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Advanced Solver Settings
This panel is launched from the top "more" button on the Solver panel, next to the Go! button, and contains additional detailed controls over solver operation. These are typically needed only when solving longer shots. Except as noted, controls are for each camera or moving object; a few affect the scene as a whole. The default settings for each control may be found in the preferences; the preferences are applied when a scene is first created.
Unsolve frames . Button. Clicking this brings up the Unsolve frames script allowing you to clear the solution (unsolve) from a selected number of solved frames at the beginning or end of the shot. This allows you to recover from situations where a long solve develops problems: you can unsolve the recent section, correct or remove bad trackers, then resume the solve in Refine mode. Also used to resolve the “Some active frames no longer have any trackers” error message when starting a Refine.
Decimate Frames. Spinner. Normally SynthEyes solves every frame of the shot. This spinner allows you to solve every second, every third, etc to accelerate initial
solves on long shots. The value must stay small compared to average tracker lifetime, or trackers will only be valid on a single examined frame, thus contributing nothing, and the solve will fail. This control affects camera and all moving objects on the shot; individual moving objects can't be set differently.
Max frames/pass. Spinner. The maximum number of frames added per solver pass. On high-noise shots, typically 360VR with rolling shutter and alignment errors, you can reduce this to limit the amount of conflict added to the solution at a time, minimizing the chances of the existing good solution from being corrupted. This is a trade-off. Smaller numbers will typically result in a fewer iterations, thus a faster solve with the added frames, though less progress is made by doing so.
Max points/pass. Spinner. Only if non-zero, this limits the number of points added per frame, for the same reasons as Max frames/pass.
Max iterations/pass. Spinner. Per scene. Limits the number of iterations per pass: many iterations typically indicates trouble. The Stop on iterations checkbox determines what happens next.
Keep World Size. Checkbox. When on, disables SynthEyes’s automatic adjustment of World Size(s). Since SynthEyes does those adjustments to maximize the accuracy and stability of solving, only use this for specific difficult solves, perhaps where cameras and moving objects need grossly different values. To adjust parameters such as clipping planes that are computed based on the world size by default, use the Edit/Scene Settings panel, rather than forcing a specific world size.
Stop on iterations. Checkbox. Per scene. If set, then the solve stops if the number of iterations hits the Max iterations/pass value. If not set, the solve continues as if this solve pass has successfully converged.
Stop if error exceeds. Spinner. Per scene. If the value is non-zero, solving stops if the hpix error exceeds this value. A low value, ie just a few pixels, can stop a solve for user interaction before bad tracking data has corrupted it much.
Solving trouble mode. Dropdown. Per scene. Determines what happens if the solve encounters numerical issues, which typically involve bad tracking data but might be more subtle. The choices are to stop (default); to Advance and hope, ie in hopes that adding more trackers or frames will resolve the issue, or to Proceed Slowly, which is the pre-2018 behavior, using a much slower algorithm that is able to tolerate the numerical issues. That can allow the solve to proceed, but may wind up producing a non-useful result. The action is always Proceed Slowly during the first 10 seconds of a solve, to handle startup transients that can arise as a solve gets established. In the “Always slow” mode, it will start and stay in the slowest mode the whole time, before there’s any trouble. On small but troublesome shots, this might be a good choice.
If looks far: Dropdown. Normally, in Convert to Far mode, SynthEyes monitors trackers during 3-D (camera) solves, and automatically converts trackers to Far if they are found to be too far away. This strategy backfires if the shot has very little perspective to start with, as most trackers can be converted to far. To avoid that, use Never convert to Far if you wish to try obtaining a 3-D solve for your nearly- a-tripod shot. Very long shots, especially 360VR shots, can have a different problem, where trackers that initially appear very far away, with no 3D solution
possible, later become close enough that they are no longer far, and any initial Far solution would cause the solve to be destroyed. Instead, select Make ZWT or Disable it so a bad tracker won't cause trouble if it later gets close. The Make ZWT option is recommended, as it prevents zombie trackers from reviving and destroying a later Refine solve, which can happen if they are only Disabled.
Allow glitch mode. Dropdown. Very technical control. 'Allowing a glitch' can result in more reliable solve startups, but might cause a small glitch on the first solved frame. The First setting allows the glitch initially as the solve starts, but switches to the deglitched method as additional trackers and frames are added. For maximal deglitching, maybe on stereo shots if a glitch persists, switch to Never mode.
Point fuzz. Spinner. Point randomization, percentage of world size.
First path fuzz. Spinner. First-pass path randomization for non-tripod shots, percentage of world size.
Tripod fuzz. Spinner. First-pass randomization for tripod shots (only), degrees.
Rest path fuzz. Spinner. Remaining-pass path randomization, percentage of world size.
Point-path fuzz. Spinner. Point-path randomization, percentage of world size.
Refine fuzz. Spinner. Refine mode randomization, percentage of world size. Use this if you want to force repeated Refine solves to produce different results, in hopes of getting a different, more-globally maximum, solution.
Auto Startup Threshold. Spinner. Affects start/stop frame numbers for normal Automatic solves: smaller value allows them to be closer together, larger makes them further apart.
Tripod Startup Threshold. Spinner. Affects start/stop frame numbers for tripod Automatic solves: smaller value allows them to be closer together, larger makes them further apart.
360VR Startup Threshold. Spinner. Affects start/stop frame numbers for 360VR Automatic solves: smaller value allows them to be closer together, larger makes them further apart.
Overall Weight. Spinner. Defaults to 1.0. Multiplier that helps determine the weight given to the data for each frame from this object’s trackers. Lower values allow a sloppier match, higher values cause a closer match, for example, on a high- resolution calibration sequence consisting of only a few frames. This only has meaning in comparison to other objects or cameras in the same solve.
WARNING: This control is for experts and should be used judiciously and infrequently. It is easy to use it to mathematically destabilize the solving process, so that you will not get a valid solution at all. Keep near 1.
Transition Frms. Spinner. When trackers first become usable or are about to become unusable, SynthEyes gradually increases or decreases their impact on the solution, to maintain an undetectable transition. This value specifies how many frames to spread the transition over.
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