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Getting a mask path to follow tracking data (again!)
Hi.
Im trying to do a relatively simple set extension… I have tracked the footage and masked out the area that I want to replace with a more dramatic matt painting (well its a photo actually). I now obviously need the mask to follow the motion track but I can’t seem to get the mask path to link to the null object that contains the tracking data.
I’ve looked through the forum and found a couple of people asking similar questions but the answers people gave still don’t seem to do the trick. One answer suggested copying the mask path and pasting it to a solid, inverting the mask, changing the track matte to alpha matte and then parenting this layer to the null. This kinda makes sense but I simply couldn’t get this to work and I don’t know why.
I thought this would be a simple task but it’s really got me scratching my head!
Thanks for any help anyone can offer.
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5 Replies
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Don’t think in terms of attaching the mask to the tracking data. Think in terms of putting the mask on a layer and attaching that layer to the tracking data.
This video shows an example. It uses an adjustment layer, but you can do the same kind of thing with track matte layers.
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Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
Technical Support for professional video software
After Effects Help & Support
Premiere Pro Help & Support
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Thanks for your reply.
I’m sure there must be a better way to do this, in the video you linked to he just roughly places the mask back in place at 3 or 4 points along the timeline. That’s fine for the work he is doing but my mask is relatively complicated and needs to be more accurately moved frame-to-frame.
Could you describe in what order I should place the layers (Footage, Matt painting, Black Solid with mask) and what to set their track matte to for me please?
Thanks again.
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The method doesn’t differ. You just need to be ready to make frame-by-frame adjustments. The simplicity in the video is just because of the time constraints in an instructional video.
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Todd Kopriva, Adobe Systems Incorporated
Technical Support for professional video software
After Effects Help & Support
Premiere Pro Help & Support
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Ah, so frame by frame adjustments really are the only option then.
If I’m honest I don’t understand why it’s not possible to link a mask to motion tracking data and for it to follow the motion well enough to not need to adjust it every few frames but I’ll take your word for it!
Thanks for your help.
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Stuart –
I’ve done a lot of motion tracking, using both Combustion and After Effects, and every single project required a certain amount of hand keyframing. If you really want it to look right, there are always places you have to go under the hood and tweak.
That said, it should be possible to get very close with the tracker(s), of course depending on the points you pick, and bearing in mind that both of the trackers I’m talking about are 2D trackers. In any given project I worked on, I would say that the tracker hit the mark in about 60 to 80 percent of the data – the rest was frame by frame hand work.
Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media
http://www.bourkemedia.com
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