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Primitives Tracking

Primitives Tracking

Description

ALBION can track the movement of screens, props or costumes and use the data to create interactive real-time visual effects. This works by assigning optical markers in the real world to vertices on objects in the 3D Scene. In this step-by-step, we will use Nulls and the FX Graph to simulate optical markers in ALBION.

Prerequisites

  • An ALBION enabled dongle.

Actions

  1. 1.
    Open Settings. Select {System > Settings} or press [Alt+S].
  2. 2.
    Select {Controller} from the System Mode dropdown menu.
  3. 3.
    Select the Control tab
  4. 4.
    Select the local server from all Control dropdown menus.
  5. 5.
    Open the 3D Scene module. Select {System > 3D Scene} or press [Alt+C].
  6. 6.
    Add the Albion object to the 3D Scene. Select {Primitive > Automation > Albion}.
  7. 7.
    Add 4 Null objects. Select {Primitive > Default Objects > Null} to add the first Object and press [Ctrl+D] 3 times to duplicate it.
  8. 8.
    Select the first Null object and open the Properties Option panel. Select {Option Panels > Properties} or press [P].
  9. 9.
    Use the Tracker ID slider to assign an ID (from 1000 to 1003) to each Null object.
  10. 10.
    Place the Null objects at the 4 corners of a 1m square in XY (0,0,0)(0,1,0)(1,1,0)(1,0,0).
  11. 11.
    Create a fifth Null object and rename it “Parent”.
  12. 12.
    Parent the first four Null objects to the fifth. Press [Control] while drag-and-dropping the Null objects onto the Parent.
  13. 13.
    Create a Plane object. Select {Primitive > Default Objects > Plane}.
  14. 14.
    Switch to the Operation mode. Press [3] (with the 3D Scene in focus) or activate the [Operation] toggle.
  15. 15.
    Double-click on all 4 corners of the Plane to declare Rigid points.
  16. 16.
    Open the Settings panel by clicking on the [Gear]
  17. 17.
    Assign IDs to the Rigid points. First select a Rigid point from the dropdown menu then set the corresponding Null object ID. Repeat with all Rigid points.
  18. 18.
    Select the Plane object and open the Automation Option Panel. Select {Option Panels > Automation} or press [A].
  19. 19.
    Unfold the Albion Options and enable the [Active] toggle.
  20. 20.
    Open the FX Graph module. Select {Show > FX Graph} or press [Alt+X].
  21. 21.
    Create a new Graph and activate the [Enable Preview] toggle.
  22. 22.
    Under 3D add a /Primitive (Ref)/ node.
  23. 23.
    Assign the Parent Null object to the node from the Primitives dropdown menu.
  24. 24.
    Expose the node’s Translation parameters. Select {Exposed Parameters > Translation > Translation X(Y, Z)}.
  25. 25.
    Add a /Sin~/ node and set its period to 10.
  26. 26.
    Connect it to the /Primitive (Ref)/ node to move the Plane.
  27. 27.
    The Plane primitive is now following the virtual tracker’s position.