MRMC Polymotion Chat Studio 3.1.0 User manual
ii
Polymotion Chat Studio 3.1.0 Quick Start Guide
Product code: MRMC-1999-310
© 2022 Mark Roberts Motion Control Ltd. All rights reserved.
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system, without the express written permission of Mark Roberts Motion
Control.
Although every care has been taken to ensure that the information in this
document is accurate and up to date, Mark Roberts Motion Control
continuously strives to improve their products and may make changes to
the hardware, firmware, and software described in this document. Mark
Roberts Motion Control therefore cannot be held responsible for any
error or omission in this document.
All product names mentioned herein are the trademarks or registered
trademarks of their respective owners.
Contact information
Mark Roberts Motion Control Ltd.
Unit 3, South East Studios
Blindley Heath
Surrey
RH7 6JP
United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 (0) 1342 838000
Web: www.mrmoco.com
www.mrmocorentals.com
Polymotion Chat Studio 3.1.0 Quick Start Guide
iiiContents
Chapter 1 Polymotion Chat Studio 3.1.0 ....................................... 1
Overview of Polymotion Chat Tracking System................1
Setting up Polymotion Chat Studio.....................................1
Connecting Cables (Dell 1U Server)..........................2
Connecting Cables (Dell 2U Server)..........................3
Launching Polymotion Chat .......................................4
Setting up Polymotion Chat using Network
Setup and Chat wizard .................................................4
Setting up the robotic heads for Polymotion Chat ..........14
Polymotion Chat Main page...............................................15
Axes sliders and joystick controls.............................16
Tracking Sensitivity ....................................................17
Setting pan and tilt soft limits...................................18
Presets....................................................................................19
Preset Banks ................................................................19
Storing a non-tracking preset....................................20
Storing/editing a tracking preset ..............................20
Configuring a Preset...................................................22
Autoframing.......................................................23
Person to look for (Face Recognition)............25
Liveview graphics settings................................26
Starting Tracking ........................................................27
Altering Static Zones.........................................30
LiveView Controls ......................................................30
Deselect Person..................................................30
Edit Static Zone .................................................31
Follow Face.........................................................31
Live Capture .......................................................32
Synchronised Robots..................................................32
Fine adjustment of autoframing zoom position .....33
Motion Prediction ......................................................33
Stopping Tracking.......................................................34
Face Capture Page................................................................35
Multi-screen View................................................................39
Moves Page............................................................................40
Selecting a head...........................................................40
Presets...........................................................................41
Storing a position as a preset ...........................41
Activating a preset.............................................42
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Editing a preset button......................................43
Moves ...........................................................................43
Activating a move..............................................44
Stop button .........................................................45
Changing Tracking Settings in the Client View...............45
Polymotion Tab Settings ............................................49
Depth Sensing .............................................................49
Aligning the Depth Sensing Heat Map....................52
Polymotion Chat API ..........................................................54
Chapter 2 Using Rail..................................................................... 55
Rail Setup ..............................................................................55
Configuring Rail ..................................................................57
Using the Rail ..............................................................58
Notes Regarding Rail Setup ................................................59
Appendix 1 Installation and Backup............................................... 61
System requirements for Polymotion Chat Studio ..........61
Installing Polymotion Chat .......................................61
Configuring the Polymotion System.................................62
Configuring the Blackmagic DeckLink cards.........62
Installing Polymotion Launcher ...............................63
Installing CV Engine ...........................................................68
Licensing your Polymotion Product ........................71
Upgrading from Polymotion Chat v2.8 to v3.1.0 ...72
Backup and Restore of CV Engine Settings......................73
Import ..........................................................................73
Export...........................................................................74
Save Config..................................................................74
Restore Defaults ..........................................................75
Remote Client Configuration.............................................76
Appendix 2 Troubleshooting........................................................... 79
Resolving Video Feed issues ...............................................79
Handling Lost Video Feed Issue ........................................79
Graphic Card Device Driver Issues..........................81
Typical symptoms, causes, and actions .............................82
1
Polymotion Chat Studio3.1.0 Quick Start GuidePolymotion Chat Studio3.1.0Quick Start Guide
Chapter 1 Polymotion Chat Studio 3.1.0
Overview of Polymotion Chat Tracking System
Polymotion Chat is an advanced broadcast camera automation system
solution. The advanced integrated AI engine detects face and limbs
building a model of the subject and uses this to control and predict
movement delivering high quality and natural camera motion. The easy
to use interface allows the operator to create presets, define static zones
(so the camera will only move when there is enough movement by the
subject), create an offset to allow for graphics to be on screen with the
talent, manage acceleration and deceleration so the movement remains
natural even on very tight or wide shots and many other options.
Setting up Polymotion Chat Studio
Polymotion Chat Studio can be set up on the following types of servers:
Dell 1U Server: Supports up to three channels or 3 robotic
heads
Dell 2U Server: Supports up to 6 channels or 6 robotic heads.
Cable connections and the type of heads supported for both servers are
similar, except that the Dell 2U server can support up to 6 heads. (For
more information on system requirements, refer to System requirements
for Polymotion Chat Studio on page 61.)
MRMC AFC Head
Power
Power
Power
Power
Broadcast Panel
SDI
Dell 1U Server (rear)
Ethernet Hub
Panasonic PTZ
head
PTA head (Junction
Box)
Power
Decklink card
ETHERNET
Sync (not used)
USB Hub
USB
Power
ETHERNET
ETHERNET
SDI
SDI
SDI
Polymotion Chat Studio 3.1.0 Quick Start Guide
2
Connecting Cables (Dell 1U Server)
MRMC AFC Head
Power
Power
Power
Power
Broadcast Panel
SDI
Dell 2U Server (rear)
Ethernet Hub
Panasonic PTZ
head
PTA head (Junction
Box)
Power
Decklink
card
ETHERNET
USB Hub
USB
Power
ETHERNET
ETHERNET
SDI
SDI
SDI
Polymotion Chat Studio 3.1.0 Quick Start Guide
3
Connecting Cables (Dell 2U Server)
Polymotion Chat Studio 3.1.0 Quick Start Guide
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Launching Polymotion Chat
MHC Polymotion Chat runs via a utility called Polymotion Launcher. To
learn more about installing Polymotion Launcher, refer to Appendix 1
Installation and Backup on page 61.
1. Use the icon on desktop to launch Polymotion
Launcher.
2. Click/tap Polymotion CHAT Studio/Broadcast.
3. If you are launching this for the first time, you will be required to
add a new license file or a license code. Contact MRMC Support for
a new license. Refer to Licensing your Polymotion Product on page 71.
4. Once you have supplied a license code, MHC Server and Client are
launched, login to MHC Client as Admin:
Username: Admin
Password: Admin1234
Setting up Polymotion Chat using Network Setup and
Chat wizard
1. Cable together the robotic heads, Polymotion PC, cameras, and
joysticks participating in the Polymotion network. Also connect the
PC with the cameras using appropriate cables and data converters
depending on method used for streaming the video. The possible
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incoming sources of videos used by Polymotion system are: USB
Device, RTSP Stream, Decklink and NDI.
2. Use the FIND button to retrieve a list of available robots on your
network. Add all the robots that would be part of the Polymotion
Chat system in the MHC Network setup page. Remember to specify
the robot type for each of the participating robotic head
You can assign heads to a specific user, multiple users or all users.
3. Select Settings > CHAT WIZARD. This page shows the added
robots as boxes where video feed from each of them can be set up.
Note
If a selected robot does not go green, then check it is on the same IP
address range as the server PC. The Find button does a network wide
broadcast, therefore it finds heads even on different subnets.
Note
If an NDI protocol robot, such as that with a rig type of NDI_PTZ, is
not being detected in Network setup page (turning green), then it is
recommended that you download and install NDI Studio Monitor
tool from NDI website. If the NDI Studio Monitor cannot detect the
NDI protocol robot, then the Chat system will not detect it (as the
Chat system uses the same source library as the NDI Studio Monitor
for source detection).
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4. Under VIDEO INPUT, select the source of the video feed.
5. Select the DEVICE. If the selected
video input is Decklink or USB
device, then DEVICE is the port
receiving the video feed from the
camera on the robot. If the selected
source is RTSP or NDI stream, then
add the stream address in the
appearing box.
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You can add up to 10 USB devices and 16 Decklink channels.
6. Click Start CV Engine to start the program that enables Polymotion
tracking in MHC. As you do so, notice that additional windows pop
up, which can take up to 30 minutes; these windows are for MRMC
CV Engine, a software application that runs in the background to
enable Polymotion Chat, and must not be closed at any instance
while using the system for accurate functioning.
Tip
Use the on-screen joystick (pan-tilt) control to move the robot
slightly to easily identify the robot if you are not able to do so by the
name of the robot.
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NDI video feed issues
If a video input was selected as NDI in Step 4 but is not
displayed after clicking Start CV Engine, then it is
recommended that you download and install NDI Studio
Monitor tool from the NDI website. If the NDI Studio
Monitor cannot detect the NDI video, then Chat system
will not be able to detect it (as the Chat system uses the
same source library as the NDI Studio Monitor for video
source detection).
On some servers or PCs, one of the two NDI heads or
streams may not work if both NDI heads are connected to
two different network ports of that server or PC. This
issue can be resolved by connecting both NDI heads to a
hub and then the hub to one of the network ports.
Note
After Polymotion Launcher installation, when CV Engine is started
for the first time, a configuration process for graphics cards, called
PoseNet Initialisation, is started which can take up to 30 minutes for
a Dell 2U server and up to 20 minutes for a Dell 1U server. For each
subsequent Polymotion Chat launch, this process will take only a few
seconds. During PoseNet Initialisation, the video feed appears with a
message CVE PoseNet Initializaing. After clicking ‘Start CV Engine’
for all participating heads, users are advised to wait for this message
to disappear before using tracking functions in the Chat system.
When CV Engine is started from the Chat Wizard page for the first
time, a command window appears, this will stay on screen for 5 to 10
minutes and will close and reopen a few times while CV Engine
builds the AI models for the pose estimation engine. DO NOT
CLOSE THIS WINDOW, it will close itself once the models have
completed building. When you see yellow limbs overlaid on people
in the video frame it shows that the pose estimation is now working.
Polymotion Chat Studio 3.1.0 Quick Start Guide
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7. Click Directions and Tracking to calibrate all participating axes. If
not already done, you will be asked to home the axes. For accurate
target tracking, it is important that you home all participating axes.
Click Next after completing each step.
Next, the direction should be set accurately for accurate tracking.
For this, use the on-screen joystick control to check whether the
robotic heads are moving in the direction of the joystick. If not, you
can use the Invert button to invert the direction of the axis
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.
Note
Clicking Invert inverts the axis and saves the change in the robotic
head. This is in contrast to the changes made on Preferences page
which apply any changes to a given user only.
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If Rail and Lift are added to the head then additional steps for
calibrating these axes will appear in Chat Wizard.
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In this step, you can adjust the tracking sensitivity by clicking the play
button to temporarily start tracking and then tweaking the sensitivity
using the slider. To modify tracking sensitivity a person needs to be
present in the frame to allow tracking to begin. If that is not possible, skip
this step.
In this step, test the Autoframing functionality by having a person stand
in front of the came and then selecting different framing modes to test if
the adjust correctly.
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8. Repeat Steps 2-7 for all the robotic heads that are part of Polymotion
Chat system.
These are instructions when both MHC Server and Client are on the
same machine. To configure MHC Client on a remote PC, follow the
instructions in Remote Client Configuration on page 76.
Note
Log in as an Engineering type user. Use Settings > User page to
check whether one is already set up or create a new one.
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Setting up the robotic heads for Polymotion Chat
Provided all the participating robots are connected properly and video
feeds from all the cameras are being successfully received and are
correctly configured, your first session will involve logging in to the MHC
Client.
Note
You can use the default ‘operator’, ‘engineer’ or ‘supervisor’ account
to log in to the Polymotion Chat user display. Operator account
allows access to all screens/settings except the Robot Settings page
which includes the Polymotion and CV Engine tabs (refer to
Changing Tracking Settings in the Client View on page 45). The default
passwords are:
Username: operator
Password: password
Username: engineer
Password: password
Username: supervisor
Password: password
Focus Velocity
Control
Zoom Velocity
Control
Pan/tilt
Control
Connected heads Lens Position
Controls
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When you login to MHC Client, this multi-view screen view appears
which shows the live feed from all the connected cameras. If you have
only one camera, then it goes straight to the operator screen. You can
select the live feed from any camera to set up presets, begin tracking and
change the tracking settings for that camera.
For more detail on Multi-screen view, go to Multi-screen View on page 39.
Polymotion Chat Main page
The controls on the Main page can be used to control robotic head axes as
well as set up and run presets which can be later used to follow targets
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automatically. Also, Engineer-type users have additional controls like the
Configure button, which Operator type users do not.
Axes sliders and joystick controls
The Focus and Zoom Velocity sliders can be used to moved the lens axes
in either direction. They are velocity controls in that the further they are
pushed the faster the axes move.
The Pan /tilt joystick control is a directional control for Pan and Tilt axes.
The Focus, Zoom and Iris sliders on the right are position controls in that
they can be used to move the lens axes to specific positions shown by the
markings as stored in the lens table for the lens physically installed on the
robotic head. It is important that the lens table is set up properly in >
Robot>Lens tab for these to function accurately.
Note
When Polymotion Chat Main page is started for the first time after
Chat installation, the CVE PoseNet Initialization process is started
and a message appears in the LiveView window. This process will
continue for up to 30 minutes depending on the number of heads in
your Chat configuration. For each subsequent launches this will take
only a few seconds. While this process is in progress, the tracking
controls will not function in the Chat program.
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