www.ssontech.com

[ssontech]

I periodically receive mail from people claiming they have to be able to export to evaluate SynthEyes. This is a misconception!

For starters, there are sample exports available on the website (http://www.ssontech.com/download.htm) if you want to see what they look like, but exporting is the final step and is a mechanical 1:1 transfer, not something that affects accuracy.

You can also create antialiased preview movies with test imports from the perspective view --- but if you see sliding that is a result of what you have done or not done, not a problem in the tool. It's always been frustrating for me that the people evaluating the product and most apt to say "it doesn't work" and walk away are the ones with the least knowledge. If you place an object in the air, it will 'slide'. If you have trackers on actors or features that move inappropriately (actors, cars etc), you're going to warp the shot.

Where can you better evaluate tracking: inside an application designed for that, or in an application designed for something else? (in the case of AE or Motion, with limited 3-D capabilities)

If you only want to push one button in SynthEyes then export to your favorite app, then you will think you need to export to evaluate --- but you would have learned nothing about SynthEyes. If you want to learn about SynthEyes, you will understand that the export is not so important, that you need to be working in SynthEyes. And the demo is there for people who want to learn about SynthEyes, not people who want to solve their shot and then do something with the results real quick.

SynthEyes is a tool, what you can do is limited primarily be what you know and learn. If you learn what you are doing, you can do the best tracking in the world, see http://www.ssontech.com/seenon.htm. But you do that learning in SynthEyes, not Maya or AE or whatever.

Tracking data can not be watermarked, and a single SynthEyes run can save more than $399 in labor costs. I do not believe you will find a single matchmoving application with a free fully functioning demo. In an ideal world perhaps a functioning version might be possible, but this isn't an ideal world, and the very premise that you must be able to export to learn about SynthEyes is flawed.

So sit back, roll up your sleeves, crack open that manual, take your time, and give the demo a try. Watch some of the tutorials at http://www.ssontech.com/learning.htm. Then you may be surprised what you can learn to do!

[thespawnkiller]

I will hang my head and admit that I was one of those people who emailed Russ asking for exactly this. In tight times, my manager isn't really exited about purchasing more software and I needed to give him a 100% guarantee that it would work.

I went through the process of solving and refining the shot and took Russ's word the export would work correctly. We purchased the software and it worked great.

Looking back, I completely agree with Russ that once you learn the software, you'll be confident that the export will work fine.