stabilize footage

L

LukeWarm13

Active member
i have a shot that isn't too shaky but i'd like to get it more stable. I picked a high contrast point. analyzed forward. and applied. when I watch the clip back its stable but it looks like there is a lot of jitter in the shot that wasn't there before. almost lilke the point didn't track well. I've tried using several different points but i keep getting the same result. any ideas? thanks in advance.
 
Make sure you're sizing your regions correctly. The smaller box should contain the exact unique area that you want to track. The larger box should contain the area in which it should search for that content.

And not only should the area be high contrast, but unique. Something that it couldn't possibly get confused with anything else an the surrounding area.

I'm very new to AE myself so if you're already doing all if that I'm not really sure :( obviously the higher quality the footage the better your results will be. grain and low resolution can provide lame results with the built in point tracker..

-Jeff
 
Check to see if your trackpoints didn't "fall off" - step through and fix them if they did
 
thanks for the suggestions guys. the shot is 720p so its pretty good res. I'm tracking a black brick in the middle of a bunch of light colored bricks. I thought it was the perfect tracking point.

I tried to see if the track points were falling off but its like they are all falling off by a few pixels which is giving it that jittery look.
 
LukeWarm13 said:
thanks for the suggestions guys. the shot is 720p so its pretty good res. I'm tracking a black brick in the middle of a bunch of light colored bricks. I thought it was the perfect tracking point.

I tried to see if the track points were falling off but its like they are all falling off by a few pixels which is giving it that jittery look.
Click to expand...


Is the jitter one dimensional... like just up and down, or just back and forth across?

You say you targeted a 'black brick', but as I recall you need 'sharp' discontinuity in both directions so that the software can stabilize in X and Y. I've picked targets that have a corner, rather than just an edge, or an 'area'.
 
Try this

http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/stabilize_shaky_footage/

it helps smoothing out the stabilizing

You can also change the way the tracker tracks, go to 'options' in the tracker window, I think the standard way is tracking 'Luminance', maybe 'RGB' or even 'Saturation' work better for your footage. You can also try the 'Process before Match' and set it to 'Enhance', also in the trackers 'Options' menu
 
Last edited:
a "brick" is quite a large object :)

try tracking on something smaller like some chewing gum stuck to the wall :)
 
If your footage has sharp abrupt shakiness (like in dslr video) it probably has motion blurred frames, in this case I think Its impossible to get absolutely stabilized clip with good image. When you apply absolute stabilization it seem strange to see a stable clip with blurred frames (even blur itself appear with variable directions). But you can do slight stabilization, the tutorial stip linked will probably help.
p.s. I don't mastered my english yet =)
 
Thanks for all the reply's everyone. I tried some of everyone's techniques and I think I got it pretty close to like I wanted it.
When you apply absolute stabilization it seem strange to see a stable clip with blurred frames (even blur itself appear with variable directions)
Click to expand...
I think he's right. The frames were a little blurred since what I was trying to stablize was a little out of focus. It just made it look off. so I just didn't stabilize it as much.

Thanks again for the help.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top