Optional setup

In addition to the preparations described in Prepare your Origin system, depending on your requirements, you may also want to make the following changes:

Change camera settings

The default settings for Viper cameras are suitable for many typical usage scenarios. Viper cameras are sensitive to the infrared light emitted by the Pulsar marker LEDs. They are factory-configured with the aperture set to F8 and back-focused to a depth of field 0.8 m–∞. No additional hardware setup is required on site, however, in some circumstances (eg, if you have a small volume with little IR noise) you may benefit from adjusting the Threshold setting on the Processing panel in Evoke.

Customize views and layouts

Evoke provides you with a number of ways to customize both what you view in the Evoke Workspace and the layout of the windows. You can change and customize the view to suit your way of working.

Set appropriate View Filters

While you're working with Evoke, you can set the View Filters to give the most useful view of your data.

The default view filter sets are for setup and retargeting. The View Filters for the 3D Scene view include options for solving and retargeting.

To add your own filter sets, in the 3D Scene view, click View Filters and in the Subjects section, click the New Preset button.

The options are displayed in a matrix, with columns for Object, Solving and Retargeting, enabling you to choose a view configuration that suits your current task.

Your settings, including any custom presets, are automatically saved, so that you can easily re-use them for different workflows.

For details, see the Vicon video:

The view filter presets are stored in the view presets file, by default:

C:\Users\Public\Documents\Vicon\Evoke1.x\userName\SubjectViewPresets.xml

The current view filter preset is stored in the view file, by default:

C:\Users\Public\Documents\Vicon\Evoke1.#\LastRun\userName\LastRun.View

Change camera orientation detection

View frames in the Cameras view can be rotated to match their physical orientation, so that up in the image matches up in the real world. The orientation is determined from the camera calibration if available, otherwise the accelerometer on board the camera is used.

This option is enabled by default.

To turn on or off camera orientation detection:

1. In the Cameras view, click View Filters.
2. In the 2D Data section, select or clear Show Orientation.
3. To choose whether to snap to 90° increments, ignoring smaller rotations, select or clear Snap to 90°.

   

Display the number of selected markers

To quickly check that all markers on a particular target are visible, you can select an option in the 3D Scene view to show the number of markers currently selected.

To display the number of selected markers:

1. In the 3D Scene view, click View Filters.

2. In the Overlays section, select or clear Selected Marker Count.

   At the bottom right of the view pane, the Marker Selection count is displayed. If no markers are currently selected, a zero is displayed.

   

   As you select markers, the Marker Selection counter changes to display the number of selected markers.

Load and save window layouts

In addition to using the supplied Default (for tracking), Analysis (for tracking and graphing), and Camera Calibration layouts, you can save your own customized layouts of the workspace and panels. This enables you to quickly switch between layouts when either setting up the system or running experiences.

To access both the supplied and any saved window layouts, click View Settings at the top right of the Evoke window.

Custom layouts are saved by default to:

C:\Users\Public\Documents\Vicon\Evoke1.x\userName\Views

Change the auto-save interval

Evoke settings are automatically saved while you're using Evoke, as well as when you exit. The auto-saved files are located in the usual settings folder, which defaults to:

C:\Users\Public\Documents\Vicon\Evoke1.#\LastRun\userName

These files are replaced by the normal last run settings files when Evoke closes:

If any of the AutoSave files is detected when Evoke starts, you're prompted to confirm which files to load:

• To load the most recent (auto-saved) settings, click Yes.
• Or, to load settings from the last successfully closed session, click No.

This feature prevents you from losing your settings if Evoke closes abnormally, for example, due to process termination, machine reboot, etc.

Note that the auto-save files are only updated if there have been changes since the last auto-save.

To change the interval at which files are auto-saved:

1. On the Settings menu, click Preferences (or press Shift-P), then in the Preferences dialog box, click the User tab.
2. In the General section, change the value in the Auto-save interval field from the default (60 seconds).

Reduce processing rate for large numbers of objects

Normally, when the system is heavily loaded, to avoid dropping frames, you must reduce the system frame rate. When the (Advanced) processing option Halve Processing Rate is selected, you can keep the system frame rate high, but reduce the rate of subsequent processing (eg, object and character tracking). A high frame rate may improve tracking quality (particularly for fast movements) while subsequent processing is reduced, lowering processing load requirements on the host PC.

When using the Halve Processing Rate option, note the following points:

• 2D centroid detection always happens at the system frame rate
• Subsequent processing depends on whether Halve Processing Rate is selected or not:
  • When cleared (the default), every frame is processed as normal
  • When selected, every other frame is dropped (giving a tracking rate of 1:2)
• When using the Datastream, ifHalve Processing Rate is selected, dropped frames occur at every other frame.

Use High Speed mode for Vicon Vantage cameras

When your system is upgraded to the latest firmware (Firmware 725 and later), Evoke enables you to use High Speed mode with your Vantage cameras without having to change the field of view (FOV) or lens. When you capture optical data, subsampling (selectively reducing the pixel count) enables you to run at high camera frame rates without reducing the FOV (frame size). You can change frame rates during capture and you don't need to set up your cameras again when you increase the frame rate, as the FOV is unchanged.

Note that because the higher speeds are achieved through subsampling (removing some pixels from the frames), some reduction in resolution is incurred. For details, see High-speed mode in the Vicon Vantage Reference Guide.

To select high-speed mode:

1. At the top of the System panel, set the frame rate to the speed you want to use in High Speed mode.

   A warning may temporarily be displayed, alerting you to the discrepancy between the requested frame rate and the actual system frame rate, until you select high speed mode for all the relevant cameras, as explained next.

2. In the System tree, select one or more cameras.
3. In the Properties pane below, ensure the Advanced properties are displayed and in the Optical Setup section, click the Sensor Mode list and select High Speed.

   

   In the Cameras view in the Workspace, notice that the High Speed mode icon is displayed to the right of the other information about the selected camera(s).

   

   After a few moments, the system runs at the new speed.