Workspace
The PFTrack Workspace comprises of several windows and tool areas, and forms the main space where tracking operations are carried out.
(1): The Toolbar.
(2): Upper workspace.
(3): Lower workspace.
Toolbar
At the top of the PFTrack user interface is the Toolbar. The left-hand portion of the Toolbar contains several buttons that can be used to:
(1): Access documentation. By default this will open the online documentation page in an external web browser.
(2): Access In-App User Support, where support tickets can be opened to request help from The Pixel Farm's support team.
(3): Open the Notifications window, showing important messages from The Pixel Farm.
The central portion of the toolbar contains the current project name and clip displayed in the Cinema window (4), and the last entry in the application log file (5).
On the right are additional buttons and menus that can be used to:
(6): Display the log window, showing important information about how PFTrack is functioning.
(7): Open the Workspace menu options, where window and workspace layouts can be selected.
(8): Toggle visibility of the lower workspace area.
(9): Open the Preferences window.
(10): Exit PFTrack.
Upper workspace
The upper portion of the Workspace contains a set of dynamic windows which can be adjusted and laid out as required.
In the default workspace layout, the windows which occupy this area are:
(1): The Workpage, which contains the node and tracking tree in the project.
(2): The Cinema Window which is used to display a through-the-camera-lens view of tracked shots, overlaid on top of media footage.
(3): One or more Viewer Windows which are used to display perspective or orthographic views of the 3D space.
The Workpage and Cinema are always present in the Workspace as they form an integral part of the PFTrack user interface. Multiple Viewer windows can be created and deleted as required.
Window control buttons
There are several buttons common to each window:
: Clicking this button will pop a window out of the Workspace to form a floating window (for example, to position on a secondary monitor).
: Clicking this button will maximize the window to fill the entire upper workspace area.
: Clicking either of these buttons will split the area occupied by the window horizontally or vertically into two, creating a new Viewer window.
: Viewers are the only windows which can be closed by clicking this button.
Positioning windows
The position of each window can be changed by first popping the window out of the Workspace by clicking the button. Once the window is floating on top of the PFTrack interface, click and drag the window's title bar with the left mouse button to change it's position. Releasing the left mouse button whilst hovering over part of the Workspace will drop the window into the corresponding position.
Storing and recalling layouts
The layout of windows in the upper Workspace can be stored in the project and even exported as XML files for use by others if required. This is achieved in the Layouts section of the Preferences window.
Stored layouts can be quickly recalled using the drop-down Workspace menu available at the top-right of the Toolbar.
Layouts can also have keyboard shortcuts assigned to them in the Layouts section of the Preferences window to make switching between them even easier.
Lower workspace
The lower portion of the Workspace is fixed, and contains various panels such as:
- The Node Panel where all the available nodes are listed. These nodes can be dragged-and-dropped into the Workpage. Tree presets can also be managed here.
- The Camera Presets Panel where new camera presets can be created to model the parameters of a camera and lens.
- The Notes Panel where notes about individual nodes, tree pages or the entire project can be generated.
- The Curves Editor where F-Curves representing tracking points or camera/object motion parameters can be viewed and edited.
: Opens the Project Manager
: Opens the Node Panel.
: Opens the Camera Presets Panel.
: Opens the Notes Panel.
: Undo, redo any changes made to the tracking tree or nodes themselves. The number of undo and redo levels can be set in PFTrack's Preferences.