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Shot setup advice for Mocha AE planar track of white card, tracking markers
Looking for tips/advice on setting up a shot and props in order to make tracking easier for Mocha AE. The tricky part seems to be that we will be tracking a white rectangular card held by an actor who is standing on a white cyc. The idea is that the card is like a picture frame held in the actor’s hands. And the actor will spin, rotate, flip, and do other actions with the card. We will need to track and place photos on the card. I’ve been searching the videos for guidance on what type of tracking markers or pattern would be helpful to place on the white card. Especially considering the card is white and the background will be bright white. So, what should we print on the card in terms of markers or pattern? And, is there any camera setup advice other than trying to reduce motion blur?
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3 Replies
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I have used Mocha to replace one photo in a frame with another, and it was able to track the photo to absurd levels of blur and parallax. I was grimly prepared to do a lot of keyframing, and Mocha just tracked it almost perfectly the first time through. (Of course, it probably wasn’t as difficult a track as you’re describing, but still…)
I think if you have a dark edge on the card and a good distinct pattern–grid with X’s in the corners, for instance, you should get pretty good results.
But yeah, I wouldn’t recommend white on white.
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The more texture you can have on the card the better, unless you’re planning on using the white as a lighting overlay later.The best thing to do is try a test!
Also if the user is rotating the card a lot, you’ll want to use the Angle parameter in the tracking controls. This helps mocha see that the card is moving at a large rotation very quickly.
Martin Brennand | Product Manager | mocha – Imagineer Systems
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You will very likely lose visual of the edge of the white card should it cross into the background. This will lead to unnecessary problems – you want to always see all the four corners as they provide you with a guide for the Surface/corner pin placements as you track and composite your insert.
If you need a white border for your inserts then create your inserts with white borders! Use a keyable color for the tracking card. For texture, make sure it’s sufficiently large but easy enough to garbage matte it out (before or after you key out the card) – place it in the middle of the card.
For very tight angles, prepare to manually adjust the masks/mattes either in mocha or AE.
HTH
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