# Intrinsic calibration

In order to calculate your position in space, Kinoca needs to know the characterisics of your camera. That includes the lens' focal length and distortion. The values are called _intrinsic parameters_ and Kinoca can detect them through a procedure aptly known as _intrinsic calibration_.

To perform intrinsic calibration in Kinoca, we will need a black-and-white checkerboard pattern. For example, you can print {download}`this PDF <../_static/chessboard.pdf>`. For the chessboard parameters select the number of _inner_ columns and rows (9 and 6 for this example), and the physical side length of each square.

![Checkerboard calibration pattern](../_static/chessboard.png)

Once your board is ready, point it to the camera your are configuring and click "Start Collecting". Kinoca will start slowly grabbing frames from your camera until it reaches 20. To get the most out of your calibration make sure your collected frames contain the following:
- The board should be fully in frame for all images
- The board should cover all positions within a camera frame including each corner, the edges and the center. The larger part of the image the board covers, the better
- The board should appear in all kinds of orientations, including not being parallel to the camera
- Don't be afraid to capture more than 20 if you are not confident the current frames don't satisfy the above conditions. You shouldn't need more than 50 though.

Once you are done click "Calibrate" to compute the result and then "Apply to Scene" to save it.