We're going to be learning all about FCPX Shape Tracker.
It's show time!
FCPX Shape Tracker may look complicated at first, but by the end of this tutorial,
you'll be able to take full advantage of this revolutionary plugin.
First, locate FCPX Shape Tracker in your Effects (or Titles) menu.
Then, drag the tool onto your footage. (If using a Title, drag it above the footage).
With the clip selected, navigate to the inspector controls.
Select the Launch Editor button to open the editor window.
Wait for your media to finish loading, as indicated by this green bar.
Navigate to the Layer Management section, and locate Layer 0.
Select this arrow to expand it.
Then, select Shape 0.
Notice that the Shape Creation tools will be highlighted.
Before we create our shape, let's set up our canvas.
We'll zoom into this clip, and we'll adjust the timeline view.
Now, we'll drag the playhead across the timeline until we find the ideal frame.
In this case, we'll start from the beginning, because that puts us as close to the subject as possible.
Now let's draw!
Navigate to the highlighted Shape Creation tools.
We can choose Custom Shape, Rectangle, or Circle.
We can select the Rectangle for four sharp points,
or the Circle for four round points.
Or we can select Custom to draw a more complex shape with the pen tool.
In the window, we can create points until our shape is complete.
To learn more about creating an advanced Custom Shape,
check out our Advanced Pen Tool tutorial, linked below.
Before tracking, open the Track Options section, and choose a motion type.
Translation tracks the position of the subject.
Scale tracks how much the subject changes in size in the footage.
Rotation tracks how far the viewing angle of the subject will change.
Perspective is a bit more complex.
It tracks the plane that all shapes reside upon.
With all this in mind, use the option that works best for your track.
For this track, we went with this option.
Now, let's continue.
In order to make the layer trackable, we'll select this icon.
And now we can use these buttons to track.
We can track forward continuously.
Press this middle button to pause tracking at any time.
You can also track forward one frame at a time.
In addition, we can track backward frame by frame.
Or, continuously.
We'll track the entire length of the clip.
This may take time depending on how long or detailed the clip is, so we'll fast forward.
Once our track is finished, we can play through to check that it's tracking correctly.
Here, we notice the track was a bit off at the end.
We'll use keyframes to correct the path.
To learn more about this, check out our tutorial about Keyframing in the Tracking Editor (see description).
Here's a key thing to note.
The tracking data is attached to the layer, not the shape.
So we can potentially add additional shapes to the layer, and they would follow the same tracking data.
Use this icon to create a new shape in the layer.
Since it'll use the same tracking data,
it's good for things like a shadow or shape near the building to show length or height, for example.
That looks great!
That was just a demonstration, so we'll delete that shape by expanding the shapes in this menu,
and selecting this x.
We can also create additional layers that can be tracked independently.
We'll use this icon to create another layer, and create a shape under that new layer.
With the custom tool, we'll draw the shape around the other building.
Once we have our shape drawn, we'll select the type of track.
We'll go with this option.
Then we'll toggle this icon here to allow it to be tracked.
And we'll turn off the tracking for the layer we already tracked.
And let's track again.
Now we have tracking data for this layer.
We'll drag this playhead to watch and make sure that the track is accurate.
And again, we'll keyframe if necessary.
Note also that you'll need to customize this color if you plan to use Color Fill,
or Color Fill plus Outline for your render mode.
Now if we're satisfied, we'll select export data to export our shape track information into Final Cut Pro.
This window will pop up to close the editor window, and we'll select the red X to exit out.
Now, we'll switch to our regular tutorial style to get closer to the action.
Next, let's navigate down to the Style Controls in the inspector.
If they aren't showing, we'll need to select show to expand them.
We'll start with Rendering Mode.
We can choose whatever mode we prefer.
Mask,
Mask and Outline,
Shape (Color Fill),
Shape and Outline (Color Fill),
or Outline.
Here's a comparison.
We'll go with this one,
and we'll adjust the other settings to our liking.
Feathering Width widens the boundary of the color fill.
Feathering Value determines the blurriness of the feather boundary.
Fill Opacity dictates the transparency of the shape.
Outline Color dictates the color of the outline.
Outline Width adjusts the thickness of the outline.
Outline Feathering Value determines how far the outline should feather out.
Outline Opacity adjusts the transparency of the outline.
And there we go!
If you ever need a refresher on how to use this plugin, select the Instructions button at the top,
and a window will pop up, summarizing everything we've covered and more.
And now you can enjoy tracking shapes in your footage.
Got questions or suggestions? Drop them in the comments.
We can't wait to see what you make with this plugin!