Camera Tracking tutorials..

Edgen

Edgen

Veteran
or... Any other tracking/tracing feature... Do you guys know of any tutorial sites on how this can be tackled?

I shot a scene on a tripod in thinking hey, nothing's going to move. Then, i have a background that that I nixed from the live shots for a CG element. But, I guess they don't build houses like they used to, so when the character approaches the window for the backdrop, the entire house shakes. Now... i'm sure there's a way to stabalize the background to semi track it with the foreground, but the BG is a still .jpg and I can't find the option to do a motion tracking but I can with a .avi element.

Am I missing something or do I not have the right settings?

The shaking is very slight and I can live with it, but at the same time, full resolution can get annoying after a while.

Thanks fellas!

**OOoh, edit.. I checked out the 'BouJou' by pixellogic and its absolutely perfuctamundo.. but, that would mean I'd have to buy the software. mY FX shots are not too difficult, and I guess for now, i don't mind spending the time if there's a work around in AE.



/justin
 
Last edited:
Here's the easiest way to do this:

1. On your foreground layer open up the Tracker Controls under the Window menu.

2. Select stabilize as the track type and find a track point on your foreground. This is the most important part, you need to find a point that is high contrast, and isolated from like color values.

3. Once you have your tracker set, hit the play button on the Tracker Controls and AE will start the track.

4. Once you get a clean track (which shouldn't be too hard in your case with slight movement) go back to the first frame and make your foreground a 3D Layer.

5. Go to Layer->New->Camera, and add a 3D camera. Parent that camera to the foreground layer with the tracking data and save.

Voila! You are done. Now, whenever you add a element to your comp and make it a 3d layer it is automatically tracked in. Very simple and effecient.

Disclaimer: This tip is something I learned from After Effects 6.5 Studio Techniques, which is a great book that teaches the nuts and bolts of compositing in AE, rather than just tutorials. They just released a copy for version 7, which is the same stuff but with the new features touched upon as well.
 
Infinteloop, Ace!!! You are the Man! thanks so much for the tips.

I actually just found a few other sitez with various stuff. and damn.. this forum is friggin' a mecca of information in the AE and video world. Amazing stuff here.

cheers!
/justin
 
for example if i had somebody running and jummping and i want to place fire on his head how can i do this????
 
I do what you said but the flame no match whit the tracking...is displaced too far from the objetive and moving .
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top