Using the Camera Tracker requires some setup, as this topic describes.
To use the camera tracker, you need the following:
- Movie footage in one of the file formats that 3ds Max supports, such as AVI or MOV. If you have sequential still images, you can use an IFL (Image File List). The file selector can automatically generate an IFL file by selecting the file name and turning on the sequence button. Or use the IFL Manager Utility to create an IFL file.
- A set of trackable features in the movie, such as wall markers, balls, corner points and so on, for which position measurements are known. The tracker will track most small features with good contrast to their surroundings, have a well-defined position in space, and are unique within their frame-to-frame areas of movement. There must be six or more tracking features in the scene at any one time, at least two of which must be non-coplanar with the others, for example four on the ground and two elevated or three on one wall and three on another. For maximum match accuracy, you should use as many features as you can and select the features that are distributed as widely as possible over the scene. The features don’t have to be in any particular planes.
- A 3ds Max scene file in which a set of point objects have been created and positioned in 3D corresponding to all the tracking features in the scene. The objects should be point or CamPoint helper objects. The tracker will match-move a selected Free camera in the scene, so you need to have at least one Free camera. You can place and orient it anywhere in the scene.