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Tracker App Import: Robot Move Completely Wrong — Zero at Home, Translate to Current Camera

Summary

The most common reason a Tracker App import produces a completely wrong robot move is incorrect zeroing of the app at the start of recording. The app must be zeroed (house icon) while physically held at the camera nodal point with the robot at its Home Position. On import, the setting must be Translate to Current — Camera (not "None") and granularity should be 10–25 (not 1). Failing either step places the entire move origin under the robot base plate, sending the robot to wildly incorrect positions.

Symptoms

  • Robot move looks completely wrong after importing a Tracker App CSV.
  • Large unexpected Z-axis movements despite recording only a slide or pan/tilt.
  • Import completes without errors but robot goes to wrong positions.
  • Move starts from a point far away from the camera's actual working position.
  • Y and Z axes both moving when only one should be.
  • Flair 3D rig view shows the robot flying to an extreme position.

Community Guidance

[RESOLVED] Zero the tracker AT the camera nodal point with robot at home

2021-12-13 — Dan Gottesman / Peter Constan-Tatos / Marcin Biegunajtys / Jeremy Andrews

The Tracker App zeros relative to wherever the phone is when you tap the house icon. If you zero it anywhere other than the camera's actual position on the robot (with the robot at home), the entire imported move is offset by that wrong origin.

Step-by-step import workflow:

  1. Put the robot in its Flair Home Position.
  2. Hold the phone physically at or as close as possible to the camera lens nodal point on the robot.
  3. Tap the house icon in the Tracker App to zero it — do not proceed without this step.
  4. Record your move.
  5. Copy the CSV to the Flair PC.
  6. In the Flair import dialog:
  7. Set Translate to Current → Camera (not "None" — this is critical).
  8. Set Rotate to Camera → Yes.
  9. Set Granularity to 10–25. Do NOT use 1 (that puts a keyframe on every recorded frame, creating 500+ keyframes for a 500-frame move and making the move very jerky).
  10. With the robot approximately where you want the move to start, execute the import.
  11. Review in the 3D rig view before running.

Jeremy Andrews: "The Tracker App default zero is the Flair XYZ origin (under the robot base), not the camera position. That's what causes the move to start with the robot flying to a completely wrong position."

confidence_score: 0.93

[RESOLVED] Set Kinematics to TT mode (not Camera Orbital)

2021-06-19 — Peter Constan-Tatos / Alexandre Zahnn Ythen

If the move imports but the robot moves in the wrong direction or inverted, check Kinematics Setup in Flair. The mode must be set to TT (Target Tracking) with Roll Relative — not Camera Orbital. Camera Orbital solves the robot motion differently and produces incorrect results with a Tracker App import.

confidence_score: 0.90

[RESOLVED] Earlier Flair 6 versions (pre-6.47) cannot read .csv files

2021-12-13 — Jeremy Andrews

Flair 6 prior to version 6.47 cannot read .csv files. To use a Tracker export on an older system, open the CSV in Microsoft Excel and save as tab-separated .txt. Flair 6.43 can import the tab-separated text file without issue.

confidence_score: 0.88

Flair import dialog showing tracker CSV import settings with Translate to Current and Granularity fields. Flair 3D rig view showing incorrect robot position after tracker import with wrong origin.
  • Media 1: Flair import dialog showing Tracker CSV import settings. The Translate to Current field must be set to Camera, and Granularity should be 10–25. Incorrect settings here cause the robot to start the move at the Flair XYZ origin (under the base) rather than at the camera's current position.
  • Media 2: Flair 3D rig view showing the robot in an incorrect position after a tracker import when the app was zeroed at the wrong location rather than the camera nodal point on the rig.

WhatsApp Excerpts

[19/6/2021] Alexandre Zahnn Ythen: Does the MRMC tracker app dont work on Flair ver. 6.43? Im here with the Bolt and trying the app but doesnt seem to work. The file can be imported but not the movement.
[19/6/2021] Gordon Eschke: As the tracker app outputs a simple XYZ file it shouldn't matter on flair version.
[19/6/2021] Alexandre Zahnn Ythen: Imported a new csv file. still the same. Do I need to change something in the kinematics setup?
[19/6/2021] Peter Constan-Tatos: How long is the move? Granularity is set to 60. Try 1
[19/6/2021] Alexandre Zahnn Ythen: Its 500 frames. Found out my problem: needed to be in Roll Relative, and should be on TT. Mine was set on camera orbital changed it to TT and worked.
[19/6/2021] Peter Constan-Tatos: Granularity will reduce resolution so adjust that too to suit your needs.
[19/6/2021] Peter Constan-Tatos: If it's on 1 then you will get 500 frames in your move. If you set it to 25 then you will get 500/25 = 20 key frames.

[13/12/2021] ~ .: Need help to import a files from mrmc tracker. But not get good rig
[13/12/2021] Peter Constan-Tatos: Ebek where did you zero the tracker? It's best to put bolt into home position and hold the phone at the camera nodal when you zero it (using the house button on the tracker).
[13/12/2021] Jeremy Andrews: Sorry - just realised the problem. Your move is starting near the xyz origin (under the robot). Before you import the move, put the robot in the normal home position. Then import your move 'translate to current - camera'
[13/12/2021] Jeremy Andrews: Note that earlier versions of Flair 6 don't read .csv files. 6.47 does. I translated your csv file to a tab-separated text file (using MS Excel) and the text file imported into Flair 6.43 with no problems
[13/12/2021] Dan Gottesman: try to be mindful to hit the "home" icon on the app right before you start your move, to zero it. once you've gotten the file to your computer, put the camera in the general area where you'd like the move to start. then, set the granularity to like 10 or 15 or so. then, switch the import settings to translate to the current camera and rotate to camera (set to "yes").
[13/12/2021] Marcin Biegunajtys: I usually set the robot to "home position" and while holding the phone really close to where the camera is on the robot I "home" the tracker app. From there I record my motion, and so far I've gotten great results.

Official Documentation

MRMC Forum — Mimic Tracker iOS App: Read Me First

MRMC App Store — Mrmoco Tracker iOS App