A key component of
any virtual production system is a means of measuring the precise position
and orientation of each studio camera, so that the virtual scene can
be rendered from the appropriate viewpoint.
Ideally, a camera
position measurement system should:
allow
unconstrained movement of many cameras over an area up to about
800 square metres, and allow panning through 360°;
work with a
wide variety of camera mountings (including manual pedestals, cranes
and hand-held);
measure the
position and orientation to a sufficient accuracy to introduce
negligible drift or noise in the relative positions of real and
virtual elements of the scene. For example, to maintain the relative
positions to an accuracy of ±0.5 pixel for a field of view of 10° and
an object 4m away, the angular accuracy needs to be about ±0.01° and
the positional accuracy needs to be about ±0.5mm;
measure the
camera parameters with minimal delay. Long delays cause numerous
operational problems, such as making navigation through the virtual
world very difficult for the cameraman;
place no significant
constraints on either the scene content or the studio environment.
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