Step 2: Volumetric Capture Camera Settings

Selecting the master camera

To set up your camera position for volumetric capture, firstly, you will need to open the EF EVE VolCapp application. The first task for you is to select the master and slave cameras. You will see two + signs in the middle of your dashboard, and under these signs, there is a dropdown menu which says “add camera“:

To clarify, your master camera will be in the first block from the left, and your slave camera in the second.

Now it’s the time to select your capture settings. You can do it in your Dashboard on the menu at the right.

• Select quality (LD or HD)
• Select frame rate (5, 15, or 30 fps)

Our recommendation is LD quality and 15 fps. Especially if you want to upload your content in EF EVE volumetric video platform.

Note that for the high definition and 30 fps, the app will use significantly more of your computer’s resources (CPU, GPU and RAM), so you need to take this into account if you want the app to run smoothly. You may check in your PC’s Windows Task Manager to see how much resources the app is already using.

Camera position

Now, since you have the cameras in place, you need to position them in the right angles. Positioning your cameras correctly is a very important step. This alone will determine what is the elevation distance of the capture and if it will cover the whole capture stage area with everything inside.

• In the EF EVE VolCapp, go to Calibration window and select the 2D view:

In the beginning, you should see something similar to this (image below) as both cameras are not positioned yet:

Volumetric Video is generated only from the data in blue octagon below:

To position your camera the right way, you will have to turn the camera by hand, adjusting the camera mounted on the clamp ball-head mount.

• Camera has to capture all boarders and meet the shoreline of your Capture Stage square. This is the exact way how the camera should be positioned:

• Stand in the middle of the Capture Stage and put your hands up. This will allow you to notice any camera position errors – see below:

• The next step to test if your camera position covering the whole capture stage area is to stand in all for corners of the stage. See below: 

Make sure that the view is straight because from this moment all cameras have to stay completely stable. Cameras and their parts (such as cables or stands) should not be moved at all as you will do the calibration now. After the calibration is done, if you move anything, you will need to re-calibrate. 

Take a look at both cameras views in Calibration window, 2D view.

Read next: 3. Calibration