Hello,

I don't know if this should be here or in the general area but ... here it goes :)

Has anyone tried to record with more than 8 cameras? I'm really curios about this since I can use 10 camera now, or even more if it means better capture quality.

And this is what interest me, capture quality, not better coverage for the tracking of one or two actors, although I guess for two (or even three) actors more cameras definitely help.

I also know tracking time will increase, the number of USB controllers required will be larger and calibration will be harder to do accurately. But I can live with all these if the quality of the result is better.

So, anyone tried this ?

Tnx

I think it depends on how you define as 'higher quality'.

The most I've ever used before switching over to multi-Kinect was six PS Eye cameras. Based on the difference I saw between 4 and 6, there was noticeable improvement in accuracy for complex motions because of the increased coverage, but not necessarily greater sensitivity to subtle motions, if that's what your asking. Maybe a little but not very much.

For that kind of improvement, I think you need a higher frame rate than 60 fps rather than throwing more point clouds of the same resolution into the mix. Technically, the PS Eye can capture at up to 120 fps but from what I've been told, the video quality suffers too much at that speed to be usable. I haven't heard of anybody using cameras with a higher fps though, at least not lately.

In a nutshell, more cameras can improve the overall accuracy of the motion but not necessarily pick up more small subtle movements. Higher frame rate can improve sensitivity subtle motions.

It's worth noting that as you add more cameras, it becomes trickier to perform an accurate calibration without occluding the tracking light. At that point, you'll want to put the light on a pole and try to stay out of the capture space.

G.

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Yup it's the accuracy of subtle motion I'm interested in, I think I'm becoming mr "subtle motions" around here :P.

That's what I was thinking also, theory wise, I just thought somebody actually made a test.

Oh and I already use a pole to calibrate, does wonders actually :)

Anyway thanks for your answer and let's see if anyone does test with more then 8 cams

We've just completed a build with the full 16 PS Eye cameras with the goal to capture 3 actors in a large space. Unfortunately since we've just got it operational I don't have a a whole lot to offer.

--pete

There will be not a big difference between 8 or more cameras for single actor.
But for 2 or 3 actors having more cameras will substantially decrease tracking errors caused by occlusion.

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