[Roland R. kahlenberg]

Sorry about the missing link, here it is -> https://vimeo.com/8057500.

With regards to the manual tracking, I’d do it in AE. Start off by removing the transform and Corner Pin KFs ONE KF from the point where you intend to start manual tracking. Then use Position and Rotation to move the layer off screen. When doing this, DO NOT do this one frame at a time – that’s unnecessary work. Start off by looking out for natural KFs in the motion of the white piece of paper. Create KFs on these natural KFs first. Then fill in KFs between these natural KFs until the motion looks good.

If Motion Blur looks incorrect or messes up the motion tracking, then set Shutter Phase to -1/2 of Shutter Angle – you do this in the Advanced Tab of the Composition Settings dialog window.

HTH
RoRK

Intensive mocha & AE Training in Singapore and Other Dangerous Locations

Imagineer Systems (mocha) Certified Instructor
& Adobe After Effects CS6 ACE/ACI

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[Roland R. kahlenberg]

Thanks John. It’s really useful for random stuff. Switching off the Wiggles/Second property by setting it to zero allows for smooth randomness – this, I think, is what makes it so useful.

Cheers
RoRK

Intensive mocha & AE Training in Singapore and Other Dangerous Locations

Imagineer Systems (mocha) Certified Instructor
& Adobe After Effects CS6 ACE/ACI

[Roland R. kahlenberg]

Thanks Walter. I’ll dive into your ZIP package as early as I can tomorrow morning. It’s close to 4AM now and I’m knackered! 🙁

Cheers
RoRK

Intensive mocha & AE Training in Singapore and Other Dangerous Locations

Imagineer Systems (mocha) Certified Instructor
& Adobe After Effects CS6 ACE/ACI

[Roland R. kahlenberg]

[Rune Jacobsen] ” How should I go about handling this situation?”

Make a backup of the insert layer and delete the KFs for Scale & Rotation. If the results are better then great. If not – then try this on the layer with all the KFs -> Move the CTI to frame 1. Create a Null Object and place it in the middle of the “X” visual. Then Parent the Insert Layer to the Null Object. Keyframe the Null Object’s Rotation and Scale as and when required, to perfect its placement.

[Rune Jacobsen] “I understand that I require three layers in the composite. Will I need to separately track the thumb shape, then export that as shape data, and use it as a mask for a duplicate of the composite layer? Or is there a more technically correct name for this process? If you are aware of any tutorials on the subject, I would be happy to know about that too!”

If you already have the shape data or Corner Pin data of the white paper, you should be able to use it as a matte to isolate the thumb.

I suggest that you try out the composite hierarchy on a single frame. If it looks good on a single frame then there is a strong possibility that the hierarchy is correct and the mattes you are using are also correct.

Here’s a mocha tutorial on a tracking task with object occlusion. The finger in this example is moving and the background doesn’t lend itself well for a simple luma matte extraction (although it can be done twice, once for each of the white and black areas). Hence, Martin had to track and then roto the finger. This tutorial is the closest in terms of subject matter to what you’re doing that I can think of.

HTH
RoRK

Intensive mocha & AE Training in Singapore and Other Dangerous Locations

Imagineer Systems (mocha) Certified Instructor
& Adobe After Effects CS6 ACE/ACI

[Roland R. kahlenberg]

Stig, I take no issue with your rant and unhappiness. I however believe that your choice of word is a poor one. I’m sure you could have made your point without putting yourself in a bad light. Let’s try to keep things civil/polite, even in our rants.

Cheers
RoRK

Intensive mocha & AE Training in Singapore and Other Dangerous Locations

Imagineer Systems (mocha) Certified Instructor
& Adobe After Effects CS6 ACE/ACI

[Roland R. kahlenberg]

Since you’ve got the answer to #3 and John’s covered #1, here’s an AEP to that covers #2 6399_texttoolwigglyselectorexample.zip

The Text Tool’s Wiggly Selector will do the trick nicely and quickly. The key components are keyframing the Max and Min values and setting values for the Text Animator Property, Position.

You should checkout Andrew Devis’ COW Tutorials on using AE’s Text Tool. Lastly, since you’re new to AE, please use the COW’s AW Newbies forum for future posts that cover basic AE Qs – https://forums.creativecow.net/adobeaftereffectsbasics

Cheers
RoRK

Intensive mocha & AE Training in Singapore and Other Dangerous Locations

Imagineer Systems (mocha) Certified Instructor
& Adobe After Effects CS6 ACE/ACI

[Roland R. kahlenberg]

Here are my answers to your numbered Qs –

1) Large movements are usually OK for mocha to handle at default settings. However, when tracking rotations larger than 15 degrees across two frames, you will need to invoke mocha’s Angle property. It doesn’t look like you will need it here but just in case – -> mocha Tracking Large Rotation tutorial – https://www.imagineersystems.com/videos?tagFilter=tracking+rotation&sortBy=Newest

2) Shape data (in conjunction with tracking data) is required if your target does not conform to a four-sided object/shape which can be described, perfectly, by a Corner Pin effect.

3) You can export tracking from mocha and allow AE’s built-in motion blur (MB) to kick in as and when appropriate. If you’re exporting Corner Pin data from mocha, then ensure that you pick the tracking data export option that supports MB for Corner Pin. Exporting transform tracking data automatically provides the properties for AE’s MB feature.

4) There is no easy way. Ideally, you would have used a color that is easily keyed. White isn’t ideal but certainly doable – just a couple more steps to the workflow. To create a matte for the paper, you’ll need to extract a luma matte that isolates the paper from the rest of the video. You can use the Extract keyer for this.

You should be aware that you will require THREE major components in the final composite – (i) thumb (ii) insert layer (polaroid) (iii) fingers other than the thumb. I have numbered them from top-down in terms of their layer hierarchy, in order to complete the composite.

HTH
RoRK

Intensive mocha & AE Training in Singapore and Other Dangerous Locations

Imagineer Systems (mocha) Certified Instructor
& Adobe After Effects CS6 ACE/ACI

[Roland R. kahlenberg]

Perhaps not what you had in mind BUT this is worth a look-see – https://www.hollywoodcamerawork.us/gs_index.html

HTH
RoRK

Intensive mocha & AE Training in Singapore and Other Dangerous Locations

Imagineer Systems (mocha) Certified Instructor
& Adobe After Effects CS6 ACE/ACI

[Roland R. kahlenberg]

1) What type of tracker are you using?

2) Please provide a link to the original and tracked video or better yet, embed them in your next post.

Cheers
RoRK

Intensive mocha & AE Training in Singapore and Other Dangerous Locations

Imagineer Systems (mocha) Certified Instructor
& Adobe After Effects CS6 ACE/ACI

[Roland R. kahlenberg]

When lining up the frame, the CTI should be at the frame which you used to create the clean plate. I then replace the Null with the clean plate – select Null in the Timeline and then dragging the clean plate from the Project Panel and holding down the ALT/Option key and then dropping the clean plate directly over the Null.

Now it’s a matter of making the 3D layer (clean plate) match the 2D layer WITHOUT messing about with the clean plate’s position property since this is the solved tracking data. Thus, you have the other transforms to mess about with and even the Corner Pin effect.

I use the following Expression on the Scale property –
distance = length(sub(position[2], thisComp.activeCamera.position[2]));
scale * (distance / thisComp.activeCamera.zoom)

This Expression scales the layer to fit its original size. Now it’s a matter of scrubbing the Anchor Point so that the clean plate’s layer edges match the comp edges. This is probably something that can be done with Expressions but I don’t know how – yet.

Now it’s a matter of drawing in your mask and feathering it.

FWIW, when I camera track with AE’s built-in 3D tracker, I get a slight perspective shift with a track/solved Null – no such thing with a track/solved Solid.

Finally, most folks use projection mapping for such tasks but I find my method sufficiently robust and much faster to set up.

HTH
RoRK

Intensive mocha & AE Training in Singapore and Other Dangerous Locations

Imagineer Systems (mocha) Certified Instructor
& Adobe After Effects CS6 ACE/ACI