[Ross Shain]

Here is a newer mocha Pro Remove Module video tutorial that may be useful to people who come across this thread:

https://vimeo.com/131518493

This short and clean video covers how to use mocha Pro and Photoshop to remove a lavalier mic from an actor. Since there is no footage of the actor without the mic, 1 frame is painted in Photoshop and mocha Pro does the perspective and lighting matching.

Enjoy

Ross Shain
Imagineer Systems
http://www.imagineersystems.com

[Ross Shain]

You do need a track on the bg clip even if the clip is locked down to get a successful remove.

There is an easy workaround for this that requires “the manual tracking” button in mocha Pro, but if you are not an advanced user, I hesitate to mention this.

If you want to share the clip with the team. perhaps we can help solve and create a tutorial?
https://www.imagineersystems.com/support/contact-support/

Ross Shain
Imagineer Systems
http://www.imagineersystems.com

[Ross Shain]

If your camera is locked down and you have a clean plates that locks up, do you really need the remove module? It could be as simple as using some roto-masks.

But yes, if you have a clean plate, it can help the Remove Module do its thing.

You might be having issues because the bg is locked down. Even if the bg is locked down, mocha needs to have a track on the bg remove layer.

Ross Shain
Imagineer Systems
http://www.imagineersystems.com

[Ross Shain]

The tracking icon looks like a small gear and is in the Layers list on upper left.

If you have watched a lot of Remove Tutorials and are still not getting expected results, I would recommend contacting Imagineer support team here:
https://www.imagineersystems.com/support/contact-support/

Again I will state these points:

If you don’t have a good solid background track, you most likely see artifact errors in the remove.

If the clean frames do not exist in the clip (for example the camera is not moving enough OR the remove object is so close to the background the clean areas do not exist in the shot) you will have to provide the remove module with some clean frames (usually painted or cloned in Photoshop).

Ross Shain
Imagineer Systems
http://www.imagineersystems.com

[Ross Shain]

The mocha fundamental training videos might help:
https://www.imagineersystems.com/video?tagFilter=mocha%20Fundamentals&&dd=dateOld&orderby=date&order=ASC

It is difficult to help a newbie without more detail.
If it looks good in mocha but not in AE, it is usually frame rate, pixel aspect or comp mismatch.

Possibly you are not pasting from first frame or have handles in your mocha project?

Ross Shain
Imagineer Systems
http://www.imagineersystems.com

[Ross Shain]

You can find lots of mocha Import+ tutorials here:
https://mamoworld.com/tutorials

Note that this is a fantastic tool, but not necessary for tracking text to the bus. This can be accomplished simply using the bundled mocha AE and After Effects. Either way, you will need to have an understanding of planar tracking as your clip is relatively easy to solve, but will need a little work on the extreme perspective sections.

Make sure to view the SURFACE (blue rectangle that represents your track data).

Link to 4 hrs of free mocha training for new users:
https://www.imagineersystems.com/video?tagFilter=mocha%20Fundamentals&&dd=dateOld&orderby=date&order=ASC

Ross Shain
Imagineer Systems
http://www.imagineersystems.com

[Ross Shain]

Hi Matthew,
I would not mess with “manual track” for this purpose. Manual track is really a last resort to bail you our for adjusting the surface for typical screen inert or corner pinning tracking. It will hose you for roto.

As far as making sure (or at least thinking about) tracking “planes” – it is important if you are using mocha. mocha is not a point tracker and even when focusing on roto only project, planes are important. Think of planes as pixel patterns.

You mention a leg and the torso area. It might help to think about: the most pixels moving in the same direction is what planar tracking looks at. If pixels on the torso are moving in slightly opposite direction, you should not include this in the track search area. This is why many tutorials show focusing on a small dedicated area, tracking, than linking a new shape layer to the track. This way you can still contain the torso area, linked to the same track.

It really is a matter of practice and learning when and where mocha will help you and when manual keyframing is necessary. Most artists who take the time to really dive into mocha find at least a 40% time increase compared to other roto methods. Again, we hope that our next version will have some interesting features to help handle organic shape roto such as moving limbs.

Best,
Ross

Ross Shain
Imagineer Systems
http://www.imagineersystems.com

[Ross Shain]

That is a good point. Your best bet would be to print a sticker image with a pattern for each frame, rather than draw it yourself. This is a typical motion tracking marker image:
https://ridgelinetutorials.com/blog/free-motion-tracking-markers

Note that planar tracking is probably overkill for this. Simple point tracker should work fine.

Ross Shain
Imagineer Systems
http://www.imagineersystems.com

[Ross Shain]

Hey Matthew,
Sorry to say in shipping version of mocha AE (or current mocha Pro) you cannot do translation + rotate without having scale turned on. I can look into adding this in a future release.

Are you doing the roto in mocha or using the track data to drive roto in AE? I would advise using mocha for the actual roto. Since you are not concerned about the “surface” (track data), one cool trick for roto.

Before you track, do a few manual keyframes on your shape throughout the shot. For example, add a couple rough keyframes every 30-60 frames. Then try your planar track. This is almost like a guide search area and can be very effective when using mocha for roto.

other tips: crack up min % of pixels used.

If scale is throwing your roto so far off, my guess is that your search area is including areas that are not on the same plane. Since mocha is planar tracker, you still need to focus on “planes”. Moving limbs can be tricky, but hopefully some of my suggestions will help.

P.S. We are working on a very cool spline tracking feature for dealing with “organic” motion for the next major release of mocha.

Ross Shain
Imagineer Systems
http://www.imagineersystems.com

[Ross Shain]

In general, the approach to take in mocha is to track until the track loses it, then go back a few frames to just before it loses it and move your search area to a more appropriate area. Keep tracking.

Also – the AdjustTrack module is designed to help correct tracks that drift.

Lastly if you wanted to combine tracks you could try duplicating the object and using have from beginning and half from end and delete the unused keyframes, but I would not recommend this technique.

It may be helpful to watch this free training webinar on basic screen tracking:
https://www.imagineersystems.com/videos/webinar-tracking-screens-with-mocha-2

good luck

Ross Shain
Imagineer Systems
http://www.imagineersystems.com