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There’s more than one way to pull off motion tracking in After Effects. Here’s a few of them!
Track mattes can help create cool looks in your video project, like creating a cut out of your text with the video behind it. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to use luma mattes and alpha mattes inside of After Effects. Both are simple to use, but if you’re new to the program, working with track mattes might not be that obvious. Adobe After Effects offers many ways to animate text. You can animate text layers by manually creating keyframes in the Timeline panel, using animation presets, or using expressions. You can even animate individual characters or words in a text layer.
After Effects is a fantastic tool for VFX work. This is especially true for motion tracking. However, the tracker you use to motion track your footage might not be the best choice depending on your specific clip. Let’s take a look at six different ways to execute motion tracking in After Effects and discuss when certain tracking features should and shouldn’t be used.
1. One Point Track
When to Use It: Very quick 2D tracking situations centered around a single point with no warping.
The single-point tracker built into After Effects has long been a go-to tool for motion artists, but you need to be careful with single-point tracks because footage doesn’t normally shake in 2D space only. After Effects uses contrast to find track points, so you’ll need to make sure you set your tracker on a well-defined point. If you’re in a rush, one-point tracking will work, but for most professional circumstances, you’ll want to at least use two-point tracking.
In this tutorial from Live Tech Australia, we take a look at how to use the single-point tracker in After Effects.
2. Two Point Track
When to Use It: On footage with mild to moderate levels of camera shake.
Two-point tracking is fantastic for simple camera movements, as long as there are a few contrasted elements for the tracker to track. Two-point tracking is notably superior to single-point tracking because it can track rotation and scale, not just position.
This video from Robert’s Productions shows us how to use two-point tracking to add text to a scene.
3. Corner Pin Track
When to Use It: Basic screen replacement.
Video Motion Tracking Software
If you do a lot of commercial or sci-fi work, then you probably do a lot of screen replacements. In order to help make screen replacements easier, After Effects has a built-in corner pin tracker that is designed to work with any four point surface. While it’s designed to work with screens, it can also work with picture frames, signs, and simple surfaces. In this video tutorial from LinkTCOne, we take a look at how to use the corner pin tracker to replace a picture frame in After Effects.
4. 3D Camera Tracking
When to Use It: Matte painting, set extensions, and compositing.
One of the most powerful features to hit After Effects in recent years is the 3D camera-tracking tool. The tool essentially automatically creates dozens of track points in your footage and allows you to select which ones to use after the computer processes the footage. This is your best tracking option directly in After Effects. However, the 3D camera tracker can take quite a while if you have a long clip.
This tutorial from thevfxbro shows us how to use the 3D camera tracker to ‘composite’ a Christmas tree into a shot.
5. Planar Tracking Using Mocha
When to Use It: Advanced tracking on flat surfaces.
If you have a very difficult-to-track flat surface, then the planar tracking feature in mocha Pro is the way to go. Unlike After Effects, mocha Pro will use predictive tracking to track the position of an object even if a portion of the tracked object is offscreen. Tracking data can then be exported from mocha into After Effects.
This quick video tutorial from short-form video shows us how to planar track in mocha.
6. Spline Tracking
When to Use It: Complex camera tracking jobs.
If you’ve exhausted all of the other options on this list, or simply want the most accurate track possible, then spline tracking in mocha Pro is the way to go. Spline tracking can track any type of shape because you custom create the tracking plane. Essentially, you trace around the object you want to track and mocha will try its best to keep track of the object. Data can then be exported to After Effects.
This tutorial from mocha planar tracking & vfx tools shows us how to use spline trackers to do beauty retouching in After Effects.
Have any other tips for motion tracking in After Effects? Share them in the comments below!
Note: This excerpt does not include the lesson files. The lesson files are available with purchase of the book.
Getting started
After Effects Animate Text Tracking
Adobe After Effects offers many ways to animate text. You can animate text layers by manually creating keyframes in the Timeline panel, using animation presets, or using expressions. You can even animate individual characters or words in a text layer. In this lesson, you’ll employ several different animation techniques, including some that are unique to text, while you design the opening title credits for an animated documentary called Road Trip. You’ll also take advantage of Adobe Typekit to install a font for use in your project.
As in other projects, you’ll begin by previewing the movie you’re creating, and then you’ll open After Effects.
Make sure the following files are in the Lessons/Lesson03 folder on your hard disk, or download them from your Account page at www.peachpit.com now:
- In the Assets folder: background_movie.mov, car.ai, compass.swf, credits.psd
- In the Sample_Movie folder: Lesson03.mov
Open and play the Lesson03.mov sample movie to see the title credits you will create in this lesson. When you’re done, quit QuickTime Player. You may delete this sample movie from your hard disk if you have limited storage space.
As you start the application, restore the default settings for After Effects. See “Restoring default preferences” on page 2.
- Start After Effects, and then immediately hold down Ctrl+Alt+Shift (Windows) or Command+Option+Shift (Mac OS) to restore default preferences settings. When prompted, click OK to delete your preferences.
Click Close to close the Welcome screen.
After Effects opens to display a blank, untitled project.
- Choose File > Save As > Save As, and navigate to the Lessons/Lesson03/Finished_Project folder.
- Name the project Lesson03_Finished.aep, and then click Save.
Importing the footage
You need to import two footage items to begin this lesson.
- Double-click an empty area of the Project panel to open the Import File dialog box.
- Navigate to the Lessons/Lesson03/Assets folder on your hard disk, Ctrl-click (Windows) or Command-click (Mac OS) to select both the background_movie.mov and compass.swf files, and then click Import or Open.
Track Matte In After Effects
After Effects can import several file formats including Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator files, as well as QuickTime and AVI movies. This makes After Effects an incredibly powerful application for compositing and motion graphics work.
Creating the composition
Now, you’ll create the composition.
- Press Ctrl+N (Windows) or Command+N (Mac OS) to create a new composition.
In the Composition Settings dialog box, name the composition Road_Trip_Title_Sequence, select NTSC DV from the Preset menu, and set the Duration to 10:00, which is the length of the background movie. Then click OK.
Drag the background_movie.mov and compass.swf footage items from the Project panel to the Timeline panel. Arrange the layers so that compass.swf is above background_movie.mov in the layer stack.
- Choose File > Save.
You’re ready to add the title text to the composition.