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The PFTrack Development Record
A decade on the record.
56 releases deep.
Ten years of documented releases from over two decades of spatial intelligence development — every feature, every fix, every milestone, in the open and answerable to the people who use it. Judge PFTrack on its record, not its press releases.
Release History
Explore the complete PFTrack release history, including latest version updates, new features, workflow improvements, and technical enhancements across every release.
2026 - Latest
PFTrack 26.08.04
Pixel-accurate interchange — and a quicker Hero Cloud
Feature Release
Released 4 August 2026
A release aimed at the moment your solve leaves PFTrack: internal 2D imaging coordinate systems updated to match pixel data precisely with third-party applications — because a solve proves itself in the final image, and at today's resolutions, the screen forgives nothing. Around it, Hero Cloud processes portrait-oriented clips faster, new relink buttons and a persistent recent-projects list smooth daily workflow, and a tracker-group menu on Camera-to-Object brings finer control to moving-object conversion.
Release Notes
- Updated internal 2d imaging coordinate systems to better match pixel data with third-party applications
- Projects that cannot be located on disk now remain in the recent projects list until they are manually removed or are pushed off the bottom
- Added relink buttons for Mask and ST-Map to the Clip Input node
- Camera-to-object node now has a tracker group selection menu to restrict conversion to specific tracker groups
- Improved Auto Track spatial feature distribution when using a smaller number of trackers
- Reduced Hero Cloud processing time when using portrait-oriented clips
- Newly imported Windows Media Foundation files now start at frame 1 rather than frame 0 (can be changed in preferences)
- Improved logic for selecting full vs. half-float pixel bitdepth when importing some types of OpenEXR files
- Improved error reporting when attempting to undistort media using an imported ST-map that can no longer be accessed
- Improved transform handling when exporting dense point clouds
- Fixed an issue in the Z-Depth Solver node that could reduce depth accuracy when using optical flow hints (Studio/Enterprise only)
- Fixed an issue preventing the Current Clip menu appearing in the Orient Camera node
- Fixed some OpenEXR export issues triggered when transcoding 59.94 fps MPEG source files to alternative frame rates
- Fixed some issues with Mask and Enhance node connection logic
- Fixed some minor OpenGL texture rendering issues
- Fixed Python API tracker group function isObjectGroup() to return the correct status for the group
- Fixed store and recall for some ST-map export preference options
- Other minor UI updates and fixes
PFTrack 26.05.19
Hero Cloud: dense point clouds from the lens you already tracked
Milestone Release
Released 19 May 2026
The frontier release. The new Hero Cloud node builds a dense point cloud directly from a solved camera — through-the-lens spatial capture with no LiDAR hardware — and the new Postshot export (COLMAP format) hands cameras and clouds straight to Gaussian splat training. USD dense-cloud export with per-point normals and colour completes the route from tracked plate to modern radiance-field and splat pipelines, in one system.
Release Notes
- New Hero Cloud node for building a dense point cloud directly from a solved camera
- New Postshot export (COLMAP format) for exporting point clouds and cameras for Gaussian splat training
- Viewer windows have a new 'Active Camera' viewport option to snap camera pose to the active clip
- USD export now supports dense point clouds with per-point normal and colour
- FBX export now supports background image media and has better support for very large dense point clouds
- Solo edition trial mode now operates with full export functionality for 7 days
- Photo mesh node has been updated to work with the new Hero Cloud node
- Fixed some node connection issues related to the spherical tracking toolset
- Fixed some missing keyboard shortcuts in the Photo Cloud node
- Fixed some rendering issues when applying multi-sample motion blur to retimed footage using the Retime node
- Fixed a rendering issue preventing some image-based masks from displaying properly when using imported st-maps
- Made sure survey coordinates are always exported using the specified coordinate system instead of left-y
- Fixed a clipping issue when adjusting exposure with some OpenColorIO colour space display transforms
- Other minor UI updates and fixes
PFTrack 26.04.01
Camera-to-Object precision
Maintenance Release
Released 1 April 2026
Focused correctness work on moving-object workflows: downstream scale transforms applied properly, and pivot locking for incoming object points.
Release Notes
- Downstream scale transforms are now applied correctly to moving objects generated with the Camera-to-Object node
- The Camera-to-Object node now has an option to lock the pivot position and orientation to the origin of the incoming object points
- Fixed some incorrect default keyboard shortcut labels on some Survey Solver node tools
PFTrack 26.02.11
Pipeline housekeeping: Maya, OBJ, LiDAR diagnostics
Maintenance Release
Released 11 February 2026
Interchange details that save artists time downstream — Maya image planes parenting themselves correctly, numbered OBJ textures loading as expected, and clear error logging when LiDAR survey data arrives corrupted.
Release Notes
- Updated Maya export scripts to automatically parent background image planes to cameras
- OBJ mesh textures with numbered filenames will now load correctly into the Survey Solver
- Fixed connector logic to ensure photogrammetry nodes can be connected to secondary inputs of Survey Solver where appropriate
- Fixed conflicting keyboard shortcuts for Set-Axis tool in Orient Camera node
- Added error logging when importing corrupted or incomplete LiDAR survey data files
2025
PFTrack 25.12.09
Quality-of-life across tracking and workflow
Maintenance Release
Released 9 December 2025
A quality-of-life sweep responding directly to how artists work: tracker adjustment behaviour, solver confirmation preferences, and clean command-line execution for pipeline automation.
Release Notes
- Made some minor changes to the Tracker Adjustment zoom levels, and made sure the previous image position is fully restored when completed
- Tracker adjustment frame indicators in the scrub bar now correctly reflect any changes to the tracker in/out frames
- Added 'Don't show again' tickbox and preference option to solver node message boxes when asking for confirmation to re-solve a shot from scratch
- Updated Studio and Enterprise command-line tools so no UI elements are shown when exiting the application immediately after command execution has completed
- Auto Track node presets now correctly store the current ROI size
- Made sure PNG image sequences are recognised for import when using the embedded file browser instead of the default OS file browser
- Fixed keyboard shortcut preferences Revert button so it is only enabled when shortcuts can be reverted back to their original launch values
- Fixed connection count limit in Footage Export node
PFTrack 25.11.13
The tracking and lens toolset, comprehensively advanced
Milestone Release
Released 13 November 2025
This major milestone introduces new camera presets, updated tracker nodes, and massive performance improvements across all systems.
Release Notes
Camera and lens presets
- New anamorphic lens distortion model generates more accurate distortion presets for a wider range of anamorphic lenses
- New smart distortion calibration system analyses the type of distortion in your grid shots and automatically determines the best distortion model to use
- New grid detection algorithm is able to better detect distortion grids in a wider variety of single and multi-level grid shots
- Added support for online and locally-hosted sensor databases, and new search tools to help locate the correct sensor size for your camera
- New and improved grid editing tools (including image masking) to better handle distortion grids from different sources
- Fixed some image transform issues when calibrating anamorphic distortion grids
Tracker nodes
- User Track has updated tracking and editing tools, located directly in the Cinema window for easy access whilst tracking
- User Track UI now provides the same tracker motion graphs as Auto Track, with improved interaction tools and display of tracker velocity and acceleration
- Tracking window deformation in the User Track node has been improved to better handle multiple combinations of rotation, scale and skew
- The tracker nudge shortcuts in the User Track node now support additional keyboard modifiers for fine-tuning the tracker position
- User Track and Auto Track nodes now place trackers into a single tracking group named after the node for easy identification; multiple tracking groups can be activated downstream in each solver node
- Auto Track UI has been improved with better tools for interacting with trackers in the Cinema and motion graphs, including a new Tracker Adjustment toolset for making quick adjustments to the trackers
- Auto Track has a new 'Localized' motion prediction algorithm that is able to better adapt to a wider variety of camera motion types whilst tracking
- The Stereo Auto Track node has been updated to provide the same tracking toolset and performance improvements as the mono version
Solver nodes
- All solver nodes have a new unified Tracker Adjustment toolset, allowing adjustments to any tracking point to be made quickly and easily directly in the solver node whilst refining or adjusting the solve
- The Camera Solver and Survey Solver nodes have a new Parameter Refinement toolset, providing direct control over which camera and lens parameters are adjusted during refinement
- All solver nodes have an updated Tracker Group menu, allowing trackers from individual up-stream nodes to be selected or de-selected for solving
- The performance and accuracy of the Camera Solver node has been improved when solving multiple cameras
- Preview mode in the Camera and Survey Solver has been updated to better reflect any changes to automatic lens distortion correction in the initial solve
- The Target Camera Solver node (previously Target Track) has been updated to support up-stream trackers and provide more reliable frame-to-frame interactive camera solving
- The 'Make Object' node has been renamed 'Camera To Object' for clarity, and contains improved tracking point display and transform tools that operate in the same way as those in the Object Solver node
- Automatic lens distort correction in the Camera Solver and Survey Solver nodes has been updated to fix some issues when switching between upstream ST-maps and automatic distortion correction
Photogrammetry nodes
- Memory usage and processing speed in the Photo Mesh node has been greatly improved when building very large meshes
- Matching regions in the Photo Survey node will now only appear in frames where they have been manually drawn
- Photo Mesh node is now able to display large meshes (50M+ triangles) on macOS without issues
Geometry nodes
- The Image Modelling node now supports loading of custom modelling primitives using the coordinate system settings defined in the preferences window
- The Test Object node now has a Centre View option that centres the viewport on a point or object for easier alignment testing
- Manual adjustments to object scale in the Test Object node are now stored correctly
- Fixed some issues with display shaders in off-screen buffers used for test object rendering and colour key
Media input nodes
- Improved the Clip Input node UI layout for unobtrusive access to media metadata, and streamlined tools for defining the camera sensor and lens model
- The Clip Input node now caches the original input frames prior to any local colour or lens distortion adjustments for improved interactivity and performance; caching of undistorted media can still be achieved downstream using a Disk Cache node
- The 'Measured' distortion estimation tool in the Clip Input node now uses a more flexible distortion model, supporting higher order spherical and anamorphic distortions
Import/export
- PNG files are now better supported and decoding speed has been improved for high resolution images
- Windows Media Foundation file import has been improved to better support clips encoded with invalid duration settings
- Windows Media Foundation file export has been improved to better support codecs with macroblock encoding requirements
- Maya ascii export scripts now automatically set a wider range of fractional frame-rates where required
- Added new command line options to load multiple clips from a single folder at the same time (Studio/Enterprise only)
Workpage
- The workpage context menu has been updated to provide quick access to common node operations, allow movement of nodes between workpages, and show which nodes can and cannot be connected together to ease workflow planning
- RAM cache, tracking and keyframe indicators in the scrub-bar are now displayed more clearly
- The Playblast RAM cache button has a new control menu and new caching modes such as “nearby frames”
- When creating nodes directly from the Node Panel, the Shift key modifier can now be used to create multiple nodes at once without activating them individually
- The Node Panel design has been improved to make it more visually consistent with nodes displayed on the workpage
Other UI updates
- A new online AI assistant tool is available to help search and analyse the documentation and learning resources (Solo/Studio only)
- All viewer windows now have viewpoint store and recall buttons for quickly switching between camera positions
- Added preference options for inverting the zoom direction when using the middle mouse button or mouse wheel
- Added a preference option for choosing between an OS-native or in-app colour chooser window
- The bounding box for tree presets is now displayed properly in the tree when the preset contains multiple copies of a single node type
- Many other minor UI fixes and QOL improvements
2024
PFTrack 24.12.19
Machine-learning matching in Photo Survey — and help on tap
Feature Release
Released 19 December 2024
Photogrammetry, accelerated: the Photo Survey node gained a new solver engine and a machine-learning based 'Quick' matching mode with greatly improved performance and accuracy, Photo Cloud builds better depth maps faster with new cleanup tools, and a keyword-searchable Help menu links documentation and learning articles from inside the application.
Release Notes
- Brand new Help menu, with a keyword-based search tool linking documentation and learning articles
- The Photo Survey node has an updated UI, a brand new solver engine and lens distortion model, and a new machine-learning based 'Quick' matching mode with greatly improved performance and accuracy
- The Photo Cloud node generates better quality depth maps and dense point clouds faster than before, and includes new cleanup tools allowing you to quickly and easily tidy up your dense point cloud before meshing
- The Photo Mesh node has improved texture building accuracy when using very coarse input meshes
- The Match Camera node operates much quicker than before when using long clips and large photo datasets
- USD point cloud exports now support lighter-weight point-based geometry as well as standard locators
- Improved highlighting of active cameras and objects in the viewer windows for many nodes
- Improved frame-scrubbing performance on Windows when viewing H264 or similar encoded media
- Manipulators now have controls to translate over the X, Y or Z planes in addition to along a single axis
- Fixed Photo Survey point matching when using full-float precision EXR images as input
- Fixed Draw Axes mode in the Orient Camera node so it works correctly starting from all initial orientations
- The tracking group now resets correctly in Object Solve node when an upstream tracker group is removed
- Fixed some UI issues in the Export node related to exporting multiple versions of the same undistorted clip
- Many other minor UI updates and fixes
PFTrack 24.09.24
Textures, transparency and glTF at scale
Feature Release
Released 24 September 2024
Survey and texture workflow additions — multiple OBJ texture maps, geometry transparency control, alpha pass-through in the spherical pipeline (a ticket-driven addition), and glTF export scaling to very large tracking point counts.
Release Notes
- Added support for reading multiple texture maps when importing OBJ geometry in the Survey Solver node
- Added a transparency edit box for adjusting geometry and texture transparency in the Survey Solver node
- Spherical pipeline nodes now support pass-through of image alpha channel (support ticket PFT001736)
- glTF export now supports very large numbers of tracking points
- Texture Extraction node now combines projected texture with painted texture correctly in Viewer windows
- Fixed some painting glitches in the Texture Extraction node when using very soft brushes
PFTrack 24.08.22
Python, quad meshes and glTF: pipeline citizenship
Feature Release
Released 22 August 2024
A release about meeting pipelines where they live. Bundled Python gained Qt PySide2 for serious macro and script integration; quad-mesh topology now survives import through Geometry Track and Survey Solver and out through OBJ, FBX, Alembic, USD, Maya, Collada and Nuke exports; and the Scene Export node added both flavours of Khronos glTF.
Release Notes
Python integration
- The bundled Python distribution now includes Qt PySide2 for improved macro and script pipeline integration (example macro script is included in the installer)
- Python initialisation has been updated to better satisfy the requirements of some external site-packages, and has improved error handling and exception reporting
- New environment variables have been added that make it easier to specify additional Python site-package directories
- The Python node script editor now performs automatic indentation for both tabs and spaces whilst editing
Geometry Track
- The new 'Use Helpers Only' tracking option allows you to track geometry using only the Helper tracking points, ignoring any additional optical flow — helping to track difficult shots in challenging lighting environments more quickly and easily
- Quad-mesh topology is now maintained when importing tracking geometry into the Geometry Track node, and passed downstream for export
- FBX mesh import has been improved to better support FBX files with no embedded animation takes”
Survey Solver
- You can now specify X, Y or Z axis locking for uncertain survey coordinates to prevent any unwanted tracking point motion along those axes during the solve
- Quad-mesh topology is now maintained when importing set geometry into the Survey Solver; mesh topology is also passed downstream for export
Exports
- The Scene Export node now supports both ascii and binary flavours of the Khronos glTF format — cameras, tracking points, and meshes can all be exported, along with point clouds, textures and moving object groups
- A new preference option is available for FBX export that when enabled will set a scene-unit scale in the FBX file, improving compatibility when loading FBX files into some third-party software such as Cinema4D and Blender
- Quad-mesh topology loaded by the Survey Solver or Geometry Track nodes can be exported using the Alias|Wavefront OBJ, Autodesk FBX, Alembic, Pixar USD, Autodesk Maya ascii, Collada DAE and Nuke Python Script formats
- Many export formats are now better at passing-through UV texture coordinates that were loaded with custom mesh objects without needing to use a Texture Extraction node
- The Footage Export node can now export OpenEXR stereo disparity maps that have been calculated using PFTrack's stereo pipeline
PFTrack 24.07.22
Evaluation-friendly VMs, tracker fetch fixed
Maintenance Release
Released 22 July 2024
Broadened virtual-machine compatibility in unlicensed mode — so facilities can evaluate PFTrack in the environments they actually run — plus a User Track selection-state fix.
Release Notes
- Improved compatibility with some virtual machines when running in unlicensed mode
- Fixed User Track fetch mode to ensure selection state of upstream trackers is maintained when fetching
- Other minor UI updates and fixes
PFTrack 24.06.24
Ticket-driven tracker fix, precise EXR flow
Maintenance Release
Released 24 June 2024
A user-reported Auto Track issue traced and closed, with optical-flow EXR export honouring half-float precision as specified.
Release Notes
- Fixed issue with Auto Track node when adjusting tracker counts after changing the upstream Clip Input in/out range (support ticket PFT001670)
- Optical flow EXR export will now always use half-float precision when specified
- Other minor UI updates and fixes
PFTrack 24.05.07
Smoother scrubbing, sharper ST-map control
Maintenance Release
Released 7 May 2024
Two ticket-referenced refinements to the lens pipeline — extended-range ST-map export for high-order sampling, and distortion correctness through resolution changes — alongside smoother macOS scrubbing of variable-frame-rate QuickTime.
Release Notes
- Improved frame seeking in the scrub bar on macOS when using Quicktime files that are encoded with a variable or non-standard frame rate
- Added ST-Map export option and preferences to include coordinates outside the valid (0,1) range and better support high-order sampling (support ticket PFT001642)
- Fixed lens distortion issues when changing clip resolutions using the Transform Clip node (support ticket PFT001647)
- Fixed some issues loading external python scripts into old projects
- Other minor UI updates and fixes
PFTrack 24.04.16
The new unified Auto Track — faster and more accurate
Feature Release
Released 16 April 2024
The new Auto Track node combined the best of the old Auto Match and Auto Track with increased tracking speed and accuracy, and Rocky Linux 8/9 support brought PFTrack to the distribution modern facilities have standardised on.
Release Notes
- Added support for Rocky Linux 8 and 9 to the Linux installers (PFTrack and PFBucket)
- New Auto Track node combines the best features of the old Auto Match and Auto Track nodes, along with increased tracking speed and accuracy
- Updated User Track node to improve the Fetch interface used to fetch upstream trackers for additional editing
- Added a preference option to enable or disable GPU rendering when undistorting clips using imported ST-maps
- Improved the order of metatag file parsing so user-specified tags will always take preference over shipped values
- Added support for lens squeeze tags to the metatag XML file schema
- An error popup window is now displayed when attempting to load unsupported ST-maps containing half-precision EXR pixel coordinate data
- Updated minimum hardware specification checks when launching
- Prevented floating-point precision loss when repeatedly distorting and undistorting manual tracking points using ST-Maps loaded from an external source (support ticket PFT001623)
- Fixed smoothing operations in the F-Curve editor when curves contain wide gaps in their keyed positions
- Fixed F-Curve graph button enable/disable states when manually selecting trackers in the Cinema window whilst the graph is visible
- Fixed occasional crash when selecting all / none trackers in the Orient Camera node
- Fixed tracker error graph displayed frame range when applying an offset to frame numbering in the Clip Input node
PFTrack 24.03.08
Support-driven fixes, straight from the queue
Maintenance Release
Released 8 March 2024
Three ticket numbers in one small release — the report-to-fix loop working exactly as designed.
Release Notes
- User Track ASCII files now import with correct residual errors, and maintain downstream survey coordinates (support ticket PFT001597)
- Camera translation smoothing filter is updated to prevent shrinkage at start/end frames (support ticket PFT001608)
- Fixed crash when interacting with mask context-menu in the Optical Flow node (support ticket PFT001593)
- Middle-button zoom sensitivity has been adjusted in camera solver error graph when not using the scroll wheel
- Single photo calibration grid images now import correctly when using the native OS file browser
- Python script node directories are now scanned correctly at launch time
- Other minor UI fixes and updates
PFTrack 24.02.14
A streamlined project manager
Feature Release
Released 14 February 2024
Day-one workflow modernised: a new streamlined project manager with recent projects and media, native OS file browsers, UNC path support for facility storage, and a run of ticket-referenced pipeline fixes including Autodesk Flame ST-map compatibility.
Release Notes
- New streamlined project manager, showing recently used projects and media
- Added preference option to use native OS file browsers for media import
- Added support for UNC filenames to the media file browser and project manager
- Improved keyboard and mouse preferences editor
- Updated OpenEXR clip import to automatically set pixel aspect ratio from embedded metadata
- OpenEXR ST-map export now ensures pixel aspect ratio is set to the lens squeeze for better compatibility with Autodesk Flame (support ticket PFT001535)
- OpenEXR ST-map import now supports extended data windows
- User directories for objects and primitives are now created at launch time if they do not already exist (support ticket PFT001479)
- Updated LIDAR render proxy options to avoid OpenGL rendering issues with certain NVIDIA drivers on Windows (support ticket PFT001522)
- Fixed parsing of OBJ objects that are present in the user's objects folder whilst no project is open
- Fixed a bug that could cause the Photo Mesh bounding box to be unusable after changing the orientation of an upstream dense point cloud
- Fixed channel contents in ST-maps exported from the calibration panel alongside a camera preset
- Fixed notes editor to ensure edits are always stored with the project
- Made sure return code is set to 0 on exit after executing valid command line arguments (support ticket PFT001573)
2023
PFTrack 23.09.21
Survey coordinates from your own geometry
Feature Release
Released 21 September 2023
The Survey Solver learned to use geometry from upstream nodes — a Photo Mesh, a Geometry Track — as the source of survey coordinates, closing the loop between PFTrack's photogrammetry and its solving.
Release Notes
- Improved Survey Solver UI and interaction tools when using geometry to create survey coordinates
- Survey Solver can now use geometry from up-stream nodes (such as Photo Mesh or Geometry Track) to create survey coordinates
- Added support for import of texture maps for OBJ geometry meshes to assist with Survey Solver geometry tools
- Improved camera position estimates in Survey Solver when using 'Small translation' or 'Off-centre' as the camera motion hint
- Fixed crash when exporting full-float OpenEXR ST-maps using a reduced data-window size (support ticket PFT001467)
- Fixed OBJ texture export to ensure texture filenames are stored relative to the object file
- Fixed some issues with tracker selection in the Scene Export node
PFTrack 23.08.09
AI-searchable help and the latest camera bodies
Feature Release
Released 9 August 2023
An AI-powered search tool arrived in the Help window — answers from documentation and learning resources, in plain language — and the built-in camera presets caught up with the stage: ARRI ALEXA 35, RED KOMODO and V-RAPTOR bodies.
Release Notes
- Added new Help window containing documentation, online learning resources and an AI-powered search tool
- Updated ground plane rendering in the Cinema viewport to better illustrate changes in scene scale
- Extended built-in camera body presets to include ARRI ALEXA 35, and RED KOMODO 6K, KOMODO-X, V-RAPTOR 8K S35 and V-RAPTOR 8K W
- Added preferences for user-specified geometry primitives and test object import folders (support ticket PFT001366)
- Fixed Enhance node to ensure changes to denoise and sharpen are correctly reflected in the attached clip (support ticket PFT001403)
- Fixed a UI issue that could prevent macro scripts from running correctly (support ticket PFT001418)
- Fixed Spherical Orient node to ensure the clip and cameras are updated correctly after manually connecting individual links (support ticket PFT001420)
- Other minor UI updates and fixes
PFTrack 23.06.26
A single crash, promptly closed
Maintenance Release
Released 26 June 2023
One user-reported crash path, fixed and shipped ten days after the previous build.
Release Notes
- Fixed crash when creating Scene Export or Footage Export nodes with no connections to any input media (support ticket PFT001350)
PFTrack 23.06.16
OpenUSD export arrives
Feature Release
Released 16 June 2023
Universal Scene Description export — ascii and binary — put PFTrack's solves directly into the scene format the industry is standardising on, with variable-driven export paths for automated pipeline naming.
Release Notes
- Added Universal Scene Description export (ascii and binary)
- Export paths and preferences now support user-specified variables to automatically name folders or files using the project or media filename
- Extended QuickTime XML configuration file on macOS to load HEVC files at 10-bit by default
- Increased LIDAR point rendering performance on Windows
- Fixed ST-map ram cache messaging when loading many ST-maps (support ticket PFT001312)
- Fixed display refresh when switching LIDAR point display on/off in the survey solver node (support ticket PFT001314)
- Fixed User Track node so 'Centre View' remains switched on after manually adjusting position in the Cinema window (support ticket PFT001329)
- Fixed import of FBX geometry into Test Object node (support ticket PFT001335)
- Fixed Alembic export of photogrammetry point clouds to ensure right-handed normal vectors are generated
- Fixed crash when importing Alembic camera and geometry containing unsupported HDF5 data
- Fixed ground plane spacing to improve display when the overall scale is significantly increased
- Other minor UI updates and fixes
PFTrack 23.04.26
Calibration stability
Maintenance Release
Released 26 April 2023
Numerical hardening in the distortion calibration pipeline — multi-angle grid shots, ST-map imports, and grid data persistence.
Release Notes
- Fixed issues when importing some types of ST-maps
- Fixed a numerical stability issue when calibrating distortion grid shots taken from multiple angles
- Fixed an issue preventing photo calibration grid data from saving correctly
PFTrack 23.03.27
Native on Apple Silicon, colour-managed to ACES 1.3
Milestone Release
Released 27 March 2023
A generational platform release, shipped in step across the whole Pixel Farm portfolio. The native Apple Silicon build established today's price-performance advantage; OpenColorIO 2.2 with ACES 1.3 and automatic monitor-profile detection brought colour management to the current industry standard; and the foundation libraries — OpenEXR, RED R3D, ARRIRAW, Alembic, Python 3.10 — were brought fully current in one sweep.
Release Notes
- Optimized OpenEXR pipeline for increased performance and reduced memory usage
- Added OpenColorIO 2.2 support for colour management (ACES 1.3 configuration) including automatic detection of monitor profiles and import of custom ICC files
- Native Apple Silicon build on macOS
- Updated documentation is now included in the application installer for ease of access offline
- Improvements to memory optimization and multi-threading performance
- Many UI improvements and performance optimizations, and new UI styling
- Upgrade to OpenEXR 3.1.5, OpenJPEG 2.5.0, REDR3D 8.3.1, ArriRAW 6.2.3, Alembic 1.8.3, Python 3.10.6, TIFF 4.5.0
- Added marquee to Auto Match node for rapid tracker selection
- Improved mounted volume handling when importing and relinking media files
- Improved Cinema rendering performance at high bit depths
- Performance optimizations when using imported ST-maps
- Improved PFBucket connection reliability when there are multiple network routes to the server
- User Support tickets can now be closed directly in-app
- On Windows, notification popups now show the PFTrack icon for better visibility, and the default antialiased system font is used for better UI clarity
- On macOS, Quicktime HEVC export is now available, and ProRes RAW file import now uses half-float for better memory usage
- On Linux, high-dpi monitor support has been improved and is now enabled by default
- Background process thread now cleans up properly when finished to allow clean exit of the application
- Fixed Photo Survey node to ensure camera solve status is maintained after viewing an upstream Select Photos node
- Fixed Keyer node to work properly with photos provided by the Select Photos node
- Fixed issue preventing export of more than one Object Group in a single Scene Export node when using a Make Object node (support ticket PFT001122)
- Fixed Survey Solver node to ensure tracker errors are displayed correctly when solving a single frame clip (support ticket PFT001177)
2022
PFTrack 22.09.14
ST-map precision hardening
Maintenance Release
Released 14 September 2022
Two ticket-referenced numerical refinements in the lens pipeline, plus faster UI with long multi-frame ST-map clips.
Release Notes
- Improved UI performance when using long multi-frame ST-map clips
- Improved lens calibration solver stability when using off-angle grid shots (support ticket PFT001085)
- Updated ST-map solvers to avoid occasional numerical precision issues when distorting feature tracks (support ticket PFT001087)
- Other minor UI updates and fixes
PFTrack 22.08.11
Dialled in for Apple M1
Maintenance Release
Released 11 August 2022
Serious Apple Silicon support means validating the details — GPU compute compatibility and a certifiably valid M1 Max hardware ProRes encoder — with two ticket-driven interchange fixes.
Release Notes
- Improved GPU compute compatibility on Apple M1 chipsets
- Fixed ProRes export on Apple M1 Max to ensure hardware encoder produces valid files
- Fixed Alembic camera import to ensure animation always starts at the first frame of the clip
- Fixed FBX geometry import to ensure mesh transform is maintained when loading geometry in the Survey Solver node (support ticket PFT001058)
- Fixed automatic calculation of frame offset when importing FBX cameras into the Edit Camera node (support ticket PFT001073)
PFTrack 22.05.19
Support tools and API correctness
Maintenance Release
Released 19 May 2022
In-app support tooling improved, and a Python API distortion function corrected — the scripting surface held to the same standard as the UI.
Release Notes
- Improved in-app user support tools
- Fixed Python API setDistortion() function to ensure camera frame size is correct after changing the distortion coefficient
- Fixed copy/paste bug so all cameras in duplicated nodes are uniquely identified when attached to a single Scene Export node (support ticket PFT000997)
PFTrack 22.03.14
Stability on network storage
Maintenance Release
Released 14 March 2022
Ticket-driven fixes for moving-object workflows, and launch stability when running PFTrack from network-attached storage — how real facilities deploy.
Release Notes
- Fixed positioning of test objects when geometry is attached to a tracker in a moving object group (support ticket PFT000942)
- Fixed scaling of test object geometry when changing from camera to object motion with the Make Object node (support ticket PFT000959)
- Improved stability on Windows and Linux when launching PFTrack from network attached storage (support ticket PFT000971)
PFTrack 22.02.10
Export and undistort fixes
Maintenance Release
Released 10 February 2022
A nine-day follow-up closing two tickets on the same ST-map export crash, plus a bit-depth conversion fix in the Clip Input node.
Release Notes
- Fixed full-window ST-map issue that could sometimes cause a crash whilst exporting (support tickets PFT000944, PFT000953)
- Fixed bit-depth conversion issue in the Clip Input node that could introduce borders in the image when undistorting
- Other minor UI updates and fixes
PFTrack 22.02.01
Parallel branch processing
Maintenance Release
Released 1 February 2022
Background processing updated so you can keep working on one branch of the tree while another branch processes — throughput for artists, not just machines.
Release Notes
- Updated background processing so work can be performed on one branch from the source clip whilst a processing operation is running on another branch
- Fixed sorting of trackers after changing tracker colour states (support ticket PFT000920)
- Fixed Disparity-To-Depth node to ensure z-depth is flagged as available for export in the Footage Export node (support ticket PFT000931)
- Fixed tracker placement issue related to masking in Auto Match node (support ticket PFT000942)
- Other minor UI updates
PFTrack 22.01.13
Crop-aware undistortion and full-window ST-maps
Feature Release
Released 13 January 2022
Practical control at the undistort stage — crop back to original image size after undistorting, and export full-data-window OpenEXR ST-maps when using cropped undistortion — with CPU optimisations across image processing.
Release Notes
- Added image cropping option to the Auto-Undistort tools in solver nodes to crop to the original image size after undistorting
- Added a Full Window option to the Scene Export node allowing export of OpenEXR ST-Maps with a full data window when using cropped undistortion
- Improved ground-plane rendering with buttons to increase and decrease the ground-plane grid size in the Cinema window
- Made some CPU performance optimizations to increase image processing speed
- Fixed full-image undistort framing when building a movie camera preset (support ticket PFT000886)
- Fixed potential crash in Z-Depth Mesh node
- Other minor UI updates and improvements
2021
PFTrack 2021.11.24
Geometry Track refinement
Maintenance Release
Released 24 November 2021
Motion refinement between keyframes at significantly different orientations, and frame rates read straight from OpenEXR metadata.
Release Notes
- Improved Geometry Track motion refinement between keyframes at significantly different orientations
- Updated metatags file to support reading frame rate from OpenEXR metadata
- Improved ground-plane scaling when changing overall scene scale by a large amount
- Linux build now requires OpenSSL 1.1 for network communication with The Pixel Farm's servers
PFTrack 2021.11.09
Support, built into the software
Feature Release
Released 9 November 2021
The release that added in-app support ticketing — raise an issue from inside PFTrack, where the work happens. Every ticket number printed in the release notes above traces back to the system introduced here.
Release Notes
- Added new In-App User Support ticketing
- Improved colour-adjustment and bit-depth conversion in the Clip Input node to reduce colour banding when changing input clip bit depth
- UI and processing improvements following customer feedback
PFTrack 2021.10.21
SDKs current: FBX 2020.2, RED 8.0.4
Maintenance Release
Released 21 October 2021
Interchange and camera SDKs brought up to date, with font scaling refinements on Windows.
Release Notes
- Updated launch window to allow entry of a hostname as an alternative to IP address when connecting to a PFBucket server
- Improved font scaling when using desktop scale adjustments on Windows 10
- Updated FBX SDK to version 2020.2
- Updated RED R3D SDK to version 8.0.4
PFTrack 2021.08.25
Hands-on calibration grid editing
Feature Release
Released 25 August 2021
Manual edit tools for calibration grid points joined an improved automated checkerboard detector — automation where it helps, artist control where it matters.
Release Notes
- Improved launch window connectivity when running the PFBucketd server on a local workstation whilst networking is unavailable (requires PFBucket 21.08.25)
- Improved automated checkerboard detector when using bi-level calibration grid shots
- Added manual edit tools to adjust calibration grid points in the movie camera preset UI
- Improved font and layout scaling on Windows 10 with UHD displays
PFTrack 2021.06.30
ProRes RAW read support on macOS
Feature Release
Released 30 June 2021
Apple ProRes RAW footage reading directly on macOS, alongside a new Launch Window for licence-server connection and UI speed work on Windows.
Release Notes
- Added new Launch Window to assist with connecting to the PFBucket entitlement server
- General UI speed improvements on Windows 10
- Added read-support for Apple ProRes RAW on macOS
- Improved PFHostID handling on virtual machines when using dynamic entitlement tokens
PFTrack 2021.05.24
From movie clips to photogrammetry: Select Frames
Feature Release
Released 24 May 2021
The new Select Frames node turns frames from a tracked movie clip into a photo sequence for photogrammetry — one capture, two disciplines — with an improved anamorphic distortion model and denser calibration grid support.
Release Notes
- Added 'Select Frames' node to convert frames from a movie clip into a sequence of photos for photogrammetry
- Improved Anamorphic lens distortion model
- Updated calibration grid detection algorithms to better support high density grids
- Added preference option for network proxy authentication check at launch time
- Added preference option to allow export of ST-Maps alongside movie camera presets
- Improved ST map import handling in the Clip Input node
- Improved PFHostID support on virtual machines when using dynamic entitlement tokens
- UI updates and performance improvements
PFTrack 2021.01.19
Anamorphic presets and macro-block-friendly framing
Maintenance Release
Released 19 January 2021
Anamorphic camera and sensor preset support improved, with 16x16 macro-block rounding for cleaner compatibility with media export formats.
Release Notes
- Improved support for camera and sensor presets when using anamorphic lenses
- Added option to round undistort framing rectangle to nearest 16x16 macro block for improved compatibility with some media export formats
- Added general user preference options to adjust colours for tracked and un-tracked frames in the scrub-bar and coverage panel
- Improved font scaling on Windows 10 when using fractional desktop scale settings
2020
PFTrack 2020.11.23
Deployment flexibility
Maintenance Release
Released 23 November 2020
Environment-variable licence-server addressing for scripted facility deployment, and an OpenJPEG library update.
Release Notes
- Added an environment variable to specify IP address of PFBucketd server
- Updated OpenJPEG library to version 2.3.1
PFTrack 2020.10.23
Tracker Coverage: see your solve's evidence
Feature Release
Released 23 October 2020
The new Tracker Coverage panel across eight tracking and solver nodes shows exactly where your solve's evidence lives — transparency about the data behind every camera path.
Release Notes
- Added new Tracker Coverage panel to User Track, Auto Track, Auto Match, Camera Solver, Survey Solver, Object Solver, Mocap Solver and Target Track nodes
- Updated Photo Cloud node to colour camera frustum and near/far planes red when they do not intersect the bound of the scene
- Updated camera solver to improve error reduction in certain cases
- Added an application preference to control the default distance between trackers and camera during a camera solve
PFTrack 2020.10.05
International character sets, everywhere
Maintenance Release
Released 5 October 2020
File, directory and name handling reworked for international character sets — because production is global — plus custom focus and orientation metatag support.
Release Notes
- Updated all file, directory and name handling to better support international character sets
- Updated metadata parsing for movie cameras to include support for custom focus and orientation metatags
- Added a user preference option to allow delete of input nodes that still contain linked media
- Added a user preference option to allow adjustment of User Track position and window sizes without a modifier key
PFTrack 2020.09.15
Workflow guardrails
Maintenance Release
Released 15 September 2020
Small behavioural refinements across clip input, tracking and image modelling, shaped by how artists actually work.
Release Notes
- Updated Clip Input node so in/out points can be set to a single frame if desired
- Updated User Track node to only adjust tracker window/search edges when holding the Alt modifier key
- Updated Image Modelling node to prevent passing primitives downstream that have been marked as 'not visible'
- Disabled High-DPI display initialization on Linux to prevent issues with some window managers at launch time (can be enabled with an environment variable if required)
PFTrack 2020.08.20
Cleaner dense clouds
Maintenance Release
Released 20 August 2020
Photogrammetry refinement — a more robust Photo Survey solver and a new Colour Similarity parameter for filtering noise out of dense point clouds.
Release Notes
- Improved Photo Survey node camera solver robustness
- Improved dense point cloud noise filtering in Photo Cloud node with a new Colour Similarity parameter
- Updated default distortion model in Photo Input node to 'Automatic' when using photo metadata
- Added preference to adjust number of points used to display dense point cloud proxies
PFTrack 2020.06.10
Re-engineered from the ground up
Milestone Release
Released 10 June 2020
The foundation release of modern PFTrack. A complete rebuild of the development platform became an opportunity to modernise the whole application: a re-engineered UI with dynamic window management and high-resolution display support; a new media I/O strategy with vastly improved metadata handling; a completely new integrated lens distortion pipeline with automatic calibration pattern detection, a new anamorphic model, lens-breathing correction and extended ST-map support; major photogrammetry advances including the new Photo Cloud node and dense cloud export; sharable camera and lens preset libraries; and extended embedded metadata management for ARRI and RED RAW formats. In the team's own words: a better platform to develop the features that move us forward.
Release Notes
- This new version of PFTrack started out as a mission to upgrade our entire build environment, including compilers and servers, making us more efficient as developers; it resulted in significant code rewrites which presented an opportunity to update parts of the app that were long overdue — the net result is a better platform to develop features that move us forward and allow us to better support customer requested changes
- Completely re-engineered UI for a better user experience, providing a dynamic window manager, support for high-resolution displays and much more
- Improvements across the entire media I/O strategy: new input nodes with vastly improved metadata handling, productivity enhancements to the media import file browser, and performance gains for directory and file I/O handling
- New Scene and Footage export nodes create a more direct output experience for larger datasets; file importers and exporters updated to the latest versions available on more modern OS
- New camera preset managers utilizing user-generated camera back and lens libraries produce sharable camera models for movie cameras and photogrammetry stills cameras
- Completely new integrated lens distortion pipeline based on new automatic calibration pattern detection when building lens distortion presets; includes a new anamorphic distortion model, automated correction of lens breathing and extended support for ST-maps
- Significant updates to the photogrammetry pipeline including improved photogrammetry solver and automatic lens distortion correction, and updated Scene Solver node feature matching and camera solver
- New thumbnail navigation bar for photogrammetry datasets and customizable EXIF metadata support, including GPS position and orientation hints in the solver
- New Photo Cloud node for combining depth maps into a dense point cloud before meshing, along with the added ability to export dense point clouds
- A significant number of improvements applied to existing nodes making it easier to produce better results in less time
- Extended support for embedded metadata management for RAW movie file formats (ARRI, RED) including new metadata analysis tools for movie camera data, focal length, camera orientation and synchronisation of F-curves to image data
- Numerous additional features and improvements to background application libraries such as Python (updated to 3.7), script and macro file location preferences and user settings/preferences
- In addition to The Pixel Farm's own development efforts, a number of user-requested features and bug fixes have also been included
2018
PFTrack 2018.09.19
A new desktop, a new tracker
Milestone Release
Released 19 September 2018
Two foundations in one release: a new project desktop with snapshotting and archiving — solves managed with institutional care — and an all-new, super-fast automated tracking node with a new matching algorithm and intuitive analysis tools, alongside velocity-based retiming and standalone Roto, Keyer and Enhance nodes.
Release Notes
- A new desktop to manage projects and hardware resources with support for project snapshotting and archiving
- All new, super fast automated tracking node with a new matching algorithm and intuitive tracking analysis tools
- Interactive velocity based retiming of synchronised image and tracking data
- Standalone Roto, Keyer and Enhance nodes with new adaptive boundary Colour X-Spline masks and ability to export Roto masks
- A new Dual View mode for positioning trackers in multiple clips
- Improved node connectivity and node layout
- Other improvements and product enhancements
2017
PFTrack 2017.10.20
Integer ST-maps for third-party sampling
Maintenance Release
Released 20 October 2017
Integer-coordinate ST-map support for better results in third-party applications sampling at integer coordinates — interchange correctness down to the sampling convention.
Release Notes
- Added support for integer coordinate ST-map, which leads to better results in 3rd party applications that are sampling at integer coordinates
PFTrack 2017.08.25
Export workflow refinements
Feature Release
Released 25 August 2017
Clip-and-scene export coordination, camera renaming at export, and single-frame ST-maps for constant-distortion clips — less data, same fidelity.
Release Notes
- When a clip is checked in the Clip Export tab, the Export node will prompt you to export the clip before exporting the scene, so the exported clip can be linked in the scene
- Cameras can now be renamed in the Cameras tab of the Export node
- When exporting ST Maps, the Single frame checkbox can now be checked for clips with constant lens distortion, exporting a single ST Map per clip rather than one for every frame
PFTrack 2017.02.10
Node groups preserved, Collada compatibility
Maintenance Release
Released 10 February 2017
Node-group structure now survives copy, paste and tree presets, with improved Collada export compatibility.
Release Notes
- We have updated the Collada export to improve compatibility with some third party applications
- When nodes which are part of a group are copied, they will now be pasted as parts of a node group; node groups will also be preserved for tree presets
- A Custom sub-menu has been added to the node creation menu to allow selection of nodes in the Custom shelf
PFTrack 2017.01.13
Depth, stereo and the metadata pipeline arrive
Milestone Release
Released 13 January 2017
A landmark expansion of what a tracking application could be. All of PFDepth's nodes were fully integrated into PFTrack — depth solving, editing, filtering and compositing — alongside a complete stereo camera pipeline for 2D-to-3D conversion. ARRI RAW support with automatic camera and lens metadata read directly from RED and ARRI source files established the metadata authority PFTrack is known for, and PTS and FARO LiDAR import brought surveyed reality into the solve. External z-depth sensor data could now reduce drift, resolve nodal pans and deliver real-world scale automatically.
Release Notes
- All of PFDepth's nodes are now fully integrated and available in PFTrack: updated Z-Depth Solver node; new Z-Depth Tracker, Z-Depth Merge, Z-Depth Edit, Z-Depth Filter, Z-Depth Composite and Z-Depth Cache nodes; new Z-Depth Object node for rotoscope based depth editing
- An updated stereo camera and image pipeline and 2D to 3D conversion: new Build Stereo Camera node; new Stereo Disparity Solver, Disparity Adjust and Disparity-to-Depth nodes; new Keystone Fix, Colour Match, Sharpness Match nodes; new Stereo Render node
- Optimised texture maps can be created as part of the mesh simplification process, with exposure and brightness differences automatically corrected; normal, occlusion and displacement maps can also be automatically created to increase the visual fidelity of the simplified mesh
- PFTrack now supports ARRI RAW files and automatically reads camera and lens metadata directly from RED and ARRI source files; ARRI metadata is read automatically from DPX, OpenEXR and Quicktime ProRes files as well; custom lens metadata can be imported as XML; all metadata is passed through the tree and can be accessed by Python or Export nodes
- Nodes are now organised into groups to make them easier to find, with a user-definable Custom group to store the most used nodes
- New Attach Z-Channel node to attach z-depth data captured by external sensors to an RGB clip and pass it down the tree; updated Auto Track, User Track and Camera Solver nodes can use this data to reduce drift in long shots, improve accuracy when tracking complicated camera movements, as 3D data for nodal pans, and to automatically provide real world scale
- The new Z-Depth node can be used to convert depth maps into a coloured triangular mesh
- Improved Auto Track feature tracking when using undistorted image plates
- Improved Camera Solver initial keyframe selection
- Added focal length reset button to Camera Solver and Survey Solver
- Added depth-test and back-face culling options to Geometry Track node when painting on geometry
- Added support for importing PTS and FARO XYB LIDAR files in Survey Solver
- Improved pivot point handling for LIDAR datasets in Survey Solver
- Added exposure and image processing controls to Clip Input node for ARRI RAW and OpenEXR decoding
- Added camera presets for ARRI ALEXA and RED cameras
- Added XML export python script
2016
PFTrack 2016.11.11
Keyframe locking in Geometry Track
Maintenance Release
Released 11 November 2016
Curve Editor keyframe locking for Geometry Track — control preserved where precision matters.
Release Notes
- The Geometry Track node now allows keyframes to be locked in the Curve Editor
PFTrack 2016.10.21
Alembic 1.6.1 across platforms
Maintenance Release
Released 21 October 2016
Interchange kept current on every OS.
Release Notes
- Alembic has been updated to version 1.6.1 and is working on all platforms
PFTrack 2016.10.07
Spherical frustum visibility
Maintenance Release
Released 7 October 2016
An option to display all cube-map camera frustums in the spherical pipeline's 3D views.
Release Notes
- An option has been added to the Spherical Orient node to show all camera frustums of the cube map views in the perspective or orthogonal viewports
PFTrack 2016.09.23
Spherical tracking: 360° solved
Milestone Release
Released 23 September 2016
As 360° production emerged, PFTrack answered with a complete pipeline: the Spherical Track node solves an equirectangular panorama through a virtual six-camera cube-map rig , Spherical Orient re-orients and stabilises it, and Spherical Render generates the finished panorama back out. Full-sphere camera tracking, engineered as a first-class workflow.
Release Notes
- Spherical Track: the new Spherical Track node can track and solve an equirectangular panorama and create a scene with a virtual rig of six cameras — one for each planar face of the cube map generated from the input panorama
- Spherical Orient: the Spherical Orient node can be used to re-orient the virtual rig created by the Spherical Track node, stabilising camera rotation or focusing specific views on animatable targets
- Spherical Render: the Spherical Render node can be used to generate an equirectangular panorama from the virtual rig created by the Spherical Track node and oriented by the Spherical Orient node
- The Test Object node now supports positioning test objects at feature points from a point cloud created by the Photo Survey or Spherical Tracker nodes
PFTrack 2016.09.16
Photo Mesh: simplification and texturing
Feature Release
Released 16 September 2016
Photogrammetry meshes made production-ready — target-triangle simplification, multi-path mesh extension, path sampling for tracked cameras, and verification and smoothing control over depth-map quality.
Release Notes
- Mesh simplification and texturing: the Photo Mesh node provides a mesh simplification option to decrease the number of triangles in the mesh, with a user-specified target triangle count; the simplified mesh can be passed downstream, for example into a Texture Extraction node for texturing
- Multiple camera paths for Photo Mesh: the node accepts multiple camera paths as inputs to potentially extend the size of meshes
- Path sampling: for tracked cameras (as opposed to still images) depth maps can be generated for only a subset of frames
- Point verification parameter: controls the amount of point verification when generating depth maps — strong verification requires points visible in several frames, weak verification can increase the number of points created
- Mesh smoothing: the Smoothing parameter can be used to generate smoother meshes, for example if the depth maps contain a significant amount of noise
PFTrack 2016.06.10
ST-Maps: lens distortion that travels
Feature Release
Released 10 June 2016
The release that made PFTrack's renowned lens distortion model portable — ST-Maps describe distortion as an image sequence any application can apply, taking PFTrack's calibration into the wider pipeline without a plugin. A decade on, ST-maps remain the interchange currency of lens work.
Release Notes
- ST-Maps provide an easy and portable way to apply PFTrack's lens distortion results in a software-agnostic way, as a sequence of images that describe how to warp the plate to apply or remove lens distortion — letting you use PFTrack's renowned lens distortion model in a wider range of third-party applications, negating the need for the PFBarrel plugin
PFTrack 2016.05.13
QuickTime, integrated
Maintenance Release
Released 13 May 2016
QuickTime support on macOS integrated directly into the application, retiring the separate helper process and its resolution and resource limitations.
Release Notes
- Quicktime support on macOS has now been directly integrated into the application, negating the need for the separate PFQuicktimeServer helper application and the problems that could bring such as limited resolution support and resource leaks
PFTrack 2016.03.11
FBX exports for every interpretation
Maintenance Release
Released 11 March 2016
Additional FBX export variants using roll, pitch and yaw — meeting third-party applications on their own terms for camera motion.
Release Notes
- PFTrack's FBX exports use a look-at target and roll angle to describe camera motion, which causes incorrect camera motion in some third-party applications; additional FBX exports using roll, pitch, yaw have been added
PFTrack 2016.02.12
Documentation care
Maintenance Release
Released 12 February 2016
A help-page addition on driving Photo Mesh from a tracked camera rather than survey photos — small, but the kind of detail a documented record captures.
Release Notes
- Added a tip to the Photo Mesh node's help page about how to use the node from a tracked camera, rather than from a set of survey photos
PFTrack 2016.01.26
LiDAR import ergonomics
Maintenance Release
Released 26 January 2016
The viewer now travels to imported LiDAR data automatically — surveyed reality, centred and ready.
Release Notes
- When importing LIDAR data into the Survey Solver node, the perspective/orthographic viewer camera will move to the LIDAR data and 'Centre and rotate the viewer windows around the selected item' will be enabled
What's next: innovation is the through-line
The record above isn't a list of updates — it's a pattern. Time and again, PFTrack has built the capability first and watched it become the pipeline's expectation.
2016 — And Still The Standard
Portable ST-Map lens distortion — PFTrack's calibration, carried into any application as an image sequence. A decade on, ST-maps remain the interchange currency of lens work.
2016 — Full Sphere Solving
A complete spherical tracking pipeline — track, orient and render equirectangular panoramas through a virtual six-camera rig.
2017 — Metadata Authority
Automatic camera and lens metadata read straight from ARRI and RED source files and passed through the entire tree — with LiDAR survey data in the same solve.
That pattern hasn't slowed, it has accelerated. The record runs from ST-maps and spherical solving through a ground-up re-engineering, native Apple Silicon and ACES 1.3 colour management, to Hero Cloud and direct export into Gaussian splat training, through-the-lens dense spatial capture with no LiDAR hardware, shipped while radiance-field pipelines are still being defined. 56 documented releases in ten years, with support ticket numbers printed in the notes: development driven by working matchmove artists, supervisors and facilities.
Nor is the capacity behind it confined to visual effects. The Pixel Farm's imaging technology serves equally unforgiving fields, cultural heritage documentation, forensic presentation, engineering-grade reconstruction, disciplines where a measurement is either right or it is worthless. Advances made for one demanding application flow across the whole portfolio, and PFTrack is where they meet the camera.
Nor is the evaluation finished. We are constantly assessing new markets and new applications for our core technology, against a test unchanged in over two decades: does it serve precision, and does it serve the people doing the work? The releases above are the record to date, they are not the whole story. There is plenty still to come.
Every release above reaches every current PFTrack licence — with permanent Enterprise licences updated under a current maintenance contract. Perpetual licensing: no subscription, no lock-in. The quickest way to judge the record is on your own shots:
The Solo trial runs with full export functionality for seven days.
FAQ
We consistently update PFTrack with a mix of milestone feature releases and maintenance patches throughout the year. As of August 2026, our public release record spans 56 documented updates, providing a transparent look at our ongoing development cadence.
Every feature, fix, and optimization is documented directly on our Release Notes page. We categorize our updates into Feature, Milestone, and Maintenance releases so you know exactly what to expect.
Yes. We actively develop PFTrack to integrate with current pipelines. For example, our 26.05.19 milestone introduced the Hero Cloud node and Postshot export (COLMAP format) for Gaussian splat training, alongside USD dense-cloud export with per-point normals and colour.
Absolutely. We regularly issue Maintenance Releases (such as versions 26.04.01 and 26.02.11) that focus entirely on pipeline housekeeping, interchange reliability, and specific downstream workflow optimizations for artists.
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