Tracking scars on a turning face

[Andrew Bardusk]

Yes unless you are particularly skilled in that area, doing it frame by frame would be difficult to manage.

What I would do is track the scar to her face. Apply the track to a null layer, and parent your scar to that null layer.

Then put a mesh warp on your scar, set a key frame on the first frame she starts to turn her head.

Then go to the frame where her head stops moving and warp the scar into place. The go the middle and warp that frame into place, same methodology as roto.

The key is to find little reference points on here face, for example lets say the bottom left corner of the scar just touches a mole she has on her cheek, so then you know to warp the bottom left corner there in future frames.

Good Luck!

[Nick Hamilton]

I thought the mesh warp would be the best way to approach it, although it still seemed pretty tricky to get it working properly. But I’ll give it another try following your instructions.

Thanks very much Andrew!

[Steve Roberts]

[Andrew Bardusk] “Then go the middle and warp that frame into place, same methodology as roto. “

Unless I’ve misunderstood, I beg to differ, old sport. Going to the middle (half, then quarter and so on) of the motion is only a useful strategy if the shape-changing motion is regular. In most cases, the motion changes at places other than half, quarter and so on, so the keyframes should be set at the frames where the motion actually changes direction or speed (points of inflection), and then AE can interpolate between them.

The trouble is, we have to watch the footage carefully to find those points. Eventually, one develops an eye for it. But it leads to fewer keyframes.

[Andrew Bardusk]

No you didn’t misunderstand, and I totally agree with you.

I just wanted to explain it in a simple context so it was the easiest to understand.