmoving technology, they’ve just released a new product called ‘PFMatchIt’.  PFMatchIt is the first product to utilize the company’s new 64-bit architectures and the new node-based flowgraph, both of which dramatically improve the speed of the software and the ease of use.

“The Pixel Farm has created easily the most sophisticated 3D tracking software we have ever used,” said Timor Kardum, CEO of OMStudios in Berlin. “The combined power of features in PFMatchit, like optical flow for 3D tracking, Python scripting, RED RAW support and the ingenious Edit Camera node will revolutionise matchmoving.”

In addition to the above improvements, this version also offers GPU Acceleration in several key areas, making the entire package significantly faster than previous versions.

Update: (I meant to add this and forgot).  I had a chance to see the product in action and it really is amazing the speed at which it works.  In mere seconds, they imported the footage shown in the thumbnail above, and used a mere 5 markers to accurately track the camera motion and the object in-frame.  In a later demo, they loaded a completely markerless scene that many would consider untrackable, and used their new node-based workflow and some of the camera edit functionality to first create an estimated path by hand (keyframed approximately 5 locations along the path), and then let PFMatchIt analyze it to refine the path.  It still wasn’t perfect afterward, but that alone would accomplish in 10 minutes what traditionally would have taken a full day or more.

It will be available in late August, at a price point near $700.  Full release and more screenshots after the break.
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Graphics pixelfarm, software

The Pixel Farm has just announced a new camera tracking and match moving software package (currently nameless) that works on OSX, Windows, and Linux  with more features than I’ve seen in any of their competition in a while.  Full metadata management, customization, Python scripting, rolling shutter correction, image distortion, and a new node-based flowgraph interface make this one product to check out.

“The tracking market is long overdue for an overhaul, and this is a game-changing advance from The Pixel Farm. I think they’ve just re-invented 3D tracking,” said Victor Wolansky, VFX Artist, E3post, and 3D Tracking Professor at fxphd. “New products emanating from these developments will be a ‘must-have’ for anyone involved in the visual effects business.”

Stop by their booth (#313) at SIGGRAPH for a Demo, and see the new application they’ll be announcing at SIGGRAPH.  Full release after the break.

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Graphics pixelfarm, siggraph, software

The folks at The Pixel Farm have released the latest version of PFhoe, version 2.2.  PFhoe is a match moving package used for converting live video into backgrounds suitable for inclusion in CG animation.

PFhoe provides a great place to start when tracking shots and learning the ropes and PFhoe’s Tools like the unique Import Wizard guides you through importing and setting up your footage by explaining the parameters that are needed to successfully track a shot. The simple one click tool set provides an environment even the most inexperienced user will get great results from.

Available for as little as $99 via their online store, it’s a must-have for anyone doing Video/CG Compositing work.

PFhoe.com.

Graphics motion tracking, pfhoe, pixelfarm, software

The Pixel Farm is announcing some new software at SIGGRAPH in a few weeks, so they’ve decided to offer PFMatch 2.1 for Apple’s Shake 4.1 for Free!

As you may be aware, PFMatch has recently been discontinued. Much of the product philosophy of PFMatch is soon to be re-introduced with a fresh approach focussed on improved workflow and closer integration with 3rd party applications that can utilize the unique data that our products produce. All will be revealed for the first time on The Pixel Farm stand at SIGGRAPH 2009, in August.

The offer is only valid until the end of August, after which point PFMatch will vanish into the dark abyss of abandonware as Pixel Farm moves onto new products.

via The Pixel Farm®.

Graphics apple, free, pfmatch, pixelfarm, shake, siggraph, software