One normally doesn’t put much stock in press releases, but sometimes you can read between the lines and see some substance behind the hype. At SIGGRAPH next week in Los Angeles, anyone involved in the process of combining 3D and live action footage will want to check out the latest upcoming release from Pixel Farm, makers of PF Track.
What can we expect? Here’s what can be gleaned at this stage:
- New architecture based around “node-based flowgraph architecture”
- Procedural, non-linear environment in which to experiment with, and combine, various tracking approaches
- 64 bit native
- Python integration
- “low cost”
The quotes from industry leaders hint at something pretty significant.
“The Pixel Farm is going to catch a lot of people by surprise. This advance represents a genuine paradigm shift in both the science and technique of matchmoving”, said Daryl Shail of Monster Matchmoves in Toronto. “The new architecture vastly improves the entire process of camera tracking. It’s easy to learn, fast, and provides extraordinary levels of control, while allowing artists to experiment and refine the track with ease, and deliver the most accurate data possible.”
“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.”
More to follow, clearly.