In today’s video,
we’ll take a look at you can track
objects in 3D space
using the FCPX Auto-Tracker Perspective 2.1 plugin.
Here’s and example of what we can do with it.
Hey guys, whats up.
This is Serge and welcome back to my channel.
Today, we’ll be taking a look at
FCPX Auto-Tracker Perspective 2.1 plugin,
from the sponsor of this video,
Pixel Film Studios.
This plugin allows you to easily track images,
text, video, and animations to surfaces in your clip,
and it not only tracks position,
but also perspective,
to make it look like it belongs.
Let’s jump into Final Cut Pro
and take a look at how to use it.
The Auto-Tracker Perspective plugin
comes as an effect, or an adjustment layer.
Applying the effect to a clip,
only affects the clip it’s applied to,
whereas if you use the adjustment layer,
it affects all the clips under it.
We’ll take a look at using both today.
First, we’ll use the plugin
to add some text above the doors in this clip,
and track it with the camera move.
After installing the plugin,
open your effects browser,
select the Auto-Tracker Perspective plugin,
and drag and drop it onto your clip.
Move your playhead to a frame
where the area you want to track is sharp,
and clearly defined,
and head up to the inspector.
Click the track editor button
to open it up in its own separate window.
Here, you have two options for tracking.
The default option is Planar.
This method analyzes and tracks
your entire selected area.
Most of the time,
this will give you a more accurate track.
The second option for tracking is Corner Pin.
In this method, the plugin only tracks
the corners of your selected area,
ignoring all the data inside this square.
This is useful for tracking reflective surfaces,
such as windows,
with reflections inside that can mess up your track.
Select your preferred tracking method,
and in the viewer window,
move the control points to outline
the area you want to track.
If you need to,
you can zoom in on your viewer with this slider,
and click the hand button to reposition your image.
Also, when you click on a control point to adjust it,
over on the right hand side,
you get a zoomed in view,
for precise placement.
Another thing to keep in mind,
since this is a perspective tracking plugin,
the tracked area selection is designed
to be 16 by 9 aspect ratio.
If, like mine, yours is a different aspect ratio,
your image you place inside will be distorted.
This is easily fixable,
and we’ll look at that a little later in the video.
Back in the controls section,
bring your track quality slider
all the way up to 100 percent,
and hit the track forward button.
The FCPX Auto-Tracker tracks every frame of your clip,
and makes keyframes on each frame.
Since we didn’t track from the start of our clip,
we need to move the playhead back to the first keyframe,
and track backwards from there.
Once your track is finished,
hit the export data button,
to apply all the keyframes to your clip.
Next, since we want to add text to our video clip,
we need to create a text layer.
Move your playhead to the start of your clip,
and from the titles and generators browser,
add a title above your clip.
Ripple trim it to the same length as your clip,
enter your text,
and adjust the titles appearance.
Your entire frame will be placed
inside your tracked area,
so make it nice and big.
Select your tracked clip,
and in the inspector,
select the Drop Zone checkbox.
Click the arrow in the Drop Zone square,
and move your skimmer
over the first frame of your title clip.
Click apply clip,
and delete your Title clip.
Your Text is placed inside the tracked area,
and moves perfectly with your clip.
Back in the inspector,
you can further tweak the appearance of your image.
You can adjust the scale
and position of your image inside the drop-zone,
and if you open the dropdown menu for scale,
you can use the X and Y sliders
to adjust each axis individually.
If your clip is distorted,
this is where you can fix it.
Under that, you can change the Blend mode of your text,
to better blend it in with the surface its placed on.
If theres motion blur in your original clip,
use the Motion Blur slider
to add motion blur to your drop-zone clip
to match the scene.
Let your clip fully render out,
and this is your result.
For our next clip,
lets add and track a video clip
over the entire football field.
This time, we’ll use an adjustment layer.
From the Titles and Generators browser,
select the FCPX Auto-Tracker Perspective adjustment layer,
and drag and drop it down into your timeline.
Ripple trim it to the same length as your clip.
Place your playhead at the start of your clip,
and with the adjustment layer selected,
open the track editor window.
If you skim the clip,
you can see this light tower obstructs part of the field,
and might mess up our auto track.
I think in this case,
using corner pin tracking would work better.
Move your control points,
and line up each point in the corner of the field.
Next, from the Select Tracker dropdown menu,
pick All, and set your track quality
all the way up to 100 percent.
Hit the track forward button.
Once your track is finished, export your data.
With the adjustment layer selected,
in the inspector, turn on drop zone,
and apply your video clip in the drop zone.
Make sure the skimmer is at the start of your clip
to use the entire clip, and click Apply Clip.
To make it look like the video is projected onto the field,
from the blend dropdown menu,
select Add.
And last, lets fade this video clip in and out.
Place your playhead about 1 second
from the start of the clip,
bring the drop zone opacity all the way down to zero,
and add a keyframe.
Move the playhead about 20 frames ahead,
and bring the opacity all the way back up.
Do the same at the end of the clip.
Let your clip render out, for this cool effect.
Let’s try one more clip, and this time,
with a more extreme perspective change.
If I skim this clip, you can see the image
rotates almost all the way around.
Let’s place a logo on the roof,
and see how well we can track it.
I’ll place the playhead
to where its facing me straight on,
and add the Auto-Tracker Perspective effect to my clip.
In the track editor window,
I’ll position my control points,
set the track quality
all the way up to 100 percent,
and track my clip.
The track seems accurate,
so lets export the keyframe data to our clip.
Turn on the drop zone layer,
add your image,
and set the scale and blend modes
to blend your image into the background.
Let the clip render out,
and lets take a look at how good the track is.
Before I go,
just a couple quick tips
to get the best results out of this plugin.
When choosing an area to track,
make sure it’s in focus,
has lots of contrast,
and no obstructions throughout the clip.
Setting your track quality to 100 percent
will give you the best results,
but also take the longest.
If you have a simple clip to track,
you can try setting this lower to save some time.
And last, the tracking does require
of lot of system resources,
so fully render out your clips before playback.
If you’re interested in this plugin,
when checking out,
make sure to use the coupon code Sergepixel
for 30 percent off your purchase,
limited to the first 500 users.
Once again,
a big thank you to Pixel Film Studios
for sponsoring this video,
and making some very useful tools for Final Cut Pro.
Thanks for watching,
and I’ll see you next week.