Scene Export

Exports List  |  Node Inputs  |  Export Data  |  ST-Maps  |  Export Parameters  |  Display  |  Media Export Parameters  |  
Supported Formats  |  Export Preferences  |  Python Export Scripts  |  Connecting multiple nodes

The Scene Export node can be used to export cameras, trackers, point clouds, geometry, moving objects, undistorted background clips and ST-Maps to third-party applications.

Multiple exports can be created and managed in a single Scene Export node if desired, each exporting different data in a different format. The Scene Export node is divided into five separate sections:

(1): The Exports List

(2): The Node Inputs

(3): The Export Data

(4): The Export Parameters

(5): The Display options

Exports List

The Scene Export node can export the data in the tracking tree in multiple formats. Each export is shown in the Exports List:

A single export will be generated automatically when the Scene Export Node is created, but additional exports can be added by clicking the button.

An export can be renamed by double-clicking on its name with the left mouse button and entering a new name. By default the folder and filename generated by the export will match the export name, but this can be overridden by editing the export parameters.

If needed, the name of each export can be setup using the following variables:

- %p - The current project name

- %m - The name of the input media clip

- %i - The name of the clip or photo input node containing the media

- %x - The name of the current export node

- %q - A unique and always increasing number

These variables can also be used when setting the Default Export Name in the Export Preferences window.

For example, setting the export name to %m-%q will generate an export in the Export path that is named according to the the media clip name with an additional unique number. You can see the full export name at any time by hovering the mouse over.

Variables can also be used for naming the export path in the in the Exports Parameters.

To delete an export, select it in the list by clicking with the left mouse button and then click the button.

Clicking the button will export all data in the Exports List.

Node Inputs

By default, data from all upstream nodes connected to the Scene Export node will be exported. To ignore data from specific node inputs, the tick-boxes in the Inputs List can be used to turn the data off.

The View column contains tick-boxes that can be used to show or hide specific input data in the Cinema and Viewer windows when the Show input data display option is enabled.

Export Data

The format used for each individual export can be selected using the Format menu. Not all data is supported by each format, and a table describing what can and cannot be exported is provided in the Supported Formats section.

After selecting a scene export format from the menu, the Cameras, Groups, Trackers, Geometry, Textures, Point Clouds, Distortion panels can be used to control which data is included in the export.

Each panel will be enabled or disabled according to the features supported by the chosen export format. For example, the OBJ export format only supports geometry and textures, so the Geometry, Textures and Point Clouds (as geometry) panels will be available. Autodesk FBX, on the other hand, supports all exported data, so all panels will be available to use.

When an export format is chosen, the Cinema and Viewer windows will be updated to display only the data that can be exported in that format. For example, when selecting the OBJ export format, only Geometry, Textures and Point Clouds will be displayed. No camera paths will be displayed because they cannot be exported in the OBJ file.

Cameras

The Cameras panel displays all cameras connected to the Scene Export node. Individual cameras can be included or excluded from the export file by ticking or un-ticking the box next to the camera name. Note that not all export scripts support camera data, and some only support export of a single camera. Items in the list will be disabled unless an export format is chosen that supports them.

The name of the exported camera can be changed by double-clicking and entering a new name in the first column of the list.

The From and To columns indicate the export start and end frames for each camera.

The Separate Frames column indicates whether a separate camera should be exported for each frame of the clip. When enabled, a static camera frustum will be exported for each frame instead of a single animated camera frustum.

Many exports use Euler angles to represent camera rotations. In certain camera configurations this can result in angles that, whilst correct for individual frames, cannot be interpolated properly when rendering motion blur. In these situations, an alternative method of exporting the camera rotation angles must be used.

For Autodesk Maya, an additional export is provided that represents Euler rotation angles in a different order, and this can be used if desired.

The Autodesk FBX export can also represent the camera orientation using a "lookat" vector and roll angle, which will also avoid the problem. To enable this option, tick the User look-at target box beneath the camera list.

Groups

The Groups panel displays all tracker groups connected to the Scene Export node. Tracker groups can be used represent independently moving rigid objects. Individual groups can be included or excluded from the export file by ticking or un-ticking the box next to the group name. Note that not all export scripts support groups. Items in the list will be disabled unless an export format is chosen that supports groups.

The From and To columns indicate the export start and end frames for each group.

Trackers

The Trackers panel displays all trackers that are for export. The tracker list contains the name of each tracker, along with the group it belongs to. If a group has been disabled in the Group list, trackers belonging to that group will not be present in the Tracker list. Individual trackers can be included or excluded from the export file by ticking or un-ticking the box next to the tracker name. To include or exclude multiple trackers at the same time, select them from the list (or click in the Cinema window, or use the selection marquee), and click the Include or Exclude buttons.

All/None: Select all or none of the trackers from the list.

Include: Include all selected trackers in the export.

Exclude: Exclude all selected trackers from the export.

Marquee: When enabled, a selection marquee can be drawn in the image window or a viewer window to select trackers. Hold the Ctrl key to make multiple selections. Holding the Shift key will allow a lasso selection to be used instead of a rectangle.

3D tracker positions: Store 3D tracker positions in the export file. Note that 3D tracker positions are not supported by all export formats.

2D tracker positions: Store 2D tracker projections in the export file. A tracker projection is the projection of the 3D tracker point onto the camera image plane. Note that 2D tracker projections are not supported by all export formats.

2D tracker paths: Store 2D tracker paths in the export file. These are the same paths that are generated when tracking features in, for example, a User Track or Auto Track node. Note that 2D tracker paths are not supported by all export formats.

Geometry

The Geometry panel displays all geometric objects connected to the Scene Export node. Individual meshes can be included or excluded from the export file by ticking or un-ticking the box next to the mesh name. Note that not all export scripts support meshes. Items in the list will be disabled unless an export format is chosen that supports geometric meshes.

When exporting in a format where the coordinate system is not strictly defined, it can be specified using the menus at the bottom of the panel. This allow a choice between left and right handed coordinate systems, with either Y or Z as the up direction. Each mesh object will be converted into this coordinate system during export.

The From and To columns indicate the export start and end frames for each mesh.

Save OBJ sequence: Allow deformable or animated geometry to be saved as a sequence of OBJ files, one for each frame of the animation.

Textures

The Textures panel displays the name, export format and path for each texture to be exported. Textures can be generated for geometric object using the Texture Extraction node. Individual textures can be included or excluded from the export by ticking or un-ticking the box next to the texture name.

By default, texture files are saved in the textures folder at the export location.

To change the format or path of the exported textures, select one or more textures in the list by clicking with the left mouse button and then click the button. This displays a popup window where options can be set to change the texture filename and format.

Further details of media export parameters are available in the Media Export Parameters section.

For binary Autodesk FBX exports, texture maps can also be embedded inside the FBX file itself if required by enabling the Embed media option.

Point Clouds

The Point Clouds list is used to control which point clouds (as generated by the Photo Survey or Photo Cloud nodes) are to be exported.

By default, point clouds are exported as geometric objects (i.e. points or triangles, depending on the level of support in the export format).

Alternatively, points can also be exported using the same mechanism as 3D tracker positions (i.e. the equivalent of Nulls or Locators depending on which export format is being used). To enable this functionality, click the As Trackers column for the point cloud. Please note that some applications may see a significant drop in performance when attempting to display so many locators.

Distortion

The Distortion panel list all input clips that have had lens distortion correction applied to them. These clips can be exported from PFTrack either an an undistorted version of the input clip, or as a collection of ST-Maps.

To create a clip for export, first choose an export type from the Select export type menu at the bottom of the list. Three options are available:

Undistorted Clip: This will export a copy of the original clip after removing lens distortion.

Undistort ST-Map: This will export an OpenEXR ST-Map that be can be used to undistort the clip in any third-party application that supports ST-Maps.

Redistort ST-Map: Similarly, this will export an OpenEXR ST-Map that can be used to add lens distortion to a clip.

By selecting one or more of these options, clips will be added to the list, indicating their name, the node input from which they are being generated, the clip type, format and export path.

By default, undistorted clips are saved in a clips folder at the export location, and ST-Maps are saved in the stmaps folder.

To change the name of the export clip, double-click in the Clip Name column with the left mouse button and enter a new name. The export path will update accordingly once the Enter key is pressed.

To change the format of the exported clip, select one or more clips in the list and click the button. This displays a popup window where options can be set to change the clip filename and format.

Further details of media export parameters are available in the Media Export Parameters section.

ST-Maps

When exporting ST-Maps containing lens information, there are several options available that can be used to control how those ST-Maps are generated. Configuring these options should be done according to the requirements you have further down your compositing pipeline.

Full Window

When undistorting an image, the tools in the Clip Input and the Camera Solver nodes can be used to adjust the size of the undistorted image. Generally, this is set to show the full undistorted frame but an alternative workflow may be desired whereby the size of the undistorted image is cropped to the same resolution as the original media:

In this example, when undistorting the image and then cropping to the original resolution of 1920x1080, pixels outside the camera frame are lost (show in red on the right).

When exporting an ST-Map in the OpenEXR format after cropping the image resolution, these lost pixels can be accounted for by enabling the Full Window option. This will export an OpenEXR file with the Display Window set to the cropped image size, and the Data Window (which contains the ST-Map pixels) expanded to include all the data for the full undistorted image.

If your compositing pipeline supports OpenEXR ST-Maps with an extended data window, this can be used to ensure no pixels are lost when re-distorting any CG elements you may need to render over your original media when using the cropped undistort resolution.

Further information on OpenEXR is available here, including technical details of the difference between the data and display windows.

Single frame ST-Map

When exporting ST-maps for shots with a constant focal length, the lens distortion applied at each frame will be fixed. In this case, only a single ST-Map frame will be generated during the export. This default behaviour can be overridden by switching off the Single frame ST-Map option.

Integer samples

ST-maps store the distortion offset (in floating-point pixel coordinates) calculated at the centre of each pixel. Generally, the image being undistorted is represented using a continuous coordinate system where the centre of each pixel is placed at half a pixel distance from the edge e.g. (0.5,0.5) or (1.5,1.5). ST-maps in this format are suitable to use in applications that use the same pixel coordinate system to read distortion values from the map.

However, other applications assume the centre of the each pixel is an integer coordinate e.g. (0,0) or (1,1). In these applications, using the default ST-map export will result in an observable shift in the undistorted image. To avoid this, ST-maps can be generated instead with samples located at integer coordinates by enabling the Integer Samples option.

Note that the actual coordinates of the undistorted pixel will always be stored as floating-point values, regardless of whether this option is enabled or not. It only controls the pixel location at which those coordinates are generated.

Export Parameters

The Export Parameters are used to define the location at which all export data will be saved, and the filename of the exported file.

By default, each export will be saved in the export folder inside the project, and the name of the exported file will match the name specified in the Exports List.

To manually change values, click the button. This will enable editing of both the Export path and Filename. Clicking the button will display a file browser where the path and filename can be located.

If needed, the Export path can be setup using the following variables:

- %p - The current project name

- %m - The name of the input media clip

- %i - The name of the clip or photo input node containing the media

- %x - The name of the current export node

These variables can also be when setting the Default Export Path in the Export Preferences window.

For example, setting the export path to /myFolder/%p/ for a project named "myProject" will generate an export path /myFolder/myProject/. You can see the full export path at any time by hovering the mouse over the path name.

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Variables can also be used for naming individual exports in the in the Exports List.

Before exporting, the overall scale of the scene can also be adjusted using the Scale edit box if required. When certain export formats are selected, they may default to a scale value that is not 1.0. This is to ensure the data is exported in a way that is suitable to view in the application, but can be overridden if required.

A frame offset can also be applied before exporting to adjust keyframe positions to whatever values are desired. This value is added to each frame number when exporting the scene data.

Display

These options are available to adjust what is displayed in the Cinema and Viewer windows. They do not affect what is being exported.

Show input data: When enabled, the data input to the node will be displayed in its entirety, regardless of what is supported by the current export format.

Show All Trackers: When enabled, all trackers will be displayed, rather than only those selected for export.

Show Names: When enabled, selected trackers will have their names displayed in the Cinema window.

Show Info: When enabled, selected trackers will have positional information displayed in the Cinema window.

Show Ground: When enabled, the ground plane will be displayed.

Show Horizon: When enabled, the horizon line will be displayed.

Media Export Parameters

When exporting media files such as undistorted clips, ST-Maps or texture maps, the format and export paths of the files can be changed by clicking the button. This will display a popup window where media parameters can be adjusted:

File

Path: The path for clip export. This defaults a location inside the export folder names appropriately for the media type: ./clips for undistorted clips, ./stmaps for ST-maps, or ./textures for texture files. Clicking the will open a file browser where an alternate location can be specified if desired.

Template: The template string used to create the exported files. This defaults to %c.%e which corresponds to the clip name, followed by a period and the file format extension (such as dpx or tif).

Variables which can be used for format substitution are:

- %f - Export Format name

- %c - Clip filename

- %n - Clip name

- %e - File type extension

- %d - Original source material folder

- %u - Unique export number (auto-increments on each export)

- %i - Clip in point

- %o - Clip out point

Padding: The number of digits to use to represent frame numbers when constructing clip filenames. Ticking the Source option will use the same padding as the original source clip.

File Format

Pass Through: When enabled, the file format for the exported clip will be the same as the original source clip.

Format: The file format for clip export. Note that not all file formats are available on all platforms.

Bit Depth: The bit depth of the exported file, If a file format supports multiple bit depths. By default, the bit depth will be the same as the original source clip, or set to 32-bit for OpenEXR ST-maps.

Exporting Quicktime files on macOS

When exporting Quicktime files on macOS, the following additional options are available:

Codec: The codec to be selected used to encode the image, when quicktime (MOV) is chosen as the clip format.

Quality: The quality of encoded image data, when quicktime (MOV) is chosen as the clip format. Note that this is only available for certain codecs.

Please note that whilst PFTrack is able to read Quicktime files, not all Quicktime codecs are currently available for export. Further details on Quicktime support on macOS are available in the Quicktime section.

Exporting Media Foundation files on Windows

When exporting Media Foundation files on Windows, the following additional options are available:

Bit Rate: This controls the bit-rate of the exported movie file, measured in MB/s. It defaults to the bit-rate available in the input media, but can be adjusted here if desired.

Supported Formats

PFTrack is able to export data to a variety of third-party formats. During export, all data coordinates will be automatically transformed from the left-handed Y-up coordinate systsm that PFTrack uses into the correct default format for the application.

The table below lists the available export formats, along with supported features:

- Cameras refers to the ability to export one or more cameras

- Groups is support for moving tracker groups (as generated by the Object Solver and Make Object nodes

- Trackers refers to either solved 3D tracker positions or 2D tracker paths

- Geometry refers to test geometric meshes generated by nodes such as Test Object, Geometry Track or Image Modelling

- Background Clip refers to the ability to include a reference to the source material clip as a background plate

- Deformable Geometry refers to deforming animated geometry generated by the Geometry Track node

- Textures refers to texture maps extracted using the Texture Extraction node

- Mocap Points refers to motion capture data generated by the Mocap Solver node

- Sparse Point Clouds refers to sparse 3D point clouds generated by the Photo Survey node

- Dense Point Clouds refers to dense 3D point clouds generated by the Photo Cloud node.

Export Format	Cameras	Groups	Trackers	Geometry	Deformable Geometry	Textures	Mocap Points	Sparse Point Clouds	Dense Point Clouds	Background Clip
Adobe After Effects (.ma)	✔	✔	✔					✔12
Alembic 1.7.10	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔1	✔	✔	✔
Alias|Wavefront OBJ4				✔5	✔10	✔1		✔13	✔
Apple Motion 3	✔6, 7		✔					✔12		✔
Autodesk 3ds Max Script	✔	✔	✔	✔		✔	✔	✔12, 13		✔
Autodesk FBX11	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔1	✔	✔12, 13	✔19
Autodesk Maya15	✔	✔	✔	✔		✔	✔	✔12, 13		✔16
Autodesk Softimage dotXSI	✔2	✔	✔	✔		✔	✔	✔12, 13		✔3
Collada DAE8	✔	✔	✔	✔		✔1	✔	✔12
Flair MRMC Carts Raw	✔6
Kupercontrol ASCII	✔6, 7
LIDAR Ascii XYZ/RGB4			✔					✔	✔
Newtek Lightwave LWS	✔	✔	✔	✔18		✔	✔	✔13		✔
Nuke Python Script17	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔10	✔	✔	✔14	✔	✔
Pixar USD	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
PLY Binary			✔	✔				✔	✔
PTS Ascii			✔					✔	✔
Side Effects Houdini Script	✔	✔	✔				✔	✔12
XML Camera	✔

¹ Although UV coordinates and animated texture map files will be exported, these formats do not directly support animated texture maps and therefore the texture files will need re-linking manually.

² The dotXSI format does not allow for the storage of the camera pixel aspect ratio, which must be specified manually for each camera in the Camera Properties window.

³ The background rotoscope image must be specified manually by choosing the image name from the drop-down menu in the Rotoscopy Options.

⁴ These formats can be exported in either a left or right-handed coordinate system using either the Y or Z axis as the up direction.

⁵ Alias|Wavefront OBJ format can only export static meshes. Animated meshes (such as those generated by the Geometry Track node) are not supported.

⁶ These formats only support export of a single camera.

⁷ When exporting relative camera motion, the in this case is relative to the first frame of the clip.

⁸ Motion is exported using transformation matrices which may not be supported by all applications.

⁹ This XML format has been provided for legacy users but is not supported anymore. Users who wish to export data to third-party applications should make use of the python scripting interface to construct an export script suitable for their application.

¹⁰ Support for deformable geometry is via a sequence of OBJ files, one for each frame.

¹¹ The FBX format can be exported in various versions as either ASCII or binary files. Before importing the FBX file into Autodesk Maya, be sure to set the frame-rate for the scene correctly in the Preferences options. Also, the FBX format can be exported with camera rotations specified either by Roll, Pitch and Yaw angles (RPY), or by a target vector and roll angle. Some third-party applications are unable to correctly determine the camera orientation whilst using a target vector, and in these situations the RPY version of the export should be used.

¹² 3D cloud points can be exported in the same way as solved tracker positions (e.g. Nulls or Locators)

¹³ Each 3D cloud point can be exported as a small oriented triangle

¹⁴ 3D cloud points will be exported as a Baked Point Cloud with a position, normal and colour at each vertex.

¹⁵ The Maya Ascii format can also be exported using ZXY rotation ordering.

¹⁶ Whilst the Maya Ascii format allows image planes to be exported for each camera, when single-frame cameras are exported using the Separate Frames option described below the image planes will not be generated. This is to avoid issues when Maya attempts to load a large number of image planes into memory at the same time.

¹⁷ After loading and running the script in the Nuke Script Editor, make sure to change the Viewer Timeline Range to Local to view the correct frame numbers and animation keys for each frame.

¹⁸ Note that geometry exported in the LWO format for Lightwave is limited to a maximum of 65,535 vertices.

¹⁹ Dense point clouds will be exported with a single oriented triangle-per-point.

Export Preferences

The default location where exports are saved can be adjusted in the Preferences window, along with the default media clip format, Quicktime codec and other options.

The default export folder is set to project:/export which corresponds to a folder called export located inside the project folder.

Python Export Scripts

Many exports are handled by fully customisable Python scripts, available in the exports folder where PFTrack was installed.

Most of the existing export scripts can be modified, or entirely new scripts can be written as required using the Python API described in more detail in the Python Node documentation.

User-written export scripts can be placed in the either the user's own application folder exports, or in the exports sub-directory where the application is installed if they are applicable to all users. These directories are scanned on application startup.

Connecting multiple nodes

When multiple cameras are linked to a scene export node, all cameras can be exported in the same file (provided the export format support more than one camera).

When multiple input nodes are connected, data from all inputs is merged together into a single "scene" containing one set of trackers, cameras, groups, geometry and clips:

If data from a single input clip has been generated in multiple ways (for example, using separate camera solver nodes), both those representations of the single input clip cannot be connected to the same Scene Export node, and only the first camera will appear for export:

In these cases, separate Scene Export nodes should be used, with each exporting a different version of the single input clip:

Default Keyboard Shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts can be customised in the Preferences.

Export All	Shift+E
All Trackers	Shift+T
Include	Shift+I
Exclude	Shift+X
Marquee	Shift+M
Show Inputs	Ctrl+S
Show All	Ctrl+A
Show Names	Ctrl+N
Show Info	Ctrl+I
Show Ground	Ctrl+G
Show Horizon	Ctrl+H