MANTIS

What MANTIS is

A camera-rigged spatial cinema scanner.

What it does

Records everything the camera sees in 3D, and how the camera moves through 3D space, while the cinema camera is rolling.

MANTIS Studio

MANTIS Studio turns the recording into depth maps, a position pass, camera tracks and point clouds, aligned to your camera and lens.

Built for the realities of physical production

Silent

Solid-state LiDAR with no moving parts. The only moving part is a silent fan.

Small

900 g. Rigs above or below the lens, in any orientation, as long as the LiDAR faces the scene.

Built for set

Hot-swappable power, 800 GB onboard for about 7.5 hours, no markers and no extra crew. MANTIS is all you need. No other hardware required.

Hardware and software

Hardware

MANTIS

See the features of MANTIS

Software

MANTIS Studio

See the features of MANTIS Studio

Features and specs

Turn the sensor in 3D, click through what MANTIS Studio produces, and check the file types.

No moving parts. 40,000 measurements per second, a 110° x 80° field of view and up to 12 m range.

Four cameras and an IMU track MANTIS, and with it the cinema camera, in 3D.

Quarter-20 points for any orientation, above or below the lens. 900 g.

2-pin Lemo (10-24V) or USB-C (45W or more), hot-swappable. 800 GB onboard, about 7.5 hours of recording.

LTC timecode sync with the cinema camera.

Detailed device status at a glance, plus a limited set of on-device controls.

USB data transfer from device (800GB transfer takes around one hour.)

MANTIS Studio

MANTIS Studio is the companion post-production software for MANTIS. It takes the spatial data layers captured on set through four steps.

Synchronise

View all spatial data on a timeline synchronised to the cinema plate, and fine-tune the timesync and calibration per camera.

Refine

Rerun the camera tracking on your PC for a more consistent track with far less drift, and calculate depth maps.

Fuse

Bring the camera track, point cloud and depth maps together into one fused result, aligned to the cinema plate.

Export

Export the camera track as FBX and depth maps as EXR sequences, ready for the major VFX tools.

MANTIS Studio outputs

Camera-aligned point cloud

Every point is timecoded and aligned to your footage. Use one take, a time slice, or combine takes.

Exported file types

Camera track

FBX, Alembic, CSV

Depth and position

EXR sequences, 32-bit float for position

Point clouds

PLY, E57, CSV

Point cloud

Explore a MANTIS recording

A real point cloud, recorded on set by MANTIS, with the path the camera took. Drag to look around, or play the camera path.

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App

MANTIS Connect

Control MANTIS on set from a browser: configure the sensor, start and stop recording, and monitor tracking, timecode and network.

Runs in the browser on a phone or a laptop.

Record

Start and stop recording from the app.

Live view

Watch the camera pose move in 3D while MANTIS tracks.

Status at a glance

Tracking, LTC timecode, Wi-Fi and Ethernet, always in view.

Project, camera and lens

See the active project and the camera and lens on the rig.

MANTIS Connect live 3D tracking view on a laptop

Works in your pipeline

Standard formats, tested in the VFX tools your team already uses.

Screenshot: Nuke: keying by position pass

Works with

Compositing

Keying by position pass in Nuke.

Nuke

Flame

Screenshot: Maya / Houdini: the point cloud and camera track

Works with

CG and layout

The point cloud and camera track in Maya and Houdini.

Maya

Screenshot: Unreal Engine / Blender: the MANTIS data in real time

Works with

Game engines

The MANTIS data in Blender and Unreal Engine.

Blender

Unreal Engine

Questions, answered

What is MANTIS, and what does it do?

A solid-state, time-of-flight LiDAR sensor built for film and TV. Mounted on your cinema camera, it records depth, camera movement and the geometry of the scene during every take. MANTIS Studio turns that data into depth maps, a position pass, point clouds and a camera track.

What is the size and weight?

120 × 94 × 80 mm (4.7 × 3.7 × 3.15 in), approx. 900 g (32 oz).

How does it rig to the camera?

Quarter-20 mounting points across the body.

What sensors are inside?

Time-of-flight solid-state LiDAR, four tracking cameras, an RGB sensor and an IMU.

Which cameras does it work with?

Any cinema camera that can share timecode. MANTIS is camera agnostic.

How is it powered?

2-pin Lemo (10-24V) or USB-C (45W or more), even a standard power brick. You can hot-swap between the two without stopping.

How does it stay in sync with my camera?

LTC timecode, so every measurement lines up with a frame of footage.

Can I run more than one?

Yes. Each unit records against shared timecode, so their takes line up. A common set-up is one on the camera and one on a tripod as a static witness camera.

What do I get out of MANTIS Studio?

Depth maps and a position pass as EXR sequences, point clouds and a 6DOF camera track, in standard formats.

What is a position pass?

An X, Y, Z world position for every pixel, in millimeters, as a 32-bit float EXR. Keying by position stays stable when the camera or subject moves.

Do I have to calibrate before I shoot?

Calibration has two steps, and neither holds up the shoot.

Lens calibration (intrinsic): done once for each lens, ideally in the days before filming, at the same time the camera team charts and profiles its lenses.

Camera offset calibration (extrinsic): links MANTIS to the camera and takes about one - two minutes on set.

New lens during the shoot? Run the offset calibration straight away and keep shooting. That lens is then profiled after wrap the same day.

How far does the LiDAR see?

Up to 12 m, with a 110° x 80° field of view and 40,000 measurements a second.

Where does it struggle?

Very dark or featureless surfaces (black velvet, chrome, infinity coves) return fewer points. It works best on ordinary sets and locations.

How much can it record?

800 GB of onboard storage: about 7.5 hours of recording.

Which VFX software does the data work with?

Standard files for matchmove, layout, comp, grading and stereo tools. No plugins needed.

Can I use it for virtual production?

MANTIS does not currently stream its live tracking pose for virtual production purposes.

Are there other accessories required?

No, all you need is MANTIS. There is no other processing unit or hardware required.

Can I use MANTIS standalone, without a cinema camera?

Yes, you can use MANTIS on a tripod by itself as a 3D witness device or handheld to capture the set like a traditional laser scanner. But note, the resolution of MANTIS scans will be lower than what is achieved with dedicated laser scanners like the BLK360.

Where do I get support?

MANTIS users will gain access to a dedicated support and documentation portal and support contact.

What does it cost?

Pricing information for the MANTIS device and MANTIS Studio software will be published soon.

Want to see MANTIS on your next production?

Stay up to date on MANTIS

Product news, release notes and invitations to events, a few times a year.

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