PFTrack for Academic Customers -

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3D Tracking Reinvented

Tracking professionals throughout the VFX industry regard PFTrack as the most innovative product of its kind. With unparalleled flexibility, functionality and precision, it is the go to matchmoving and layout software for a reason: It does what the competition can’t. ***Note: Must be logged in as an Academic Customer to Purchase.***

PFTrack

Building on a rock-solid camera tracking and image analysis engine, PFTrack adds exclusive technologies that stretch far beyond the capabilities of other conventional matchmoving software, empowering visual artists to recreate entire scenes within an accurate world space defined by real camera metrics.

Every VFX pipeline will benefit from data that only PFTrack can deliver, meaning creative possibilities are limitless, and accessible within a single working environment that inspires imagination.

PFBucket

PFBucket is our entitlement management system, empowering customers with a flexible toolset to deploy entitlement tokens to operator workstations, whilst managing permissions and privileges to access our embedded user support with ease, and downloading software installers.

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PFAcademy

Learn PFTrack and PFClean for free.

The PFAcademy teaches you everything you need to know to become proficient in using our software. Learn the fundamentals of our software and continue on to earn manufacturer accredited certifications to carry forward into your chosen career path.

Go to the PFAcademy

PFTrack 20.06.22

New Features and Enhancements.

Project Manager

PFTrack features a powerful new project manager allowing you to quickly create and organise your projects with our completely new tagging and search feature.

New project manager, supporting an independent path per-project
Project information UI, including disk usage breakdown and media summary
Added disk caching locations and system information to preferences
Command-line arguments to create input nodes with loaded media
Command-line arguments to set default export path and format

User Interface/Experience

Completely re-engineered UI for better user experience, providing a dynamic window manager, support for high-resolution displays and much more.

Retina and High-DPI monitor support
New dynamic window manager providing custom layouts and floating windows.
Import/export of an entire tracking tree page as a single binary data file
Per-user layout presets.
Improved 3D perspective viewer layout and navigation functionality
Improved curves editor
In-app ticketing system for direct user support (requires a PFUser account).

Media I/O

Improvements across the entire media I/O strategy have resulted in new input nodes with vastly improved metadata handling, productivity enhancements to the media import file browser, and performance gains for directory and file I/O handling.

Improved media import file browser
New Clip and Photo input nodes with metadata browsers
New Scene and Footage export nodes
Media Foundation support on Windows
New ‘Automatic’ camera model type in Clip Input node.
RED R3D version 7.0
ARRI RAW version 6.2.2.0
OpenEXR 2.3.0
Autodesk FBX 2019
Alembic 1.7
Retired legacy 32-bit Quicktime library on Windows and Linux
Improved directory and file I/O handling

Camera Presets

New camera preset managers utilizing user-generated camera back and lens libraries produce sharable camera models for movie cameras and photogrammetry stills cameras.

New camera preset managers for movie cameras and photogrammetry stills cameras.
Comprehensive list of RED and ARRI sensor presets, including support for windowed sensors and shooting modes.

Lens Distortion

Completely new integrated lens distortion pipeline based on a new automatic calibration pattern detection when building lens distortion presets. Includes a new anamorphic distortion model, automated correction of lens breathing and extended support for ST-maps.

Improved integrated lens distortion pipeline, including new automatic calibration pattern detection when building lens distortion presets.
New Anamorphic distortion model, including the automatic correction of lens breathing
Support for extremely wide-angle lenses in photogrammetry
ST-map import for lens distortion correction
Python support for ST-map export

Metadata

Extended support for embedded metadata management for RAW movie file formats (ARRI, RED) including new metadata analysis tools for movie camera data, focal length, camera orientation and synchronisation of F-curves to image data.

Updated embedded metadata management for RAW movie file formats (Arri, RED)
Metadata analysis tools for movie camera data, including focal length and approximate camera orientation

Photogrammetry

Where to start? Significant updates to the photogrammetry pipeline including an improved photogrammetry solver with automatic lens distortion correction, and updated Scene Solver node with improved feature matching and camera solver. Add a new thumbnail navigation bar for photogrammetry datasets and customizable EXIF metadata support, including GPS position and orientation hints in the solver, and top that off with a new Photo Cloud node for combining depth maps into a dense point cloud before meshing, along with the added ability to export dense point clouds.

New thumbnail navigation bar for photogrammetry datasets
Improved photogrammetry solver, including updated automatic lens distortion correction
Customizable EXIF metadata support for photogrammetry datasets, including GPS position and orientation
Support for GPS position and drone camera orientation hints in the solver
New Photo Cloud node for combining depth maps into a dense point cloud before meshing
Renamed Scene Solver to Match Camera and improved feature matching and solver
Export of dense point clouds in Autodesk FBX, Alembic, PTS, PLY and XYZ file formats.

Node Updates

A significant number of improvements have been applied to existing nodes working on our philosophy of making it easier to produce better results in less time.

Improved survey and camera solvers, including updated automatic distortion correction
Improved hint system for camera and survey solvers
Improved feature matching accuracy in the Auto Match node
Added display of camera metadata focus distance to Orient Camera node
Added Scale Points transformation mode to Orient Camera node
The Orient Scene node has been renamed as Orient Camera, with improved manipulator interaction
The Orient Camera node can now set scale using a single tracker distance from the camera
Improved near/far camera clipping plane support
FBX geometry import now reads pivot point from a mesh file

User feature enhancement requests and bug fixes

In addition to the huge number of changes and features included by The Pixel Farm’s own development efforts, a number of user-requested features and bug fixes have also been included.

Better support for anamorphic lens distortion (PFT000310)
Python support for ST-map export (PFT000296)
Import pivot location from FBX to Geometry Track
Custom location for Python scripts and macros
Near and far clipping plane adjustments in Survey Solver (PFT000158)
Add translation/rotation constraint options to Survey Solver
Option to flip normals in Survey Solver
Allow connection of Roto node to Z-Depth Object (PFT000059)
Read in externally generated ST-maps (PFT000314, PFT000353)
Re-link media that is not missing (PFT000372)
Allow removal of geometry from Survey Solver (PFT000365)
Command-line control of project generation

Other

Numerous additional features and improvements to background application libraries such as Python (updated to 3.7), script and macro file location preferences and user settings/preferences.

Python library updated to 3.7
Network communication improvements
OpenSSL on Windows and macOS replaced by native OS libraries
New script and macro file location preferences
Moved user preference and log file locations to the Documents folder

Important information about this and future PFTrack releases.

The net result of this huge update is a better platform to develop features that move us forward and allow us to better support customer requested changes.

As of this build, OS versions now limited to macOS 10.13+, Windows 10, Centos 7.6+.
You will need a commercial account to use the required PFUser management tools available in the PFAccount Admin Hub. Speak to sales if you haven’t already transitioned (sales@thepixelfarm.co.uk)
Due to significant changes in the internal architecture of the software, projects created with earlier versions of PFTrack are no longer compatible.
We have dropped the restricted annual version. All builds going forward use a version number based on the build date e.g 20.06.10
Beta versions of software products are now automatically available to any account which holds one or more entitlements with currently active maintenance subscription. If you do not have an entitlement under current maintenance it is not possible to access beta software.

View product documentation

Supported Operating Systems

Microsoft Windows 10 (only 64-bit supported)
Mac Mac® OS X 10.13 or later (only 64-bit supported)
Linux CentOS 7.6 or later (only 64-bit supported)

Minimum Supported Hardware

Intel Core™2 Duo processor or higher
4GB RAM
2GB available hard disk space for full content installation
Mouse or pointing device
1920×1080 resolution monitor
1GB dedicated GPU with accelerated graphics (2GB recommended)
OpenCL 1.2 or later / CUDA Compute Capability 3.0 or later †

† OpenCL is used exclusively on OS X. On Windows and Linux, CUDA is used for NVIDIA GPUs, and OpenCL for all other cards.
Optimal Processing

The following are recommended for optimal processing.

A fast (300MB/s or more) storage device. Required for optimal handling of 2K resolution footage and higher.
A CPU with at least 4 cores is recommended for optimal UI performance.
Increased RAM for data caching. Clips stored in RAM are processed far more quickly.
2GB GPU is required for medium and high resolution depth map creation for photo meshing.

Licensing

Please note: a direct internet connection is required to install and administer the licenses using the license manager. Otherwise, licenses must be managed manually.

PFTrack 20.06.22

Major new release

This is the changelog for the new release of PFTrack, compared to the last beta version 20.05.22.

Updates

Added command-line argument to add a default file browser media to the project
Added toggle to choose between checkerboard and dots pattern when loading media for camera preset calibration

Bug Fixes

Fixed crash in Photo Input node when trying to disable focal length metadata
Fixed crash in Camera Solver when attempting to triangulate missing point data with multiple cameras
Fixed issues exporting both sparse and dense point clouds as geometric objects instead of locators
Fixed metadata parsing trigger when changing in/out points and frame range in Clip Input node
Fixed bug storing EXIF/XMP altitude metadata tag in project
Fixed icon displayed when export succeeds in the Export node
Fixed Collada DAE export issues
Fixed node delete button to correctly display warning message when trying to delete input nodes that still contain media
Fixed ST-Map export parameters to default to 32-bit EXR
Fixed ST-Map export to default to single-frame unless lens distortion is varying over the clip
Fixed bug to ensure projects created on the command line appear central in the Project Manager
Fixed TIFF image sequence support
Fixed bugs in preset editors to ensure sensor and focal length is set before building preset
Fixed tag editing bugs in Project Manager
Fixed project renaming bug to ensure old project files are deleted
Fixed crash when relinking projects with missing media
Fixed some minor UI layout issues
Fixed some UI interaction bugs in the camera presets editor
Fixed workspace layout bug preventing windows being dropped into place
Fixed storage of anamorphic squeeze parameters in camera presets
Fixed UI interaction issues in the Clip Input node
Fixed UI interaction issues in the Notes editors
Fixed project saving when storing new paths in the file browser
Fixed bug causing background processing progress bar to still be visible after a job is cancelled
Fixed various issues with command line argument processing (environment variables, -retry)
Fixed available disk space calculations
Fixed camera near-plane distance initialisation

PFTrack 20.05.22 beta (release candidate)

Updates

Added new project manager, supporting an independent path per-project
Added project information UI, including disk usage breakdown and media summary
Added disk caching locations and system information to preferences
Added command-line arguments to create input nodes with loaded media
Added command-line arguments to set default export path and format
Added import/export of an entire tracking tree page as a single binary data file
Added display of camera metadata focus distance to Orient Camera node
Added Scale Points transformation mode to Orient Camera node
Updated command-line processing (-help to display arguments)
Updated media import node icons in the tracking tree
Updated Photo Input node UI and added single-frame ST-Map import
Updated Clip Input and Spherical Input node UI
Updated movie and photo preset UI, and fixed many related bugs
Updated media metadata UI
Updated lens distortion renderer to use double-precision OpenCL when available, CPU otherwise
Updated LSWC file format numbering to 8 to avoid warning when loading LWS file into Lightwave 2019
Updated Auto Match, Auto Track, and User Track nodes to maintain correct tracker positions after switching up-stream distortion model
Updated Photo Survey and Camera Match nodes to maintain correct tracker positions after switching up-stream distortion model
Updated ARRI RAW, RED R3D, Quicktime on macOS, and Media Foundation on Windows, to improve read performance

Bug Fixes

Fixed crash when attempting to determine disk usage on unknown device volumes
Fixed crash when changing deinterlace modes in Clip Input node
Fixed notification message loading issues on macOS Catalina
Fixed units scaling in Collada export
Fixed near/far planes in FBX export
Fixed Clip Input node to select correct undistort mode when selecting Automatic or From Preset camera models
Fixed bug preventing clip delete when switching projects
Fixed potential crash when deleting empty tree pages
Fixed image sizing issues when switching distortion modes upstream after solving a camera
Fixed crash when switching to an ST-Map distortion model whilst viewing/editing the image crop resolution
Fixed GPS/altitude usage in Photo Input node
Fixed scaling of geometry objects when using Orient Camera node
Fixed some window interaction issues in the upper workspace area

PFTrack 20.03.25 beta

Updates

Updated UI layout for Clip Input node
Improved export speed of dense point clouds to OBJ format

Bug Fixes

Fixed crash when reading z-depth data from disk after up-stream frame resolution has changed
Fixed Euler rotation flips when using camera rotation metadata
Fixed file browser button layout issues on non-retina displays
Fixed file browser refresh when changing media import type.

PFTrack 20.03.13 beta

Updates

Added ‘Automatic’ camera model type to Clip Input node
Updated metadata curves graph interaction in Clip Input node
Improved RED R3D reading performance

Bug Fixes

Fixed photogrammetry solver so it doesn’t stop prematurely when trying to align a solve to bad GPS data
Fixed bugs in 16-bit and full-premium R3D decode
Fixed crash when parsing multi-chunk DPX metadata
Fixed crash when solving for lens distortion in the Clip Input node using measurement lines
Fixed display of invalid stored paths in file browser
Fixed undo/redo bugs when undoing changes in lens distortion in the Clip Input node
Fixed reset of measured distortion model when removing media from the Clip Input node
Fixed crash in Preset Editor when scrubbing through focal lengths after calibrating lens distortion
Fixed initialisation of filenames and directories when using native file browsers
Fixed parsing of ARRI focus distance units from Quicktime files
Fixed automatic selection of best shooting mode when selecting a sensor preset in the Clip Input node
Fixed camera solver bug preventing known variable focal length cameras from solving properly
Fixed application of ARRI LDS lag value when reading dynamic metadata
Fixed export of trackers to XYZ format to respect the tracker export on/off state
Fixed large coordinate check when importing survey coordinates into the Survey Node

PFTrack 20.02.28 beta

Updates

Added a new file browser for clip and photo import
Updated metadata parsing functionality in the Clip Input node
Updated camera preset handling in the Clip Input node
Added a ‘Remove All’ button to the Photo Input node
Added python support for Auto Match node
Added disk caching functionality to the Project Manager and Clip Input node
Added a job queue for background processing of nodes
Added MXF metadata support for EXR image sequences from Sony cameras

Bug fixes

Fixed a bug on Linux whereby using keyboard shortcuts could prevent further mouse interaction in the Cinema window
Fixed some UI font and icon size issues
Fixed some Windows 10 scaling issues on high-DPI monitors
Fixed bug causing incorrect preset lens distortion in the Photo Survey node
Fixed bug preventing imported camera presets from being selected in the Clip and Photo Input nodes
Fixed bug when renaming project at project creation time
Fixed performance and lag issues in project manager UI
Fixed initial far plane distances in Photo Input node
Fixed potential crash-on-exit after displaying support login page
Fixed bug whereby clip frame size was wrong after switching off ST-Map undistort in clip input node
Fixed issues when deleting media from duplicated input nodes

Other

Updated install locations so beta builds can be installed alongside older versions more easily (Linux and Windows binaries have been renamed to ‘pftrack-beta’)
Notarised macOS builds for installation on macOS Catalina

PFTrack 20.01.14 beta

This new version of PFTrack started out as a mission to upgrade our entire build environment, including compilers, servers and Qt making us more efficient as developers. It took a bit longer than we anticipated and resulted in significant code rewrites which presented an opportunity to update parts of the app that were long overdue.
The net result of this huge update is a better platform to develop features that move us forward and allow us to better support customer requested changes.