Customer Care Messages (Public)
Welcome to the SynthEyes message center, designed to bring you the latest key information you need use SynthEyes most effectively. This condensed page is for our demo and out-of-support customers. In the commercial version, this page brings news of new export scripts, program changes, etc. with direct links.
We pride ourself on our email support, responsiveness, and ability to delivery the features customers want and need (including our Feature Suggestion system). If you have questions/comments/suggestions/etc about the demo, you can send email to support at ssontech.com, we'll be happy to discuss them.
Thanks for giving SynthEyes a whirl!
- October 18, 2023: SynthEyes 2024 released with Boris FX branding: new icons, splash screen graphics, installers, install locations, and RLM-based licensing. That's not all, see the full change list. Downloads available at the Boris FX website.
- September 15, 2023: Added new topic Why is My Lens Workflow Padding So Big? to explain what's happening and how to mitigate it.
- August 29, 2023: Fix in the (advanced) Lens Workflow script for Radial-4th mismatches due to U2/V2/U4/V4, notably when much padding is present. (Use the 'Maximum rounding error' control to reduce undesired padding of irregularly-sized source images.) New Color Preferences Listing script to easier locate UI color preferences. Available to customers in the Customer-Only area.
- August 4, 2023: Small tweak to the Nuke exporter to avoid a spurious error message in some files using the classic lens model, due to computer's inexact arithmetic. Available to customers in the Customer-Only area.
- June 26, 2023: Updated Nuke script to handle Export meshes "All" properly, not as "All non-imported." Available to customers in the Customer-Only area.
- June 21, 2023: Updated Fusion's 'Many Tracker Nodes' and 'Shared Tracker Node' scripts to output 2-D or 3-D positions. Available to customers in the Customer-Only area.
- June 19, 2023: A new “Maya ASCII Updated” exporter, a feature-rich direct export of Maya 2024 .ma files, is now available in the Customer-Only area.
It supports embedded meshes, projection screens, trackers as locators and/or chisels, consistent frame number controls, Arnold or native rendering, etc etc. Also updates to Fusion, Nuke, USDA.
- May 18, 2023: Initial release of the SynthEyes to Sci-D-Vis's 3D Equalizer™ export. Contact support if you are interested in trying it.
- May 17, 2023: Fusion and Nuke exporters updated to use their Anamorphic-4th distortion models to reduce the number of generated compositing nodes, only in no-pass workflow with no sixth-order coefficients and either no rotation or squeeze equal to 1.0. In no-pass workflows, other applications need to use the same lens center, which is only supported by the (updated!) Maya exporter. Otherwise, either don't calculate an off-center, or use Lens Workflow. Manual center exports are difficult because applications use various unusual coordinate systems for them. Contact support if you need updated scripts.
- May 12, 203: After Effects exporter updated to pass workarea information to the FBX exporter as part of C4D integration, avoiding a crash.
- May 2, 2023: Nuke exporter updated for issue with animated parameters in zero-pass workflow. Continue to check back; some additional functionality is coming to Nuke and Fusion exporters over the next few weeks.
- April 19, 2023: Nuke and Fusion exporters updated to place Far trackers in Tripod solves properly.
- April 18, 2023: Found a crash, replaced the original release! If your SynthEyes's Help/About doesn't read April 18th, uninstall, redownload, and reinstall. Sorry for the inconvenience.
- April 14, 2023: SynthEyes Demo 2304 Build 0056. Focus on lenses with new advanced lens models including Radial-4th and Anamorphic-6th, animated lens parameters with interpolation to prevent jitter, lots more to make it all go. See the seven new tutorials and the change list. For customers with older floating licenses reading this: You must be running SyFlo2 to run 2304 and later.
- April 14, 2023 (updated): Decoding ProRes files on macOS Ventura isn't working on M1 Minis, even though it is fine on M1 Pro and M1 Max Macbook Pros. MacOS doesn't decode to the 16-bit/channel format that SynthEyes requests. SynthEyes 2304 has a preference to force 8-bit reads to work around this. See the Ventura blog post for details.
- October 20, 2022: SynthEyes Demo 2210 Build 0055. Kurves color correction, prepset manager, many roto-spline improvements. See the rotomask tutorial and change list. For customers with older floating licenses reading this: When upgrading to SynthEyes 2210 (2204 and later), you must download and install SyFlo2.
- June 6, 2022: SynthEyes Demo 2206 Build 0054. Rectify Grid has a new option to detect and correct tilted grids; it requires physical grid spacing and camera-to-grid measurements. Other improvements and fixes to 2204. See the change list.
- April 22, 2022: SynthEyes Demo 2204 Build 0053. New license manager and license types, Apple ProRes on Windows and Linux, more lens tools, USD exporter, and many more. See the change list. SEVEN new SynthEyes 2204 tutorials.
- July 9, 2021: The Lens Workflow script will crash if object tracking is present. An updated script is available, inquire if you would like it.
- July 6, 2021: SynthEyes Demo 2107 Build 0052. Bug fixes and small improvements to 2106. See the change list. Re-download from the demo site, no need to register.
- June 11, 2021: SynthEyes Demo 2106 Build 0051. Internationalization. AprilTags. Solver improvements. Coalesce closest in 3-D. See the change list and latest tutorials.
- February 26, 2021: Apple Silicon (M1) Macs require a set of updated scripts now posted in the Customer-Only area to work properly, because they are Macs but not Intel Macs. If you are running SynthEyes 2102 on an M1 Mac and encountering problems with scripts, contact support.
- February 11, 2021: This contains an important bug fix to 0049 for reading several file formats, such as Cineon and DPX, and adds new Fusion 2D exports. See the change list and some thoughts.
- February 5, 2021: SynthEyes Demo 2102 Build 0049. Apple Silicon. High DPI. New look. Control-middle scrub. See the highlights or full change list and some thoughts.
- November 10, 2020: Hard on the heels of Apple's announcement today of new Apple Silicon machines, we're happy to announce that we'll be offering an Apple Silicon version of SynthEyes too. See the press release and blog comments.
- July 14, 2020: SynthEyes Demo 2007 Build 0048. New ARRIRAW and Blackmagic RAW readers. Bugfixes. Half processing. See the full change list and some thoughts. Smaller download this time; add the GPU overlay if suitable.
- June 16, 2020: If you try to install SynthEyes, and receive an error that it is already installed, it's not SynthEyes, it's a support library that needs to be uninstalled first.
- June 16, 2020: There's a bug in SynthEyes 2004 that can cause a crash when changing tracker type in some circumstances. Go to a frame with a position key before changing the type. New build fixing this and the May 15 Hierarchy bug coming soonish.
- May 21, 2020: If you want to unparent a mesh without moving it, you can give Synthia the following:
define a procedure to detach a mesh in place.
find the transform of the mesh.
detach the mesh.
make the mesh's transform the transform from step 1.
done.
define a procedure to detach in place.
detach the selected mesh in place.
done.
detach plane01 in place.
detach selected mesh in place.
detach in place. // ie the selected mesh
May 15, 2020: Known Hierarchy View bug: if you have a mesh parented to a moving object, removing that parenting by dragging the mesh all the way left will crash SynthEyes 2004. Instead, start Synthia (IA button) and enter detach the selected mesh
.
April 30, 2020: The Tensorflow library now used in SynthEyes 2004 requires that your processor implements the AVX instruction set. If SynthEyes 2004 crashes at startup and you have an older processor, that is the problem. The AVX instructions were introduced in 2011, so this is not unreasonable, and requiring it will allow us to provide additional speed increases in future SynthEyes versions.
April 20, 2020: SynthEyes Demo 2004 Build 0047. New neural tracking approaches and lighting-invariant tracking. Linux now requires ~CentOS 7. See the full change list and some thoughts.
March 23, 2020: COVID-19 licensing scheme introduced to permit company licenses to be used by workers at home. These are available at no charge, to valid license-holders from August 2012 onward. Click the link for details and to request a license.
November 14, 2019: Note that the exporters have been updated for the newly renamed "Adobe After Effects 2020" (no CC any more) and the new Cinema 4D install folder, so that they start properly. Updated scripts are only available in the customer-only area, however. Nice 2020 bonus: Maxon now permits C4D Lite to be started directly by the user and automatically by SynthEyes on both Windows and macOS.
August 13, 2019: Windows: if only quadratic distortion is present, the camera view does not distort renders of solid (only) meshes. Recommended workaround: turn on View/OpenGL Camera View.
August 7, 2019: Note that the Blender 2.80 official release version made a late change such that it no longer runs the SynthEyes-exported python. The exporter has been updated, but it is currently available only to customers via the Customer-Only area. Change the scene.update() line at the end of each exported python script to bpy.context.evaluated_depsgraph_get().update() or contact support.
May 30, 2019: SynthEyes Demo 1905 Build 0046. A few bug fixes to 1905 including one important one. No feature changes. See the full change list.
May 10, 2019: SynthEyes Demo 1905 Build 0045. Blender: support for 2.80 and more, ViewShift setup tools for easily working from a single clean plate, preferences exporter, GeoH improvements and new rigging tool, bug fixes, etc. See the full change list and new tutorial.
UPDATED March 27, 2019: Two issues have surfaced in 1903:
- A problem with anamorphic eccentricity in the image preprocessor. If you are using eccentricity, contact support for a small workaround for the Lens Workflow script.
- If you use the Cinema 4D integration in the After Effects Javascript export, you'll see a message about “can't find empty file.” In Scripts/System Script Folder, move the file named empty.c4d into the After Effects folder. Plus: Download scriptlist.zip and use the file in it to replace scriptlist.txt in the System Script Folder. (Tells SynthEyes about the moved file, to avoid a warning.)
March 25, 2019: SynthEyes Demo 1903 Build 0044 ViewShift system for 3D object removals, split takes, animated texture maps; improved GeoH rigging tools; workflow support for anamorphics including rack focus. See the full change list and new tutorials.
November 2nd, 2018: New tutorial Stabilization Rig Creator premieres at 3pm EDT/12noon PDT, featuring concurrent live chat with Russ Andersson. This is a 39:03 tutorial showing the variety of setups generated, and exports to After Effects, Fusion, and Blender.
September 10, 2018: Replaced the 0043 build to put in a small sanity limit for gnarly anamorphic eccentricity solves. If that's relevant and Help/About shows Compiled Sep 9 2018, please uninstall and redownload. (Seemed best to fix it now.)
September 10, 2018: SynthEyes Demo 1809 Build 0043 New single- and few-tracker tripod workflow, a number of usability and interoperability features, plus bug fixes. See the full change list and new tutorials.
August 6, 2018: Released an updated version of the Lens Workflow script that supports the Lens Center and Zooming Distortion values on the Advanced Lens panel. (New scripts are released in the Customer-Only area, which is not available to demo downloaders.)
June 27, 2018: SynthEyes 1806 Build 0042 with huge solver upgrades, with advanced lens solving especially for action cams and drones, per-axis locks on object solves, and dramatic performance improvements on larger shots. See the full change list and new tutorials.
October 31, 2017: Released several updated exporters: a major Lightwave exporter upgrade; Modo updated for 360VR and more; After Effects exports support the AE CC 2018 360VR features and more. See Facebook for more details. (These scripts are available to customers, but are not rolled into the demo version.)
September 16, 2017: SynthEyes Demo 1709 Build 0041 re-released with two further tweaks to the After Effects exporter. If Help/About doesn't say "Compiled Sep 16 2017," please redownload and reinstall! No need to re-register. (Just trying to bring you the most awesome software possible!)
September 15, 2017: SynthEyes Demo 1709 Build 0041 released, with important bug fixes to build 0040 and a few new goodies. See the full change list, and new tutorials on using After Effects' 3D environment for 360VR, including with Cinema 4D integration.
August 25, 2017: SynthEyes Demo 1708 Build 0040 released. Lots of exports including 360VR & C4D for AE, 360VR for Fusion including 9, HitFilm; macOS movie read/write rewrite. Around 100 changes in all. Keep an eye out for forthcoming tutorials.
June 16, 2017: More scriptiness, new tutorial on Exporting 360VR to Fusion. The main Fusion exporter now includes a viewer, bugfix for auto-run and directional lights, does ambient lights; shadow and lighting enables exported. Option to convert to spotlights. Animated light illumination. Write unsaved texture maps to disk if needed (eg shadowmaps). Shadow map maker updated.
June 8, 2017: New scripts. The main Fusion exporter handles 360VR scenes, creating a 360VR Fusion camera. A 360VR stabilization export to Fusion. Updated Fusion Pin export. All work on the free Fusion, and can export to the clipboard so you can paste directly into existing Fusion comps if desired. Also, a Level Scene from Frame export, which quickly levels an entire scene/path, assuming the camera is level on the current "golden" frame, automating the Alignment Using a Selected Frame tutorial.
June 2, 2017: Four new importer scripts released to customers: DXF Scene, COLLADA DAE Scene, OBJ Scene, and 3DS Scene. These operate via the Filmbox import, reading multiple meshes and etc from the file. The DXF and OBJ imports complement, not replace, existing built-in single-mesh importers accessed via File/Import Mesh.
May 18, 2017: New tutorial on Solving Long Shots in Pieces posted. Applies to both regular and 360VR shots; this shows 360VR and includes stabilization of a 18+ minute, 33,000+ frame shot; both original footage and stabilized results are viewable in 360VR.
May 3, 2017: Six new tutorials on different methods to align the horizon of 360VR shots posted. Also please notice the recent Intro to 360VR stabilization tutorial.
April 11, 2017: Demo users can try the new HitFilm Pro 3D export. IMPORTANT: only the first six frames will have valid data (like all demo exports), but you'll be able to see the comps and layers it creates. Learning and evaluating tracking is best done in SynthEyes, not other apps. See the Facebook post and HitFilm YouTube tutorial for more information on this exciting new exporter.
February 15, 2017: SynthEyes Demo 1702 Build 0039 released with direct native omnidirectional 360VR solving, a huge new lens calibration system; around 100 changes in all. See the latest tutorials.
September 13, 2016: New tutorial on Tracking Longer 360VR Shots posted for 360VR showing how to animate the linearizing aim direction during the shot, and how to solve a section at a time.
September 1, 2016: Posted a 52-minute two-part tutorial on incident analysis aka crash analysis, where object tracking is performed, typically using a 3D model for reference, and everything is tied back to real-world coordinates. Footage (AirSynth.zip) available, but sadly not the model.
August 30, 2016: Having trouble entering back plate size? Click the mm/inches selector on the preferences panel once or twice as appropriate. This resets an incorrect default units conversion.
August 26, 2016: Extra! There's now an export script and plugin to export 360VR stabilization from SynthEyes to After Effects, and apply the stabilization to the images entirely in AfterEffects. It's available just to customers at this time.
August 24, 2016: SynthEyes Demo 1608 Build 0038 released with Filmbox imports, including entire rigs, animated illumination measurement, sticky placements and settings, built-in 360VR screen; around 100 changes in all. See the latest tutorials.
May 17, 2016: Note that the 360°VR script "3D Tracking Setup" in the demo version requires that the shot start at its true starting frame, not later in the shot. A corrected version is available to customers.
May 9, 2016: SynthEyes Demo 1605 Build 0037 released featuring 360° Virtual Reality features, separate pan/tilt/roll tracks & filtering, pass-through mesh vertex numbering, an advanced bones deformation method, ... around 200 changes. Oh, and a 12-part 2-hour 360VR tutorial.
January 15, 2016: Three new tutorials posted on After Effects and lens distortion. There are also two matching scripts posted in the Customer-Only area, one new convenience script plus a slight tweak to the AE export.
January 12, 2016: Matthew Merkovich has posted the last two tutorials in his 5-part series on soft tracking using SynthEyes's Geometric Hierarchy (GeoH) tracking features.
January 9, 2016: Posted new tutorials on Measuring Rolling Shutter. This shows a much more accurate (and easier) technique for doing so. Also updated the Rolling Shutter white paper. Read more in the new Rolling Shutter area of the tutorials.
November 23, 2015: SynthEyes Demo 1511 build 0036 for Linux only re-released to correct a linux-specific mouse issue affecting the perspective view. Re-download and re-install using the download information in the demo email you received previously.
November 16, 2015: SynthEyes Demo 1511 Build 0036 released — fast-fix on a few small problems in the mesh de-duplication code.
November 16, 2015: Two new tutorials released, on mesh de-duplication and RED GPU-based file reading.
November 11, 2015: SynthEyes Demo 1511 Build 0035 released featuring new and enhanced GeoH tools, new GPU-accelerated RED file reading, mesh de-duplication—around 80+ new features, fixes, and tweaks in all.
September 30, 2015: Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan is showing some kinks running SynthEyes...
August 27, 2015: If you're done watching the first dozen tutorials, there's a new one on using a Google Maps image and a plane as a reference object for a camera track. There's no GeoH stuff here, but some new features are used in passing.
August 24, 2015: SynthEyes Demo 1508 Build 0034 released featuring Geometric HIERARCHY Tracking, a hierarchy view, and some 100 other features. A dozen new GeoH tutorials so far.
February 3, 2015: SynthEyes Demo 1502 Build 0033 released including new error curve mini-view, greatly upgraded Fusion exports for 3D and 2D planars, and UI updates. Six new tutorials released.
November 12, 2014: SynthEyes Demo 1411 Build 0032 released, with major new supervised tracking features including temporary offsets and animated sizes. Major tutorials: Supervised Tracking Master Class, Offset Tracking in More Detail. You want to watch them!
September 15, 2014: SynthEyes 1409 Build 0031 released with a variety of smaller user-suggested features including cliffhanger trackers, per-tracker channel select, auto-only tracker cleanup, etc.
July 24, 2014: SynthEyes Demo 1407 Build 0030 released. Introducing Synthia™, the revolutionary new SynthEyes Instructible Assistant productivity tool, with natural language text and voice control. Cloud communications facilitate rapid improvement based on users' experiences.
November 18th 2013: SynthEyes 1311 Build 0029 released. 3-D Planar Tracking is the main event! Handy "Run Now" option for After Effects exporters. Texture extraction improvements. Motion blur in Perspective Preview Movie. ASF, MP4, WMV movies can be written from 64 bit Windows. Python for Pro. And a lot more, read the change list on the SynthEyes Help menu. See the facebook page and Youtube channel too.
New Pricing! SynthEyes is more affordable than ever! Get SynthEyes Intro for $299, SynthEyes Pro for $499! Buy today!
August 9th 2013: SynthEyes Demo 1308 Build 0028 released. This is a big one. Distortion plugins for AE CC/CS6 and many updates for the AE exporter. Dramatically faster SynthEyes interface performance with large meshes present, including lidar with per-vertex colors. Nudge tool. Maya-style 3D navigation, distortion correction, and other improvements in perspective view. See the facebook page and updated manual for more info.
June 12th 2013: SynthEyes Demo 1306 Build 0027 released: Filmbox (FBX) export, a new Set Path 1f phase, and some other phase enhancements related to combining multiple solutions. See the recent change list. See the manual for description of the FBX-writer's extensive parameters. Also adds DXF and a second COLLADA export. Note: we can only write the file, we can't make other apps read the data from it!
May 22nd 2013: SynthEyes Demo 1305 Build 0026 released: accumulated bugfixes, plus support for floating licenses and left-over-right stereo output for Preview Movie.
May 17th 2013: Floating licenses now available for enterprise SynthEyes customers. Pricing.
April 16th 2013: The Linux version of SynthEyes now available (699 USD), see our main website for details; the online store for upgrade pricing.
December 1st 2012: SynthEyes Demo 1212 Build 0025 released, featuring the long-requested multiple camera views, which are especially handy for stereo tracking. Accompanying stereo and viewport upgrades.
November 16th 2012: Build 0024 released, featuring a new Disk Cache subsystem, especially for machines with RAID or SSD drives.
November 1st 2012: SynthEyes 1211 released, highlighted by improved movie file reading on Windows 7/8 and Mac OS X and the introduction of features for a Community Translation Project. See the recent change list. Note that there have been many additional tutorials since the last message, with more forthcoming.
28 September 2012: 1209 Demo Build 0021 released with some bug fixes,including the important 'C' to create fix.
17 August 2012: 1208 Demo Build 0001 released, with bug fix for Mac OK-button problem, lidar file reader, new Linearize phase, etc.
1 August 2012: SynthEyes 1208 announced, along with a new two-track release system. 1208 is on the Advance track. See our main web site for details.
19 March 2012: Build 2011.0.1010 posted. RED reader, a couple new scripts, various bug fixes.
8 December 2011: Build 2011.0.0009 posted, along with 5 new youtube tutorials. Highlights: lens auto-calibration from grids, symmetric/spot tracker snapping.
20th October 2011: Build 0008 released. THE DEMO VERSION CAN NOW EXPORT. OK, just the first six frames and the last, but it is enough for you to see how it all works and that your track is OK. For jitter analysis, use SynthEyes, it's far better. This version also has a new automatic coordinate system setup method.
11 August 2011: Build 0007 released. Highlights are the ability to read avi/mov files from the 64-bit Windows version (using a 32-bit server), and fixes to keyboard accelerators in OS X (including control-numpad-4). Also a bugfix or two, including for Lion.
16 June 2011: Build 0006 of the demo released, with bug fixes (and new export scripts)
7 December 2010: Build 0005 of the demo released, with bug fixes and a few new scripts!
1 December 2010: the SynthEyes 2011 release is in full swing! See pricing, features, and ordering information on the web site.
29 October 2010: The beta demo versions for SynthEyes 2011 are now up, you can access them through the usual demo-version signup.
22 July 2009: Build 2008.1.25 of 2008+1 is posted
9 Jan 2008. 64-bit OS X version is now released and available through the online store. See the forum post below and information on the main web site for details.
10 November 2008: Mac OS X users may find this 64-bit Mac OS X forum post of interest.
15 September 2008: Build 0008 released with several bug fixes, including one that caught a few demo users: a crash if the source material contained extra all-black frames.
9 September 2008: Nuke 5.0 and 5.1 exporters released.
5 August 2008: Motion 3 3-D exporter released. See the motion 3 tutorial. Be sure to see the note on DV footage not supported in Motion.
5 August 2008: A substantial number of other tutorials were also released, see the
tutorials page.
18 July 2008: New build 0007 released for PC and Mac. Some key fixes for object-mode solves. Also reverts to the older Quicktime reader on the Mac---the newer one was not sufficiently reliable. In related news, Apple is rewriting Quicktime for Snow Leopard.
12 July 2008: Five new tutorials available on the Learning page
SynthEyes 2008.08 is out, newly optimized to work with 8-core processors. Current demo build is 0005. If you have 2008.0004, you should replace it with 0005!
New tutorial: Visualizing Coordinate System Alignment with none of the hassle of computers!
7 December 2007: New tutorial on coordinate systems and the constrained points view.
16 November 2007: New build out with highlights including a way to create smoother autotrackers using the supervised tracker. See the new Fine Tuning tutorial. Several other new scripts. And the demo version can now run import and tool scripts so you can try them.
2 November 2007: If you install Leopard, you need to download the latest version of the SynthEyes demo version, Leopard does not run the old one.
Recent tutorials: Keep Your Distance, Which Way is Up? and How to Shoot a Gecko are just out.
12 July 2007: New tutorials: object tracking with simultaneous tripod camera move, mesh-matching an object move, and traveling-shot stabilization.
27 June 2007: Updated After Effects script to include an experimental checkbox for the CS3 beta, which wants slightly different files vs AE7. See new sample file on the downloads page.
31 May 2007: New build 1014 released for all platforms. A few minor but important fixes, plus a tiny new feature: playback rate display.
7 April 2007: Maintenance release fixing a image prep crash when cropping/padding is enabled on Interlace=Yes modes, in coalesce trackers, the view manager, and 2 cosmetic bug fixes.
30 March 2007: SynthEyes 2007½ released. You can re-download to get this latest version with great new features including stabilization. See the main site for details.
7 November 2006: Build 0003 for PCs and Macs. Faster image redraws, especially for large images on the Mac. On PC, faster AVI file reading for some types, elimination of a reading glitch for some codecs that could cause too many trackers to be generated, resulting in a crash. A few cosmetic bug fixes.
11 October 2006: There are a number of new audio-visual tutorials available.
27 September 2006: Build 0002 for PCs and Macs. Assorted minor improvements, such as faster Targa file reading and better greenscreen auto-set.
17 August 2006: Build 0001 for Macs only. Corrects an occasional hang when closing the Advanced popup dialog on the Features panel, observed only on PowerPC.
1 August 2006: SynthEyes 2007, Build 0000. See the main
website for information about 2007.
6 April 2006: New build 0011 of the demo posted for all platforms. Some new exporters, and some maintenance tweaks including better low-memory handling for auto-tracking long film-res shots on 2 GB machines, and a special preferences setting to improve "stop" responsiveness to work around issues in Wacom's tablet driver.
1 March 2006: A version of SynthEyes Demo for Mactel machines has been posted.