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Release Notes for CaraVR 1.0v6

Release Date

August 2017

Qualified Operating Systems

Nuke Version	Platform
	Mac OS X/macOS	Windows (64-bit)	Linux (64-bit)
9.0v9, or later	10.9 (Mavericks) 10.10 (Yosemite)	Windows 7 Windows 8	CentOS/RHEL 5 CentOS/RHEL 6
10.0v6, or later
10.5v6, or earlier
11.0v2, or earlier	10.11 (El Capitan) 10.12 (Sierra)	Windows 7 Windows 10	CentOS 6 CentOS 7

Other operating systems may work, but have not been fully tested. See the Nuke Online Help for more information on supported GPUs and other hardware recommendations.

New Features

C_AlphaGenerator

C_AlphaGenerator is a convenience tool that can be used to create a rectangular or elliptical mask in the alpha channel. It's primarily used for manual stitching and is included in the Manual 2D and 3D Stitching toolsets included in C_CameraSolver's Export dropdown.

C_Bilateral

C_Bilateral is a new smoothing filter that operates by mixing nearby source pixels according to their spatial distance and color similarity. The filter is particularly good at preserving edges, though it can be computationally expensive.

It's similar to the standard Nuke Bilateral node, but with the addition of GPU acceleration and an optional guide input to compute color similarity while filtering.

Facebook Surround

A Facebook Surround toolset has been added under CaraVR 2.0 > Toolsets, allowing you to quickly extract depth information from the Facebook Surround metadata for point cloud creation and other depth-dependent workflows.

HTC Vive Support

In addition to existing Windows support, CaraVR now supports the HTC Vive headset on Mac OS X/macOS and Linux using the OpenHMD library.

Nuke 11 Support

CaraVR is now supported by Nuke 11, in addition to the previously supported versions of Nuke.

Split and Join Selectively

A new node, Split and Join Selectively, has been added. The new node allows you to be more selective than the standard Split and Join node, providing a dropdown to select the required views and a Presets list for convenience.

Toolsets

A new Full Pipeline toolset has been added under CaraVR 2.0 > Toolsets, containing details of a typical CaraVR workflow from Solve Setup, through Stitching, to final output.

Feature Enhancements

C_SphericalTransform

A new control, Metadata, has been added to C_SphericalTransform allowing you to control how the node deals with metadata from nodes upstream. You can ignore incoming metadata, transform the output according to the C_SphericalTransform and metadata combined, or output all transforms as metadata without affecting the image to reduce filter hits.

C_Stitcher

CaraVR can now stitch spherically projected images that don't have accompanying metadata from the C_CameraSolver node. This enables C_Stitcher to work with images that have not been projected into LatLong format by CaraVR.

Jaunt ONE

Support for the Jaunt ONE rig has been updated to the commercial version of the rig, J1-24G.

JoinViews

The standard JoinViews node now includes a CaraVR tab, allowing you to connect inputs from multiple views automatically, providing that they include a OneView node downstream of the required view.

ShuffleViews

The standard ShuffleViews node now includes a CaraVR tab, allowing you to select the source and destination views more easily when you're working on scripts containing a large number of views.

Miscellaneous

• A new Import button has been added to C_CameraSolver, C_ColourMatcher, and C_Stitcher allowing you to import existing keyframes from other CaraVR nodes.

• The C_CamaraSolver Export dropdown now includes a Contact Sheet option for review purposes.

• C_Stitcher now includes an Auto checkbox, disabled by default, which sets the Converge control to the value specified in the C_CameraSolver metadata.

Bug Fixes

• BUG ID 272129 - Google Jump Toolset: Viewing the pointcloud produced by the toolset in proxy mode projected points incorrectly.

• BUG ID 274826 - C_MetaDataTransform: Transforms were not applied by C_Stitcher if the cameras were in latlong space.

• BUG ID 274938 - C_RayRender: Viewing depth in stereographic left and right views through C_RayRender reported the depth as inf.

• BUG ID 280852 - C_DisparityGenerator: Switching between views with different bounding boxes caused Nuke to crash.

Known Issues and Workarounds

Installation

Windows only: Delete the CaraVR installation folder, if it exists, prior to installation. The folder resides here:

C:\Program Files\Common Files\Nuke\<nuke_version>\plugins\

Stitching

Projections in Nuke's 3D system expect rectilinear footage, which is inherently limited to a 180° field of view. As a result, C_CameraSolver's manual 3D workflow, which relies on projections, only projects the central 180° from material shot on wider lenses, such as the Nokia OZO.

Preview

• HTC Vive headset support on Mac OS X/macOS and Linux does not currently support lens distortion.

• Windows only: Although CaraVR supports both SteamVR (OpenVR) and the Oculus Runtime for the Oculus Rift headset, we recommend selecting only one during a single session. Switching between the two outputs can cause the Oculus Rift to render black frames with the current version of SteamVR.

If you require both SDKs on your machine, please set the FN_CARA_VRCOMPOSITOR_QUIT environment variable to 1, which forces SteamVR to restart when you switch between outputs.

For more information on setting environment variables, see the Nuke Online Help.

• When using the Oculus Rift CV1 on Windows, we recommend using the official Oculus Rift SDK rather than SteamVR.

We recommend using the OculusVR Runtime instead of SteamVR wherever possible, as SteamVR is currently less stable for CaraVR operations.

Note:  Closing SteamVR while Nuke is running with an HMD as an active Viewer causes Nuke to close. To avoid this, save and close Nuke before closing SteamVR.

• When using the Oculus Rift CV1 on Linux, be aware that:

• Unlike the Oculus DK2, the CV1 displays black until you turn it on inside Nuke's Viewer settings.

• The CV1 does not appear in the list of available screens in Gnome/Kde, it is displayed with the supported devices in Monitor Output.

• When you initially turn on Monitor Output, all available monitors display black for a few seconds as the OS adjusts to the new configuration.

• The CV1 remains on until you close Nuke, which causes all available monitors to display black for a few seconds as the OS adjusts to the new configuration.

• On Mac OS X, with the EoL official Oculus SDK installed, the monitor out plug-in cannot open the device as the SDK locks it. Possible workarounds include uninstalling the SDK, or preventing the OVRServer running at startup, using the launchctl load/unload commands (you can read about the specifics and implications of working with Mac OS X launchd here).

• On Windows, the monitor out plug-in routinely notifies about the health and safety implications of use of the Oculus headset. This is a function of the SDK and in newer versions (such as the one we employ) cannot be suppressed or shortened.

• Many facilities lock down USB access for security, which impacts Oculus Rift support. Some customers found that authorising devices using a udev rule allowed them to use the DK2 on both CentOS 6 and CentOS 7, while still blocking USB storage devices. Thanks to Digital Domain for the following example:

ACTION!="add", GOTO="deauthorize_end"

SUBSYSTEM!="usb", GOTO="deauthorize_end"

TEST!="authorized", GOTO="deauthorize_end"

## make hubs deauthorize all devices by default

TEST=="authorized_default", ATTR{authorized_default}="0", GOTO="deauthorize_end"

## whitelist specific devices

ENV{ID_VENDOR_ID}=="2833", ATTR{authorized}="1", MODE="0777"

LABEL="deauthorize_end"

Miscellaneous

• Nuke Write nodes, when writing multi-view .exr files, only write out the set of channels present in the first view for all the other views. For example, if you write out the C_Stitcher’s output, because there’s only rgba in the rendered main view, the individual camera views do not output their vector channels.

To work around this, insert a vector channelset in the first view, even if it contains no data, using the AddChannels node.

• Nuke 9 only: When Project Settings > Views > View selection uses buttons? is disabled, the views dropdown menu does not allow you to change views.

As a workaround, use the keyboard shortcuts ; (semicolon) and ' (apostrophe) to cycle backwards and forwards through the available views or enable the View selection uses buttons? control.