Blog | Summer 2026 Software Update
The Summer 2026 Software Update is almost here, bringing awesome interface improvements to help you work faster and smarter. The best part? It's completely FREE. No extra license fees, no annual maintenance fees. Read on to see everything this update delivers. Look out for this update during the month of July.
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Updates to the Smart Optimizer
Optimizer constraint | “3d” toggle
The Smart Optimizer (learn more) can now use (x,y,z,yaw,pitch,roll) information in the objective function. This toggle is located in the optimizer constraint object's "misc" menu. When disabled, only the x-y projected position is considered, along with yaw (if "use orientation" is enabled). When enabled, the full 3d position is used, along with yaw, pitch, and roll.
Optimizer constraint | “Cumulative orientation” toggle
You can now optimize based on cumulative rotation in yaw, pitch, and roll. This is helpful because you don't need to place intermediate optimizer constraint objects, but only one at the rest position with the desired number of rotations. The cumulative number of rotations is calculated separately for yaw, pitch, and roll, and is defined relative to the vehicle's initial orientation at time = 0 s in the simulation. The normalization factor used in the objective function for the delta-yaw, delta-pitch, and delta-roll terms is 180 degrees. Therefore, when using the "cumulative orientation" option, consider de-weighting the parameter so it doesn't dominate the objective function behavior.
Update to Print Template
“Tabloid” is now available in the paper > size dropdown menu. You can learn more about the Print Template tool here.
Update to Video Analysis Tool
Dynamically adjust object tracks in 3D space or pixel space
To illustrate, we begin by creating a manual track related to the point of contact between the motorcycle’s front tire and the asphalt (after calibrating our camera).
Switch your cursor control to "Select, Move and Manipulate" [F3], and change your camera's selection type to "Tracks". You'll notice the object track switches to appear like a polyline with control vertices available. In the image below, we are looking from the interactive camera (not the solved camera) position.
Just like a polyline or dimension line 3d object, simply hover over any existing control vertex and hold+left-click and drag to adjust its position. As you adjust the control vertex position the speed graph will automatically update based on the adjusted displacement vector calculations.
Control vertices represent object track points. These are initially determined by selecting points in pixel space. A ray is projected from the selected pixel, through the camera lens, and the object point is initially determined by the intersection of the projected ray with the first terrain mesh polygon it intersects. When a control vertex is used to adjust an object track point, the process is reversed: a ray is projected from the new object point through the camera lens, back onto the image plane, and a new pixel location is determined. As you move the control vertex, it will slide along the terrain mesh. If the track is given a non-zero height input value, the control vertex will be automatically height-adjusted with respect to the terrain mesh as you move it. If "pick path" is used for the object track, the control vertex can only be moved along the path direction, but it can also be given a z-offset.
You can examine the corresponding pixel location on the image plane by hovering over the secondary controller and issuing a hold+left-click with your mouse.
As you continue to hold the left mouse button, you can confirm the new pixel location or overwrite it by moving your mouse cursor to select a new pixel location. This will recalculate the corresponding object position in 3D space and adjust your speed graph. Note that you can also use your scroll wheel to zoom in on the image plane. Also, while holding the left mouse button down, you can adjust the time associated with the current pixel location by using CTRL+scroll wheel to change time by 0.1 second, or CTRL+shift+scroll wheel to adjust frame by frame. Releasing the left mouse button will exit you from the image plane viewer.
Note, object track points can be removed by left-clicking the “X” icon of any control vertex.
You can hover over any straight line segment connecting neighboring control vertices and hold+left-click and drag on the "+" symbol to inject a new track point. As you continue to hold the left-click, you'll be taken to the image plane viewer, where you can adjust both the pixel location, by dragging your mouse cursor, and the associated frame time, by using CTRL+scroll wheel or CTRL+shift+scroll wheel.
You can merge tracks together by hovering over a control vertex of the first track and issuing a hold+left-click on the curve icon, then dragging over to a control vertex on the next track and releasing. Note that the height or path-follow settings for the first track will be used for the merged track. You can continue this process to merge as many segments into a single track as needed, no matter what method was used to build them (manual track point, auto track point, or analyze).
Display frame number and frame time
Background video and frame number can now be displayed to screen. To activate this feature, select the camera of interest and enable the toggles in the "background" menu. To see the frame number and time for multiple cameras, have all cameras actively selected, which can be done by using ctrl+left-click on the name of each camera.
Update to residuals display
Camera > calibration > “show residuals” toggle is now disabled by default. Users can enable toggle as needed.
Update to Text Objects
Create > Shapes 2D > “Text”
The text object with fill background, outline, and arrow disabled has been moved to Create > Shapes 2D > “Text”. Left-click “Text” to activate the text tool and left-click in the scene to drop a text object. Right-click to terminate the text command.
Left-click into the text input field, type your text, then right-click in the scene or adjust any parameter of the text object to refresh the text printed in the scene.
Create > Shapes 2D Filled > “Text with Arrow”
Text object with fill background, outline, and arrow enabled can now be found at: Create > Shapes 2D Filled > “Text with Arrow”.
Recall that you will need to be in "Select, Move and Manipulate" [F3] cursor control mode to access the arrow position control grip (or use "offset x" and "offset y" in the arrow menu).
While the only difference between the "Text" and "Text with Arrow" objects is related to which settings are enabled or disabled in the arrow and background menus, this new feature will help speed up production time for users.
Learn more about the text object here.
Update to Layers Functionality
Closed groups
Closing a group object’s folder within a layer will conceal the children of the group, as it does in the project list view.
Group moved to new layer
When a layer has a group object, if the group's children are contained within the same layer as the group object itself, then when the group is moved to a new layer (either via Layer > New Layer Containing Selected Objects or via tools > arrange > send to current layer), all children are moved into the same layer automatically. If any children are in a different layer than the group object, they will not automatically move to the new layer.
Learn more about layers here.