Press release

ZEISS CinCraft Scenario – powerful and flexible camera tracking

ZEISS introduces their new camera tracking system at SIGGRAPH Los Angeles, August 8-10, 2023.
1 August 2023

Oberkochen, Germany | 1 August 2023 | ZEISS Consumer Products

With CinCraft Scenario, ZEISS presents a new powerful and flexible camera tracking system as part of their CinCraft ecosystem. Built upon Ncam’s unique tracking technology and ZEISS' expertise in lens data, the camera tracking system is easy to use and introduces a user experience designed to match the film crew’s workflow.

While camera tracking is known to be extremely useful for pre-visualization and virtual production, CinCraft Scenario can bring major benefits to any production that includes VFX as it can record the tracking data on set to be then used in post-production, where it can help significantly optimize an artist’s workflow.

Tom Evans, Product Manager and Camera Tracking Specialist at ZEISS.

Designed for all major applications

ZEISS CinCraft Scenario provides camera tracking data for use in real-time rendering engines for virtual production or live compositing. In addition, it lets the user record tracking data for post-production. The new camera tracking system can be used in practically every environment, indoors and outdoors, on film sets, with green or blue screens and in LED volumes. This is made possible by its unique hybrid tracking technology that not only allows for tracking specially placed reflective markers – the industry standard – but also tracks features of the surroundings, like object edges. In addition, CinCraft Scenario also works with digital markers on LED walls that are invisible to the main camera.

Press photos

Plug and Play through ZEISS CinCraft lens data

As part of ZEISS’ CinCraft ecosystem, CinCraft Scenario also makes use of the ZEISS database of lens characteristics: “When used with ZEISS and ARRI/ZEISS cine lenses, Scenario benefits from the CinCraft lens characteristics. Their inclusion makes the system plug and play and eliminates the cumbersome lens mapping and calibration process,” adds Sundeep Reddy, Product Manager Digital Cinematography at ZEISS.

Modular components for individual needs

Designed to work with regular off-the-shelf equipment, CinCraft Scenario is natively compatible with major camera and lens encoder systems to provide all the data the system needs to track properly. It is comprised of several hardware and software components that can be individually configured to exactly match the users’ needs: CinCraft CamBar captures the raw data out of the environment and hands it over to CinCraft Origin that runs the main software and aggregates the data to compute position and movement. CinCraft Link connects CamBar and Origin and enables user interface access through mobile devices. The software components allow for computing position and movement and recording the data, exporting the recorded data to industry standard file formats as well as for real-time inclusion in Unreal Engine.

Availability

Users will be able to configure their CinCraft Scenario camera tracking system according to their specific needs or choose one of four pre-configured bundles. The system will be available through select dealers and the ZEISS CinCraft website by late Fall, 2023.

About ZEISS

ZEISS is an internationally leading technology company in the optics and optoelectronics industry. The ZEISS Group generated annual revenue totaling around 11 billion euros in its four segments Industrial Quality & Research, Medical Technology, Consumer Markets and Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology (updated: 30 September 2024).

For its customers, ZEISS develops, produces, and distributes highly innovative solutions for industrial metrology and quality assurance, microscopy solutions for life sciences and materials research, as well as medical technology solutions for diagnostics and treatment in ophthalmology and microsurgery. The name ZEISS is also synonymous with the world's leading lithography optics, which are used by the chip industry to manufacture semiconductor components. There is global demand for trendsetting ZEISS brand products such as eyeglass lenses, camera lenses and binoculars.

With a portfolio aligned with future growth areas like digitalization, healthcare and Industry 4.0 as well as a strong brand, ZEISS is shaping technological progress and, through its solutions, is extending the horizon of the world of optics and associated areas. ZEISS' significant, sustainable investments in research and development lay the foundation for the success and continued expansion of ZEISS' technology and market leadership. ZEISS invests 14% of its revenue in research and development work – ZEISS has a long tradition of high expenditure in these areas. This also represents the company's investment in the future.

With more than 46,555 employees, ZEISS operates in around 50 countries with more than 60 sales and service sites, 40 research and development sites and 35 production sites worldwide (as of 31 March 2025). The headquarters of the company, which was founded in Jena in 1846, is located in Oberkochen, Germany. The Carl Zeiss Foundation, one of Germany’s largest foundations committed to the promotion of science, is the sole owner of the holding company, Carl Zeiss AG.

About Photonics & Optics

ZEISS, a leading provider of optical and optoelectronic technologies, brings together business units outside of its segments in the strategic business urea of Photonics & Optics, based in Oberkochen and Jena. This area offers customers worldwide a wide range of optical and photonic technologies in highly specialized markets: Mobile Imaging, Hunting & Nature, Cinematography, Microoptics, Spectroscopy, Planetarium, and Simulation Projection Solutions. By bringing these various business areas together under one roof, ZEISS creates a home for these highly specialized businesses, allowing them to focus entirely on their technology and market development and the success of their customers.