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FreeD / OSC to Unreal — "Receiving" Shows But No Camera Data; Common Fixes

Summary

The most common frustration in Flair-to-Unreal tracking setups is when the LiveLink or OSC panel shows "Connected" or "Receiving" but the CineCamera in Unreal does not move. This usually has one of five causes: the destination IP in Flair is wrong (check 0.0.0.0 vs specific IP), a port conflict with another application, the LiveLink subject name is not matched correctly in the CineCamera component, the Flair output is enabled but not actively transmitting (no active move or idle), or the CineCamera hasn't been set up correctly. A full reboot of both Flair and Unreal Editor resolves many edge cases.

Symptoms

  • LiveLink panel shows "Connected" and data count is incrementing, but camera does not move.
  • Flair shows output enabled and green status, but UE receives nothing.
  • FreeD receiver in Unreal shows "Receiving" but camera stays at origin.
  • Camera tracking worked yesterday but stopped without any configuration change.
  • "Receiving data" indicator in LiveLink panel shows but camera actor is frozen.
  • Port is correct but data is being sent to wrong machine.

Community Guidance

[RESOLVED] Check Destination IP — Use 0.0.0.0 for Broadcast or Correct Unicast IP

Community consensus

In Flair's output configuration (Output → FreeD or 50Hz XYZ):

  • If sending to a specific Unreal PC: enter that PC's exact IP address on the receiving network adapter.
  • If the Unreal PC is on the same machine as Flair: use 127.0.0.1 (localhost).
  • As a diagnostic step: try 0.0.0.0 or 255.255.255.255 to broadcast to all devices on the subnet — if the camera moves, the IP configuration is the issue.

Common mistake: the Unreal PC has multiple network adapters (one for robot network, one for rendering network) and the IP entered in Flair corresponds to the wrong adapter.

confidence_score: 0.92

[RESOLVED] Reboot Both Flair and Unreal Editor

Community

Many "receiving but no data" situations resolve with a full reboot of both systems. Flair's network output state can become stale if the Unreal Editor was restarted without closing the Flair output session first.

  1. Disable the FreeD/OSC output in Flair.
  2. Close the Unreal Editor completely.
  3. Restart the Unreal Editor.
  4. Re-enable the FreeD/OSC output in Flair.
  5. Reopen the LiveLink panel and reconnect.

confidence_score: 0.90

[RESOLVED] Check for Port Conflicts

Community

If another application is already listening on the same port (55535, or whichever port is configured), the Rite Media plugin or OSC receiver will bind but receive no data. Common conflicts:

  • Another instance of Unreal Editor running on the same machine.
  • A previous session that did not cleanly release the port.
  • Other tracking software (BlackTrax, tracking systems) using the same port.

Use Windows Resource Monitor or netstat -an | findstr :55535 to confirm whether the port is in use.

confidence_score: 0.88

Community

In the CineCamera Actor's LiveLink Controller component, the Subject Name field must exactly match the source name shown in the LiveLink panel. This is case-sensitive. If you renamed the source or added multiple sources, the wrong subject may be selected. Click the Subject Name dropdown and confirm it shows the active MRMC source.

confidence_score: 0.90

[RESOLVED] FreeD Focus Units — 0 to 1 Scale, Not Millimetres

Community — see also VP-freed-livefx-focus-units.md

FreeD protocol transmits focus as a 0–1 normalised value, not in millimetres or centimetres. If focus is working but the values seem wrong, check the VP Transform settings in the FreeD receiver to rescale the focus range to match your lens calibration table.

confidence_score: 0.88

YouTube How Motion Control Powers Virtual Production

▶ 01:02 — Tracking systems send camera location and orientation data to the virtual world in real time