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3D Camera Tracker Tips
Hi guys!
I am trying to pin a screen shot into a monitor that is rotating on a turntable. I am attempting to do this in After Effects CS6, using the 3D Camera Tracker, but not having a lot of luck.
After analyzing the scene and dialing in my angle of view, I am picking some points and creating a Null & Camera. From there, I am dragging in my screen shot above my video layer, making it 3D and parenting it to the null. It is rotating correctly when I do this, but I need to size it into place. Any tips? Can I use the Corner Pin Effect? Or should I try something else.
I apologize is this is extremely basic, but I am very new to After Effects and I may have bit off more than I could chew on this.
Please help!
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17 Replies
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Camertracker is designed to work with shots that have camera movement in 3D space and create parallax for it to analyze.
Without seeing your images, I would speculate you need Mocha tracking. Mocha primary tracks objects.In this case the turntable. Post your clip and we can be more helpful.
If you have camera movement AND object movement, you can stabilize the shot in Mocha then track the monitor motion thus dealing with both.
Tom Daigon
PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxPrG3WUyz8
(Best viewed at 1080P and full screen)
HP Z820 Dual 2687
64GB ram
Dulce DQg2 16TB raid -
I’m actually doubtful that you’ve managed to obtain a workable track of the rotating monitor as AE’s 3D Camera Tracker, in its current rendition isn’t built for object tracking.
As Tom has pointed out, mocha will be a better bet for tracking the rotation (perspective change) of the monitor. With the rotating turntable in action, I assume that you will have more than one rotation. This will result in the tracking region, the monitor’s screen area being totally obscured when it faces away from the camera.
You should, thus, break the tracking exercise into separate tracks, where each track is focused on its task of tracking as much as possible from a single rotation of the turntable.
You will likely have poor tracking results for a few frames when the angle of the monitor is too acute. You should however be able to manually adjust the keyframes in AE for those few frames.
Please avail yourself to the mocha tutorials at Imagineer’s site if you are not too familiar with tracking in mocha and how to get the data into AE.
HTH
RoRKIntensive mocha & AE Training in Singapore and Other Dangerous Locations
Imagineer Systems (mocha) Certified Instructor
& Adobe After Effects ACE/ACI (version 7) -
I don’t know anything about Mocha (yet), but here’s a link to the rotating monitor that I am trying to embed a screenshot into:
password: agi
https://vimeo.com/55561608 -
Thats a PERFECT candidate for a Mocha 4 point track. Its free with AE. Go to the Imagineer site and learn how to do a 4 point track.
https://www.imagineersystems.com/videos?tagFilter=All&sortBy=Newest
Tom Daigon
PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxPrG3WUyz8
(Best viewed at 1080P and full screen)
HP Z820 Dual 2687
64GB ram
Dulce DQg2 16TB raid -
It’s free with AE? Really? That’s awesome, I thought I would have to buy it. I really appreciate the help, I will check out the link and learn how to do it.
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Yup, and when you highlight a layer this is how you access it.
Tom Daigon
PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxPrG3WUyz8
(Best viewed at 1080P and full screen)
HP Z820 Dual 2687
64GB ram
Dulce DQg2 16TB raid -
Tom,
You have been incredibly helpful so far, thank you! Any chance this 4 corner pin you are referring to is called something else? When I go to the link you provided, I don’t see any tutorial videos that talk about it. I also checked out Lynda.com and I find tutorials on tracking, but they all refer to screens that are just moving a bit and not rotating like mine.
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Corner pin. BTW. Mocha Import Plus which is mentioned in some tutorials real makes working with Mocha and AE easier.
https://www.imagineersystems.com/videos?tagFilter=corner+pin&sortBy=Newest
Tom Daigon
PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxPrG3WUyz8
(Best viewed at 1080P and full screen)
HP Z820 Dual 2687
64GB ram
Dulce DQg2 16TB raid -
Thank you! I am checking it now…
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Good luck. Its a wonderful, powerful tool that has a bit of a learning curve. But well worth it.
Tom Daigon
PrP / After Effects Editor
http://www.hdshotsandcuts.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxPrG3WUyz8
(Best viewed at 1080P and full screen)
HP Z820 Dual 2687
64GB ram
Dulce DQg2 16TB raid
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