Hey guys, what up.
My name is Serge,
and welcome back to my channel.
In this video,
we’ll be taking a look at the new
FCPX Surface Tracker plugin from Pixel Film Studios,
who is today’s sponsor.
This plugin allows you to track moving surfaces
that change shape,
then add an overlay that moves
and changes shape with the surface you’re tracking.
Let’s jump right into Final Cut Pro
and take a look at this plugin.
First, to get the best results from this plugin,
you need a clip where the surface
of the tracked subject is unobstructed
and has a good amount of detail and contrast.
Also, the area you want to track needs to be flat,
or almost flat at least one frame of the clip.
This insures the image or text overlaid
on this area looks the most natural.
There’s a couple ways to apply this plugin to your clip.
You can either apply it as an effect from the effects browser,
or an adjustment layer that can be found
in the titles and generators browser.
There is one advantage to using the adjustment layer,
and we’ll take a look at that towards the end of this video.
To apply this to your clip,
select the FCPX Surface Tracker adjustment layer,
and add it to your timeline above your clip.
Ripple trim this adjustment layer
to the same length as your clip.
Skim the clip and place the playhead over a frame
where the area you want to track is at it flattest.
Select your adjustment layer,
head up to the inspector window,
and make sure the Titles inspector is selected.
Click the open editor button
to open it up in its own window where you can track the clip.
First thing we need to do
is add some tracking points to track our clip.
There’s three ways of doing this.
You can either add a rectangle shape with tracking points,
an oval shape,
or add points individually.
You can also use the combination of any of these.
The slider right under these controls
lets you adjust the spacing between these points.
Let’s set this to every 30 pixels.
With the rectangle or oval tool selected,
click and drag out an area over your subject.
Do this as many times as necessary.
If you end up with tracking points off your subject,
you can individually select them,
and press Delete to remove them.
You can also add individual tracking points
by simply clicking on any part of your clip.
Before tracking your clip,
select the Track Assist Filter checkbox,
and make sure your clip has enough contrast to track.
You can adjust it with the amount slider.
Bring this up until you see lots of contrast on your subject.
Turn off the track assist filer.
We’re now ready to track our clip.
In the top of the sidebar,
click the track forward button.
The FCPX Surface Tracker tracks your clip,
moves the control points accordingly
and creates keyframes on every frame.
Once your track is finished,
move back to the first keyframe,
and track backwards from there.
Next, move your playhead back to the frame you started on,
and click the Auto Triangulate Mesh button.
Skim through your clip,
and delete any areas that look unnatural
or track outside of your subject.
Once everything looks good,
go back to your starting frame,
click Apply Mesh on This Frame,
and Export your Data.
Next, to add an overlay to your subject,
click on the drop zone button,
and select your overlay clip.
Click Apply Clip.
Back in the inspector,
adjust the scale and position of your overlay clip
to position it on your subject.
You can also adjust the opacity of your overlay clip
to better blend it in.
Let’s just leave this at 100 percent for now.
Here’s what we have so far.
Now, here’s the advantage of using this plugin
as an adjustment layer.
To better blend your overlay clip with your subject,
select the adjustment layer,
and press Option G to make it into a compound clip.
This allows you to use any of the blend modes
included in Final Cut Pro
to make your clip look more natural.
Let everything render out,
and here’s our finished result.
The FCPX Surface tracker plugin
from Pixel Film Studios is one of many tools
that allows you to achieve effects
that would otherwise not be possible in Final Cut Pro.
If this is something you’re interested in,
when checking out,
make sure to use the coupon code SERGEPIXEL
for 30 percent off your purchase,
limited to the first 500 users.
Thanks for watching,
and I’ll see you back here next week.