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Motion Tracking Long Shots
Hi,
I have some footage shot on a stabilizer at 4K, touring a large outdoor area. The footage is pretty smooth to begin with, but is still too shaky to use as is. My goal is to stabilize the footage in After Effects CS6 using Motion Tracking, then speed the footage up in order to make the content watchable. The problem I’m having, however, is that all the online tutorials I’ve found only show you how to motion track using track points that remain in the frame for the entirety of the shot. In my footage, I cover so much ground that whatever track points I start with (such as a specific tree) leave the frame well before my shot is complete.I’m wondering if any of you AE gurus have any tricks to motion track my footage for the entirety of the shot? Like I said, I shot in 4K, so I have plenty of room to crop and rotate on a 1080 (or 720) timeline.
And before anyone suggests it: yes, I’ve tried using the Warp Stabilizer already. It works alright, but when the footage is sped up, it looks bad.
Thanks in advance,
Jeff -
12 Replies
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Have you instead tried reversing the order? Try speeding it up, precomping and then apply the warp stabilizer using the smoothing factors. Or even better, stabilize, speed up, preconpse and srabilze again.
Best,
Derek Boettcher
Creative Management
BTH Media Group
https://bthmedia.com -
Hi Derek,
I have tried that. It works, but it still has that Warp Stabilizer wobble to it. The way I see it, I have the information there, so I want to find a way to make it rocksteady. Is there any way to use the 3D Camera tracker to achieve this? I’ve already analyzed the clip, so the track points are there, but how do I combine these points with stabilization?I’ve used the 3D Camera tracker to add text to a shot, and it works amazingly well. There must be some way to identify a track point, anchor it to a straight line, then switch points once that first point goes out of frame, no? I don’t make any sudden movements or jerks during the shot, the camera just bobs as I walk.
What I’m asking may be impossible, I don’t know. It just seems like all of the pieces are there, so I thought I’d ask.
Thanks for your reply. If the Warp Stabilizer is truly my only option, are there any suggested settings to make the footage as steady as possible? I’ve tried “Position, Scale, and Rotation” with auto-scaling turned off, with mediocre results. Should I try synthesizing the edges?
Man, I already fear that this thread is going to turn into a discussion on the Warp Stabilizer.
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Do your first track, say the tree and track that for as long as it’s in the scene, apply data to null. Then find another point to track, apply that data to a 2nd null, then parent the 2nd null to the first. You can daisy chain as many nulls as you need this way.
Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb. -
Do you need to stabilize the whole thing? It would be easier to deal with shorter clips.
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Hi John,
This sounds like the solution I’m searching for. Would you mind breaking that down into a specific workflow for me? I’m not exactly an AE expert. Is this using the regular motion tracking, or the 3D camera tracker? As I mentioned, my only experience tracking anything has been with text. Forgive my ignorance. And thank you! -
These long shots are already broken down into multiple clips, so they’re as “short” as they can be. I realize shorter clips are easier to deal with, but unfortunately these shots need to be long.
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Essentially what you do is track one object in your scene until it goes offscreen. Then start tracking another object. Then a third and so on if need be. This tutorial explains doing it all on one layer(I separate the data to multiple nulls just to be safe, but either method works).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khFseeoNFIY
Johnny Cuevas, Editor
Thinkck.com“I have not failed 700 times. I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work. When I have eliminated the ways that will not work, I will find the way that will work.”
—THOMAS EDISON on inventing the light bulb. -
Fantastic! This is just the tutorial I was looking for. Thanks, John!
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Hello! I was looking for this solution, however the link you posted is no longer online! Could you please help me? Is there any other linl? Thanks!!!
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Hi Sandro
You might find similar tutorials on motion tracking long shots on Video Copilot like this:
https://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/set_extensions/
It’s an old one but Hope this helps!
Nir-Vana
videocopilot.net
Extend a live action set with custom matte painting Link several motion trackers into one null object
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