MO-SYS THOUGHT LEADER
W ith VP becoming a mainstay of modern filmmaking, manufacturers have rushed to create their own protocols that allow cameras to talk to render engines and then to LED screens, and vice versa. With all these custom codes flying around, a clear problem arose: a lack of satisfactory standardisation. Until now. OpenTrackIO – developed by the SMPTE Tracking Committee with Mo-Sys’ James Uren at the helm – is a camera tracking protocol that promises to greatly improve interoperability. “It means that systems will work with a greater number of other systems, which is generally better for everybody,” states Uren. Besides tracking a camera’s position in space, OpenTrackIO also records metadata and lens distortion, ensuring VFX teams have all the information they need to create and implement realistic virtual backgrounds. “We have to send mathematical parameters about the lens, and it has to be every single frame – in the same way we have to send the position of the camera – so the render engine can distort the CG environment to match the natural distortions in the lens,” describes Uren. “Again, somebody needed to step up and standardise it.” Although VP might seem a relatively recent phenomenon, OpenTrackIO is several years in the making. SMPTE’s On-Set Virtual Production (OSVP) group started to discuss standardisation of camera metadata half a decade ago, creating a framework called Cam
WORDS Katie Kasperson
James Uren, technical director at Mo-Sys Engineering and chair of the SMPTE Tracking Committee, outlines OpenTrackIO, the new protocol for camera tracking in virtual production
D Kit, which also forms the basis of OpenTrackIO. “When I joined the OSVP group and became chair of the SMPTE Tracking Committee, we decided we should standardise all of the tracking metadata as well,” Uren shares, having been responsible for writing some of the Cam D Kit code. “Once this protocol is adopted by manufacturers, render engine providers and software engineers, you’ll be able to plug any device into any system. From a user’s perspective, that makes it all much easier to handle.” Although SMPTE plans to officially release OpenTrackIO version one in January 2025, major industry players like Stage Precision, Assimilate Inc and Epic Games – proprietor of Unreal Engine –
have already pledged adoption of the protocol. “On the manufacturer side,” Uren adds, “lens manufacturers like Canon and ZEISS have already reached out to us to get involved as well. It seems like everyone is keen.” Putting the protocol together required industry-wide collaboration – often between direct competitors. “That’s what has to happen if you want to make everyone’s lives easier,” argues Uren. Mo- Sys played an especially significant role in getting OpenTrackIO off the ground. “For us, it’s a constant frustration that, in order for our StarTracker system to be used with other render engine providers, they have to implement our custom protocol,” which is likely a common problem among companies. Besides leading the project, Uren and his Mo-Sys colleagues co-authored a white paper on lens metadata titled OpenLensIO. “This hopefully opens up the ability to use our hardware with other people’s software,” Uren supposes. “We’ve been a key part in pushing this over the line.”
ONE FOR ALL OpenTrackIO will help Mo-Sys StarTracker communicate with more systems
Learn more at opentrackio.org
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