​Infrared reflective tracking - Where to find a good camera.

[Video Architect]

Ive looked at various options for motion tracking and although the werkstat presentation by Mark offers lots of useful info it won't work in my situation.

BUT I did stumble across this vide from Panasonic. And the section at 5 minutes outlines the process. It basically uses an IR emitter, a camera and a reflective surface is placed on the object you want to track. (Presumably the heat signature(?) of the reflection surface can be tuned separately from heat from the body.

Despite being a Panasonic "thing" I can't see why the basic IR emitter and camera set up can't be funnelled into an eyes++ actor. 

MY STRUGGLE is finding reliable info about IR cameras and emitters. 

I imagine that it could be difficult to separate the IR video from the visual video stream on cheaper security cameras?

I also imagine it would be useful if the cameras attenuation/sensitivity was tuneable?

Does anyone have experience with this method? 

Would a Kinect be OK for this?

[Woland]

@video-architect

What is the budget?

You could make your own IR source with a little infrared diode connected to a battery and then get a cheap IR pass filter for just about any camera (or use a security camera). You can also make an improvised IR pass filter by buying camera film, exposing it to light, developing it, then double-layering the exposed+developed film.

[mark_m]

Motion tracking using an IR emitter, a cheap security camera, and the Eyes++ actor can work very well.

I did this pretty successfully in a circus show the other year. The camera was mounted at the top of the tent, pointing downward, and the performer I wanted to track wore a hat with IR flashlights pointing straight up. These were incorporated into the costume design. I physically hacked the camera so the IR filter was always in place. 

Through this method we were able to project footprints onto the stage which closely and accurately followed the path of the performer. 
We were able to do left-right alternate footprints  using a technique that @bonemap showed in this excellent tutorial,  and get some directionality using some trigonometry which Mark shared in this post.

Here's a link to video from an early investigation - I think you can see the subject maybe holding the torch - and the zipped up Isadora file with the only relevant media

https://drive.google.com/file/...


ir_tracking.zip

HTH

Mark (not that Mark)

[Woland]

@mark_m said:

IR flashlights

Do you have any insights about IR flashlights that you can share? @judgeworks was asking me about this recently.

Any pitfalls or brands to avoid, or particulars like wavelength or lens type to be aware of when purchasing?