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To use the single-frame alignment system, switch to the Lens Control panel.
Alignment lines are displayed only when this panel is open.
Go to a frame in your sequence that nicely shows the lines you plan to use for alignment. All the lines must be present on this single frame, and this frame number will be recorded in the “At nnnf” button at the lower-left of the lens panel. You can later return to this frame just by clicking the button. If you later play with some lines on a different frame, and need to change the recorded frame number, right-click the button to set the frame number to the current frame.
Click on the Add Line button, then click, drag, and release in the camera view to create a line in the image. When you release, a menu will appear, allowing you to select the desired type of line: plain, parallel to one of the coordinate axes, on one of the coordinate axes, or on an axis, with the length specified. Specify the type desired, then continue adding lines as needed. Be sure you check your current coordinate-axis setting in SynthEyes (Z-Up, Y-Up, or Y-Up-Left), so that you can assign the line types correctly. You should make the lines as long as possible to improve accuracy, as long as the image allows you to place it accurately.
Lines that are on an axis must be drawn in the correct direction : from the negative coordinate values to the positive coordinate values. For example, with SynthEyes in Z-Up coordinate mode, a line specified as “On Z Axis” should be drawn in the direction from below ground to above ground. There will be an arrow at the above ground end, and it should be point upwards. But don’t worry if you get it wrong, you can click the swap-end button <-> to fix it instantly.
It does not matter in what direction you draw lines that are merely parallel to an axis, not on it. The arrowhead is not drawn for lines parallel to the axis.
To control the overall sizing of the scene, you can designate a single on-axis line to have a length. Again, this line must be on an axis, not merely parallel to it. After creating the line, select one of the “on-axis with length” types. This will activate the Length spinner, and you can dial in the desired length.
Before continuing to the solution, be sure to quickly zoom in on each of the alignment lines endpoints, to make sure they are placed as accurately as possible. (Zooming into the middle will tell you if you need to engage the lens distortion controls, which will complicate your workflow.) You can move either endpoint or the whole line, and adjust the line type at any time.
After you have completed setting up the alignment lines, click the Align! button. SynthEyes will calculate the camera position relative to the origin you have specified, and if the scene is not already solved and parallel lines are available, SynthEyes will also calculate the field of view.
A total alignment error will be listed on the status line at the bottom of the SynthEyes window. The alignment error is measured in root-mean-square horizontal pixels like the regular solver. A value of a pixel or two is typical. If you do not have a good configuration of lines, an error of hundreds of pixels could result, and you must re- think.
SynthEyes will take the calculated alignment and apply it to an existing solution, such that the camera and origin are at their computed locations on the frame of reference (indicated in the
At nnnf button, for example 
). Suppose you are working on, and have solved, a 100-frame tripod-mode shot. You have built the alignment lines on frame 30. When you click Align!, SynthEyes will alter the entire path, frames 0-99, so that the camera is in exactly the right location on frame 30, without messing up the camera match before or after the frame.
Meshes will be affected by the alignment. To keep them stationary, so that they can be used as references, turn off Whole affects meshes on the 3-D viewport or perspective-view’s right-click menus.
You should switch to the Quad view and create an object or two to verify that the solution is correct.
If the quality of the alignment lines you have specified is marginal, you may find SynthEyes does not immediately find the right solution. To try alternatives, control- click the Align! button. SynthEyes will give you the best solution, then allow you to
click through to try all the other (successively worse) solutions. If your lines are only slightly off-kilter, you may find that the correct solution is the second or maybe third one, with only a slightly higher RMS error.
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