Preparing for Studio calibration and capture

In this page

Preparing the capture volume →
Preparing the computer →
Preparing the sensors →
Everything else →
Next steps →

Preparing the capture volume

Place your sensors around your capture subject for good coverage - see the recommendations in the Positioning sensors page.

To do so, ensure the floor is sturdy, and set up stands, a truss, or tripods to hold the sensors and any lighting or other equipment in place.

Lighting

Depthkit captures look best when adequately lit - Be sure to have light sources placed around your stage to illuminate your subject. See considerations in Preparing for a Depthkit shoot for notes about which lighting works well with Depthkit and which lighting can cause issues.

Preparing the computer

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Computers included in the Depthkit Studio Hardware package are pre-configured with the following preparations so you can get started immediately.

Place your computer in a cool, dust-free, well-ventilated area to avoid issues from overheating or dirty circuits.

Once booted, ensure your computer has the latest Windows updates and GPU drivers.

If Depthkit isn't yet installed, follow the guide in Installing software. Optionally, you can also install the Orbbec Viewer or Azure Kinect SDK for troubleshooting purposes.

Ensure no other applications or processes are running which may compete with Depthkit for system resources. These can include:

• System performance diagnostic tools
• File indexing processes like Prefetch and Superfetch
• CPU or graphics-intensive applications

Additionally, power-saving features should be disabled or set to "high performance" to avoid low performance from throttled system resources.

Preparing the sensors

If using the Microsoft Azure Kinect, remove the white plastic cover from all sensors using the Torx wrench included with the sensor.

Connect the sync cables to all sensors according to the guidance in the Femto Bolt Sensor sync and Azure Kinect DK Sensor sync guides.

Plug your sensors into a reliable power source, and ensure that they boot up completely before connecting them to the computer.

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Orbbec Femto Bolt sensor boot sequence

The Orbbec Femto Bolt sensor needs to be powered on and fully boot up internally before connecting it to the host PC. The front LED will turn white when it's ready to be connected to the host PC.

If the sensor is connected to data before it is fully booted, it may not start properly in Depthkit.

When booting the host PC from a powered of state with the sensors already connected, ensure that the sensors are fully powered up before turning on the PC.

See the Femto Bolt Issues section if any of the sensors are unresponsive.

Connect the sensors to the host PC using the factory USB cable and an approved USB extension cable. Ensure that the ports you are connecting the sensors to also adhere to the USB requirements in the Depthkit Studio hardware requirements.

Once connected, ensure that each sensor has the correct firmware installed. Depthkit will alert you if the firmware on a connected sensor is not the latest available.

Everything else

• Securing all support hardware, and even blocking it off with obstacles like stanchions, can help make the system resilient to accidental bumps and sensor movement, which can interrupt a shoot in order to re-calibrate.
• Staying organized is key to quickly troubleshooting or making changes to the hardware configuration. Bundling cables together with harnesses/sheathing and labelling and/or color-coding the ends and interconnection points are tremendously helpful in this regard.

Next steps

When your hardware is all set up, you're ready to calibrate.