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avid_mindset15C3
avid_mindset15C3
Participating Frequently
May 4, 2020
Answered

After Effects camera tracking text

  • May 4, 2020
  • 2 replies
  • 1489 views

Hello, When I track a solid (made with element 3D) works great and I can make it "sticks" to the floor, wall etc... when I try to do it with text, the text moves and don´t stick to the ground not even with "Orient World" script.

I did exactly the some process that I did with a solid, what am I missing here ?

Thank you

H.

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Rick Gerard

As I expected, the workflow for attaching the Group 1 null to the Track Null with expressions and by manipulating the X rotation was wrong. The descender of the P also needed to be lined up with zero in Y because of the optical illusion created by the descender sticking through the virtual floor. 

 

Using Shift + Parent to line up the Group 1 null instead of expressions and rotating the X-axis of the null to 90º, then adjusting the size of the text and positioning the text with the descender of the p at zero in Y will fix the problem. 

 

I checked your track by adding a solid and adding a grid and the camera track was good, but you didn't set an origin and ground plane. That would have made things a lot easier. Without a reference solid it was very difficult to see the errors in orienting the Group 1 null to the Tracker layer. Shift + Parent is the only workflow that will always work and it takes less time than any other method. The expression idea is pretty terrible and was probably suggested by an amateur in a tutorial somewhere. 

 

You already have the footage so here is the fixed AEP file.

 

2 replies

R
Community Expert
Rick GerardCommunity Expert
Community Expert
May 6, 2020

I downloaded your comp. I can't tell anything about the accuracy of the track without the footage, but I do see that there are no reference solids in the comp, just nulls. It is incredibly difficult to judge the accuracy of the Camera Track or tell if you have selected a viable surface if all you have is nulls because you can't see them in a preview. I always use Create Solid instead of Create Null, and I always set an origin and ground plane. Rather than trying to explain things in a post I took a few minutes and used your project to try and analyze the project to see why the text layers did not seem to stick to the surfaces in your scene. I hope this helps. One day soon I will do a complete tutorial on the most direct workflow between After Effects and Element 3D and C4D Lite.

 

The two problems I suspect but cannot see because the footage file is missing are the improper placement of the baseline of the text layer, and the expressions - not shown in the tutorial, that tie the Group 1 null to the Tracker null. Using an expression for position and orientation does not allow you to reposition the Group 1 null, which adjusts the position of the text object.

 

    avid_mindset15C3
    avid_mindset15C3Author
    Participating Frequently
    May 7, 2020

    Hi,

    Oh god I´m so so sorry, you are trying to help me and I did not send the footage ......

    here´s the footage 

    https://www.dropbox.com/s/iw61lmx08k2t6dv/living%20room.zip?dl=0 

    R
    Community Expert
    Rick GerardCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
    Community Expert
    May 7, 2020

    As I expected, the workflow for attaching the Group 1 null to the Track Null with expressions and by manipulating the X rotation was wrong. The descender of the P also needed to be lined up with zero in Y because of the optical illusion created by the descender sticking through the virtual floor. 

     

    Using Shift + Parent to line up the Group 1 null instead of expressions and rotating the X-axis of the null to 90º, then adjusting the size of the text and positioning the text with the descender of the p at zero in Y will fix the problem. 

     

    I checked your track by adding a solid and adding a grid and the camera track was good, but you didn't set an origin and ground plane. That would have made things a lot easier. Without a reference solid it was very difficult to see the errors in orienting the Group 1 null to the Tracker layer. Shift + Parent is the only workflow that will always work and it takes less time than any other method. The expression idea is pretty terrible and was probably suggested by an amateur in a tutorial somewhere. 

     

    You already have the footage so here is the fixed AEP file.

     

      R
      Community Expert
      Rick GerardCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      May 4, 2020

      If you are trying to stick a 3D object created in Element to a camera tracked scene you must properly set up the objects in Element to be in a group, then you need to go to the World Transform>Create World Transform Null options in the Element UI and create a null at the center of your Element world. 

       

      This gives you a null that will move the objects in Element around your scene.

       

      Then you need to move the World Transform Null to the same position as the reference solid you have added using Camera tracking. By far the easiest way to do this is to hold down the Shift Key and Parent the World Transform Null to the Reference solid. This should do the trick. If you are using Camera Tracking and element 3D there is no need for any external scripts, all you have to do is attach a solid to the right surface, then shift + Parent the appropriate null created by Element 3D to the solid layer.

       

      If this is not your workflow then we need workflow details and screenshots showing us what you modified on the layers that are giving you problems. 

       

      If you are following a tutorial we also need to see the link to that tutorial. The tutorials on the Video Copilot website for Element 3D are very good at explaining the standard workflow for integrating the AE camera with Element. I would not trust most of the tutorials on YouTube. 

       

      Let is 

        avid_mindset15C3
        avid_mindset15C3Author
        Participating Frequently
        May 5, 2020

        Hi again,

        First of all thank you very much for the time wasted to answer me back Rick 🙂
        That's exactly how I track an object the way you explained it to me,(and worked great) my problem is with text, I do exactly as you explained to me with the difference that I'm going to the Custom layer> Costum text and mask to link the text to the element 3D but the text doesn’t stick and moves, something must be escaping me.
        I've seen some videos on the copilot and it has helped me a lot.
        Regards
        H.

        R
        Community Expert
        Rick GerardCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        May 5, 2020

        Thank you for pointing out all the time I wasted trying to help you because you know exactly what you are doing.

         

        If you don't post workflow details and screenshots it is going to be very difficult to help you figure out where you are going wrong. I'm still not completely clear, are you adding a 3D text layer or are you adding text in Element 3D? 

         

        If it is a text layer then the anchor point must be on the baseline of the text and the points you selected must be on the same plane in the shot. If you have a placeholder solid (my camera tracked scenes often have five or six of these set to guide layers) and those sick to the surfaces, then Shift + Parent will stick a text layer's anchor point directly to the reference solid layer. 

         

        By the way, the Orient World script only aligns the Origin and Ground Plane with comp center instead of comp 0,0,0. If you use that script you can no longer use the tracking markers from the Camera Tracker to add elements to the scene.

         

        Show screenshots, describe your workflow in detail, or maybe even share a project file and we can probably help you. 

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