SolidTrack Markerless Camera Tracking Now Available to Encodacam's Virtual Production Company Clients

The French motion-capture and 3D VFX company SolidAnim has announced a new technical partnership with its SolidTrack markerless tracking division and real-time virtual production company Encodacam. The two companies have a long-standing collaborative relationship but will now join forces in shared offices based in El Segundo, California, to give their range of customers an end-to-end virtual production service. SolidAnim announced the latest version of SolidTrack at NAB in in April 2014.

20th Century Fox's I, Robot was the first major motion picture to use Encodacam's technology in 2003. During production on the film, the company encoded a number of rigs, jibs, cranes and dollies to provide real-time 3D tracking. Encodacam has since been used on Speed Racer, Wolverine, Alice in Wonderland, Hugo, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and Oz the Great and Powerful. Most recently used on PBS's Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey to record camera moves and log data of those camera moves on the virtual set, SolidTrack also gives directors, DPs and VFX supes a real-time overview of special effects during the shoot. Lightweight and mobile, SolidTrack can be set up under 15 minutes for instant tracking on any camera system. Those using SolidTrack estimate they shave approximately 30% off traditional production and post times.

In February, Lightcraft Technology announced it had begun offering SolidTrack through its resellers and that SolidAnim would offer Lightcraft's Previzion Virtual Studio System to its clients.