Graphics.Trackcam - lordmundi/wikidoctest GitHub Wiki

Trackcam

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The trackcam functionality in EDGE can be used to automatically rotate a camera to track a particular node of interest.

Simple directions

  • copy configs/trackcam.cfg to $USERDATA/configs/trackcam.cfg

  • edit $USERDATA/user.cfg to set the trackcam config file to the file in your $USERDATA

    … BINARY_MODEL_PATH ./:${DOUG_HOME}/models:${USERDATA}/models

    Override the reconfig file to use our user-defined reconfig

    RECONFIG_FILE ${USERDATA}/reconfigs/input.USER TRACKCAM_CONFIG_FILE ${USERDATA}/configs/trackcam.cfg

    Override default dir for simdata and state plugins

    …

  • edit $USERDATA/configs/trackcam.cfg according to the example settings already there (only need to specify camera name, node to track, and how far to track it)

New feature!

Now via tcl commands in version 2.1 and above, cameras can be dynamically enabled and disabled for tracking:

doug.plugin dsp_trackcam.enable CM_Cam SSREF 10000000000.0
   doug.plugin dsp_trackcam.disable CM_Cam

What's really going on

The trackcam capability is provided by the "dsp_trackcam" plugin upgraded to run in double precision. The plugin's objective is simple: to adjust the rotation of a camera to track a particular node in the center of the view. This can be useful for ground based cameras that track a launch element, such as cameras on the pad or on the top of a building, or for cameras to aid in observing a particular scenario.

The "configs/trackcam.cfg" is an example file that is delivered with EDGE to show the settings used to configure the trackcam plugin. This config file is pointed to using an environment variable called "TRACKCAM_CONFIG_FILE" which defaults to "configs/trackcam.cfg". This lets the user override the location in the DEFINES block of their user.cfg file.

The parameters to the plugin are simple: camera name, node to track, and distance to track it before "letting go".

This plugin was made available in EDGE v1.1.

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