An interview from the 2026 NAB Show in Las Vegas with Nick Hayes of ZEISS Lenses at the B&H Studio Booth. Meet the only real-time camera tracking system that works indoors and outdoors, on film sets, with green and blue screens and in LED volumes. That uses natural markers, reflective markers, and even digital markers on LED screens. That provides camera tracking data for real-time use and records it for post-production. And that integrates lens characteristics to skip the cumbersome lens calibration process. Meet ZEISS CinCraft Scenario.

Ahead of NAB 2026, ZEISS announced a significant update of the ZEISS CinCraft Scenario camera tracking system. Accurately matching the virtual camera with the environment is vital to good tracking. Their latest update (2.2) introduces a whole new way to do this. Simply take 3 measurements at different parts of your studio to effortlessly align the tracking floor plane with the physical floor. This new method guarantees excellent results easily and can be done with your camera mounted on any platform, whether it's a crane, a pedestal or even handheld.

Manual Spherical Lens Calibration – Increasing Compatibility

The CinCraft Scenario calibration process is guided and designed to be easy to conduct. Users can now initiate a calibration by inserting lens details (e.g. engraved barrel marks like focus/iris/zoom) into the CinCraft Scenario Software and performing an initial calibration using a chart. They can then adjust and finetune the calibration until satisfactory results are achieved. The calibration steps for spherical lenses are designed to be straightforward and easy to deploy while still delivering excellent results. “This update allows CinCraft Scenario users to create a lens template from scratch with ease, enabling tracking with any third-party lenses,” summarizes Casenave.

Manual CamBar Offset & Clip Name

With the latest software release, users can manually enter measurements for the CamBar to main camera offset instead of relying on the automated ‘Offset Assistant’. “This offers a faster method to update the offset without needing the chart method, which can sometimes be restrictive on set,” explains Tom Evans, Product Manager for ZEISS CinCraft. Users can quickly input manual measurements without temporarily switching to a wider lens and can store commonly used offsets, making it easy to apply these values when switching between known camera setups.

Moreover, CinCraft Scenario 2.1 now automatically detects the clip name on ARRI and Sony cameras and stores this alongside the tracking data, simplifying the process of matching the correct take in Export. For cameras that don’t provide a clip name automatically, users can manually input it during recording.

Export 2.0 with Undistortion ST Maps and Point Cloud

The ZEISS CinCraft Scenario system also features an enhanced Export 2.0 update. “With Export 2.0 we are increasing comfort and value in use of tracking data for post-production”, says Evans. The new Undistortion ST Maps can be used to undistort camera plates, eliminating the need for shooting lens grids during camera prep. When paired with the matching distortion maps from Export, this allows for easy reapplication of lens distortion in the final stages of compositing.

Additionally, the Export Point Cloud provides VFX artists with data detailing the camera’s position during production. The point cloud contains all the features that were used for tracking and will help visualize the space around the camera, which makes aligning the camera in post-production much easier. The point cloud will be provided in two formats: PTS for Unreal Engine and FBX for Nuke.

For more information please visit: www.ZEISS.com