SynthEyes 2304 Zooms in on Lens Modeling

New Lens Models with Advanced Animated Parameters

* April 14, 2023. For immediate release.

Andersson Technologies LLC (Phoenixville, PA) has released SynthEyes 2304, the latest version of its 3-D tracking and match-moving application for Windows, macOS (with native Apple M1/M2 support), and Linux.

The new version greatly expands SynthEyes's lens modeling capabilities, adding standardized radial and anamorphic lens models to the solver and image preprocessor. With these models, lens distortion can be exported to the built-in nodes of compatible applications, without requiring STMap images or Lens Workflow processing.

Lens parameters can now be fully animated, not only by frame, but also with a great new keyframed linear interpolation mode. The solver optimizes the key values to produce the best overall solution including the intermediate frames. This method is crucial for producing low-jitter tracks when focus breathing is present.

Highlights of the new 2304 version include:

• New lens models: 4th-order Brown-Conrady, 6th-order anamorphic (including rotation and horizontal and vertical scaling), and fisheye, in match-moving-friendly and compositing-friendly versions.
• Lens model parameter solving modes: manual, constant, keyframed, all frames.
• New “anamorphic distance” solving, to accommodate anamorphic lenses with different horizontal and vertical entrance pupil (nodal point) locations. Anamorphic distance changes the basic perspective transform, addressing problems that cannot be corrected by any possible 2-D lens distortion. Supported in Alembic, Blender, FBX, Nuke, and USD(A) exporters.
• Seven new SynthEyes 2304 tutorials.
• New “Lens/True Field of View” script computes and displays the field of view and focal length of the original image itself on the horizontal centerline. Compare these results to the on-set measurements, not the solver outputs, which correspond to the initial undistorted image or the output of the image preprocessor after running Lens Workflow.
• New focus distance channel added to cameras in the Graph Editor to help with lens breathing shots. Scripts to load focus or other metadata into the channel from shot metadata or YAML files.
• Major Nuke exporter update, including usage of the built-in Lens Distortion node (not STmaps) for 0-pass (overscan rendering), 1-pass, and 2-pass lens workflows. Support for the Nuke's beta “New 3-D” system. Auto-run exported .nk files, or paste them into existing comps.
• Exports new distortion models (except fisheyes) to Fusion's LensDistort node for 0-pass (overscan rendering), 1-pass, and 2-pass lens workflows. Option to include absolute mesh pathnames, for use with Deadline.
• New Anamorphic Shots Guide.
• New “Keep World Size” control on the Advanced Solver Settings panel for special circumstances where direct expert manual control is desired.
• Added “Force 8-bit ProRes” preference for M1 Minis to work around macOS Ventura bug.
• You can read the full list of improvements and bug fixes.

The free demonstration version of SynthEyes on Windows, macOS (Universal — native M1/M2 code), or Linux can be downloaded starting at https://www.ssontech.com/regis.html

* Pricing and Availability

SynthEyes 2304 is available now. For in-support SynthEyes customers, the new version comes at no extra cost. Upgrade or renewal pricing for earlier SynthEyes customers varies depending on the details. Customers should use the online store to determine specific upgrade pricing for all versions.

Important: SynthEyes 2304 floating licenses require SyFlo2; SyFlo2 works only with SynthEyes 2204 or later. SynthEyes and SyFlo2 must be installed together. (SyFlo2 is no charge to existing SyFlo licencees.)

New single-OS seat licenses of SynthEyes Pro cost 499 USD. The cross-platform Pro seat license runs 599 USD. Floating Pro licenses are 699 USD each; Managed Seat licenses are 599 USD; Managed Temporary licenses start at 100 USD for one month, with a minimum of 5 licenses. A new SyFlo2 license for floating and managed licenses is 250 USD. For students and hobbyists, an entry-level Intro version (https://www.ssontech.com/introlim.html) is 299 USD. Purchasing is online at the company website.

A one-year site license for qualifying educational institutions is 495 USD (https://www.ssontech.com/educate.html). Contact the company with particulars for information on volume licenses for student computers.