SynthEyes 2007 Camera Tracker Debuts

Malvern, PA. August 1, 2006. 

Andersson Technologies LLC has released the next major version of its SynthEyes camera tracking tool, dubbed SynthEyes 2007. SynthEyes offers a complete high-end feature set, including camera tracking, motion capture, object building, object tracking, camera+object tracking, multiple-shot tracking, tripod (nodal) tracking, zooms, lens distortion, light solving, curve solving, RAM playback, image preprocessing, green-screen and rotoscoped object separation and more. It can handle shots of any resolution—DV, HD, film, IMAX—and can be used on long shots with thousands of frames. 

The 2007 version features smarter, faster, and more robust auto-tracking and solving capabilities. It is optimized to work with multi-core and multi-processor machines. For example, a 63 second flyover (1890 DV frames) can be tracked and solved in 4 minutes on a Core Duo processor.

New feature highlights include a special green-screen tracking mode, a 3-D curve tracking and solving tool, the ability to locate a light based on its reflection from a mesh, as well as many special features and small user-interface improvements. 

Green-screen shots are often used for virtual set extensions, with small tracking marks applied to the screen. The new SynthEyes green-screen feature allows trackers to be selected only within the screened area, ignoring the actors moving about in the foreground, thus saving considerable time.

The 3-D curve tracking and solving facility can determine the 3-D shape of a curve in the scene, such as a sweeping highway overpass, even if it does not have any of the point features typically used in tracking. With the new capability, such shapes can be tracked and used to add effects such as a car chase, or more subtly, a curvy sidewalk might be used to precisely match an inserted rendering of a new home.

SynthEyes 2007 also offers the first camera-track export to Bentley MicroStation 8 XM, a major CAD application widely employed for infrastructure projects such as building, factory, and highway design. The new exporter, developed with the assistance of Bentley Systems, Incorporated, allows architects and planners to preview the appearance of new construction in live footage of the actual building site, long before the project is built.

Recent major SynthEyes credits include Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest; Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby; King Kong, which won 3 Oscars, including Visual Effects; the Visual Effects Society-award-winning 3-D IMAX feature Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3-D; and the Emmy-nominated Sci-Fi Channel feature Mammoth.

SynthEyes 2007 is available for Windows XP, Windows XP Pro 64 (64-bit), and Intel and PowerPC Mac computers. It is available now from the company website.

SynthEyes exports to most common 3-D computer graphics and compositing packages. CGI programs include 3ds max, Animation:Master, Blender, Carrara, Cinema 4D, Electric Image, Houdini, Lightwave, Maya, Poser, Realsoft 3D, trueSpace, VIZ, Vue 5 Infinite, and XSI. Compositing/2-D programs After Effects, Combustion, Fusion, Flame, Inferno, Mistika (new for 2007), Motion, Nuke, Particle Illusion, Shake, Silhouette Roto, and Toxik are supported (some are 2-D-capable only). Scripting lets you customize the standard exports, or add your own imports, exports, or tools. 

SynthEyes 2007 is priced at $399, with an upgrade from SynthEyes 2006 priced at $99, and from SynthEyes 2004, $149. Pricing for the Windows XP Pro 64-bit version is $50 higher. Customers who purchased or upgraded to SynthEyes 2006 in July will receive 2007 at no additional charge, customers who purchased in June 2006 may upgrade to 2007 for $49.50 until September 30th. Details will arrive via email. All prices are in US dollars. Quantity discounts are available, as is special pricing for educational institutions, inquire.