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Apple Motion, Motion Tracking Question

Dominik Muench

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Hi Guys,


I would like to create a simple title sequence over some footage that I shot of a house front. I basically paned and tilted the camera to different elements on the house front...doors, windows,...and would now like to ad a 3D text "sitting" on those various elements....for example have a word in 3D text sitting on the windowsill.

Now the 3D text and positioning is easy, but I would like to have the 3D text static, anchored to a certain point in the footage and have it disappear with the camera move...so for example the text stays static on the windowsill and as the window moves out of shot to camera right, the text disappears with it.

When I apply basic motion tracking to any spot in the footage the 3D text always stays in frame, is there a way to simply anchor my 3d text to a point in the footage and have it disappear with this point leaving the frame ?

thanks for any help.
 
You're using the "match move" behaviour right? If so all you have to do is choose a point that will stay in frame after you want the text to leave and track that point. Then place the text where ever you wish and it will follow the scene as long as the tracked point is in view. Is that what you were looking for?
 
Jeremiah, just the opposite, I want the text to leave frame with footage that leaves the frame as well, so same theory ? apply it to something that goes out of shot ?

Is there something similar in motion Jake ?
 
Unfortunately, no.
I don't use Motion, but why can't you keyframe the moving out of the shot portion by hand?

as in, create a keyframe motion path of the text out of frame ? and try match it to the video movement ?

I'll give that a try, only started getting my head around motion this week so I'm a bit slow with these methods.
 
Exactly, it's basically the same principle. Place the text where you want it to stick with the footage, apply "Match Move" then choose a point to track, if that point exits frame, stop the tracking and find another point to start tracking. The text should then follow the motion of the footage and even leave the frame completely.
 
Syntheyes is the 3D tracking program that is the easiest to learn the basics in, does not cost much and is also the one that the real pros use.

from there you can export your camera / scene just about any other program.

Do not waste your time in AE's or other programs half wack solutions for 3D tracking. All the quick solutions kind of come out with a something not so usable and then you can not take it further. Syntheyes on the other hand can pretty much handle any shot. First it does an automatic track, then you can add mattes, then give the lens data, add additional trackers, weight the different tracked points, give messurements from the set, etc, etc... basically it's a tool you can grow with from just adding a text to do huge set extensions, smack two camera takes together like they where shot moco etc. So it's definitely a cool pool to swim in even though the deep end is rather deep...


see:

http://www.ssontech.com/index.html
 
Syntheyes is the 3D tracking program that is the easiest to learn the basics in, does not cost much and is also the one that the real pros use.

from there you can export your camera / scene just about any other program.

Do not waste your time in AE's or other programs half wack solutions for 3D tracking. All the quick solutions kind of come out with a something not so usable and then you can not take it further. Syntheyes on the other hand can pretty much handle any shot. First it does an automatic track, then you can add mattes, then give the lens data, add additional trackers, weight the different tracked points, give messurements from the set, etc, etc... basically it's a tool you can grow with from just adding a text to do huge set extensions, smack two camera takes together like they where shot moco etc. So it's definitely a cool pool to swim in even though the deep end is rather deep...


see:

http://www.ssontech.com/index.html
I wouldn't call a free version of Mocha, that comes with AE a waste of time. From what Dominick described, Mocha is exactly what he needs. But if Dominick had used latest AE, he could have just used the included camera tracker, which has similar functionality as the syntheyes or PFTrack or boujou.
 
another option within motion ( though i agree syntheyes and PFTrack work excellent) is to put multiple trackers down... then find the setting that will approximate position of the trackers that wander of the screen... Its been awhile, but i am certain the option is there.... or if you have an old copy of shake it will do it as well.
 
another option within motion ( though i agree syntheyes and PFTrack work excellent) is to put multiple trackers down... then find the setting that will approximate position of the trackers that wander of the screen... Its been awhile, but i am certain the option is there.... or if you have an old copy of shake it will do it as well.

Shake will not add a 3D text as it is only works in 2D space.

Mocha will work quite well if you have flat surfaces that are trackable in the shot, which I guess you have if you got a house in frame, as Mocha it is using it's plane tracker to calculate the camera move. But a normal 3D tracker that utilize the moment of a point cloud will usually render better results .
 
Actually misread the original post when I suggested Mocha, I think Bjorn's solution with Syntheyes is better with 3D space. You might also want to try Boujou.



Shake will not add a 3D text as it is only works in 2D space.

Mocha will work quite well if you have flat surfaces that are trackable in the shot, which I guess you have if you got a house in frame, as Mocha it is using it's plane tracker to calculate the camera move. But a normal 3D tracker that utilize the moment of a point cloud will usually render better results .
 
there's no way this guy's going to learn boujou just to stick some text in his shot... all kinds of suggestions flying around everywhere - make sure you tailor your advice to the person that needs it.

dominik, there are plenty of tutorials on creative cow and video copilot for after effects. i do not recommend motion for anything. as far as time investment, starting to learn after effects will probably be a better bang for your buck than anything else because of how much you can do in there. don't get me wrong, it's not my favorite piece of software and syntheyes is really good for tracking, but i'm thinking big picture here for somebody (i'm assuming) without a lot of post-software experience.
 
there's no way this guy's going to learn boujou just to stick some text in his shot... all kinds of suggestions flying around everywhere - make sure you tailor your advice to the person that needs it.

dominik, there are plenty of tutorials on creative cow and video copilot for after effects. i do not recommend motion for anything. as far as time investment, starting to learn after effects will probably be a better bang for your buck than anything else because of how much you can do in there. don't get me wrong, it's not my favorite piece of software and syntheyes is really good for tracking, but i'm thinking big picture here for somebody (i'm assuming) without a lot of post-software experience.
Hadn't I suggested to use camera tracker in AE? How is that not tailored to the user? It's the simplest , one button push solution and it was suggested at the very beginning.
 
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