Compositing using markers

[EdwardMartinIII]

Okay...

I've got a helicopter going haywire. Sparks flying out of the console.

The camera's jinking all over the place (very Irwin Allen), but I'd like that sparkign to keep coming out of the same component on the board (where there is a little marker).

Normally, I'd just frame-by-frame the POSITION keyframe of the spark (also fiddling with the ROTATION and SCALE as need be), over all, say four seconds of the clip. Tedious, but (shrug) we do what we can to make it look good.

However, a buddy of mine reminded me that After Effects (I'm using version 7.0) has some sort of motion-tracking capability.

So, this is something I can use to simplify my life, by saying "pin THIS pixel on the spark layer to this marker image on the base layer and just follow the thing all over the place"

Edward

"Cut a hole in the door. Hang a flap. Criminy, why didn't I think of this earlier?!" -- inventor of the cat door

 

[EdwardMartinIII]

Near as I can tell, it's a matter of using a motion tracker, although one buddy suggested I take a look at AE's child-parent animation tricks, which she has used before.

Edward

"Cut a hole in the door. Hang a flap. Criminy, why didn't I think of this earlier?!" -- inventor of the cat door

 

[maruyama]

The problem with really FAST motion is that motion trackers generally have a hard time analyzing from frame to frame, especially if there's pivot information (like a jittery camera movement in a falling helicopter).

I would check out the Adobe site for their tutorials on tracking - - but better still -- check out the MOCHA AE tracker on imagineer's site.

I love Adobe After Effects, but MOCHA AE does a better job when attempting planar tracking.

Ko Maruyama
Free Tutorials

http://homepage.mac.com/komaruyama/Tutorials