Europe - zactrack, the Vienna, Austria-headquartered wireless radio follow system manufacturer, highlighted two new features available for its tracking solution products – Smart, Pro and MINI at the 2025 Prolight + Sound expo in Frankfurt last week.
The company also previewed zacview for the first time, a visualisation product specialised for the preprograming of stage machinery, and the team met plenty of people and organisations interested in their technologies.
Having recently taken the worldwide distribution of zactrack products back to Vienna, zactrack CEO Werner Petricek felt it was imperative to have a strong presence at the show. He and the team saw it as an opportunity to connect with new and existing zactrack users and advocates of the technology which can be used for moving objects across a range of systems including lighting, audio, and video.
The two new features of the newest zactrack software release are PTZ camera integration with setup and alignment via the tablet interface and the new PROXY function which incorporates fully manual remote control of following actors onstage.
PTZ camera integration – the controlling of PTZ camera heads with NDI-Streaming – is now fully integrated into the zactrack software suite, and using the tablet, setup, alignment, and calibration can be quickly, easily and efficiently achieved using the tablet interface. The video stream is provided directly via the network to the mobile device, with no separate monitor needed for the camera.
The Proxy feature enables the creation of a virtual duplicate of an actor with a radio tracker, represented as a marker on the tablet interface - effectively a proxy for the real actor. This marker can be manually positioned on the tablet using a finger, stylus, or mouse. The function allows precise manual placement of target positions for fixtures and other effects, offering full control when automation is not available or desired. When combined with the PTZ control feature, it enables the setup of a fully manual remote-control system, serving as a backup in case the radio system is unavailable.
zactrack took the opportunity in Frankfurt to preview zacview, its 3D visualisation software for theatres, shown for the first time at a major trade show.
zacview allows all static and dynamic elements of a venue – including architectural features and decorations, upper / lower machinery and spotlights – to be realistically modelled and rendered in a virtual world with full functionalities.
Other advantages include detailed representation of the stage and auditorium areas; Realistic VR emulation of stage machinery with direct control from the machinery console; reproduction of the physical behaviour of all stage elements (hoists, decorations, lights, etc.); collision warnings between moving objects; excellent visualisation of stage lighting and video screens and scene timeline management with separate images and stage setups.
Werner reports that the team saw a diverse cross section of the production entertainment community, including numerous international distributors from Italy, France, the UK, the USA, Scandinavia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Australia and many more.
From Germany and Austria, they saw a host of lighting and visual designers, rental companies and those managing and working in different venues – from theatres to multi-purpose. “It was a wide cross-section of the market and in general the quality of the contacts and leads was extremely high,” Werner notes.
