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BlueMushroom123
Participating Frequently
Jul 11, 2022 6:54 PM UTC
Answered

Mask tracking not working

I'm running the latest version of Adobe Premiere Pro and everything works great so far except for mask tracking. It simply doesn't work. I create a mask (currently doing this in Lumetri color) and hit "track mask forward". The tracking progress bar comes up and nothing happens. No progress shows up and eventually I just stop it. 

Any ideas as to how I might troubleshoot this?

 

 Thank you!

    Marcelo AiresCorrect answer
    Participant
    Dec 16, 2024 5:08 AM UTC

    try to nest to clip you want to track and then, aply the tracking on the nest clip, worked for me

    View reply

    31 replies

    jmvdigital
    jmvdigital
    Known Participant
    Sep 12, 2025 8:05 PM UTC

    I don't think I've had a mask track work YET in 3+ years of using Premiere Pro. Turning off layers, removing Lumetri, etc... doesn't matter. It simply doesn't work. Such a shame that year-after-year of major releases and basic workflow functionality like this remains broken.  There's a whole other thread about this here: https://community.adobe.com/t5/premiere-pro-bugs/mask-tracking-zero-progress/idi-p/12971504

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      MarioSelim
      Participant
      Jun 19, 2025 4:54 PM UTC

      Am sorry for the simplicity, but to me worked save, closed out and enter again.

      I hope works for you!

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      Marcelo AiresCorrect answer
      Participant
      Dec 16, 2024 5:08 AM UTC

      try to nest to clip you want to track and then, aply the tracking on the nest clip, worked for me

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        Ann Bens
        Community Expert
        Ann BensCommunity Expert
        Community Expert
        Sep 28, 2024 6:05 PM UTC

        I usually duplicate and superimpose the clip.

        Add a mask from opacity and the effect I want to use (lumetri)

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        SpearRanch
        Participating Frequently
        Sep 28, 2024 5:51 PM UTC

        I found out that turning off the visibility of every other track in the timeline was then what allowed me Pro to accomplish the tracking function as intended.

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        SethGG
        Participant
        Sep 19, 2024 7:01 PM UTC

        Found a solution,

        I deleted all media cache files: Preferences < Media Cache < Remove Media Cache Files

         

        Works perfectly for me now- hope this helps!

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          ShadforthConsultant
          ShadforthConsultant
          Participant
          Feb 2, 2025 9:01 AM UTC

          Its Feb 2025 here, and I'm running Premiere Pro 25.1.0 (Build 73) on an iMac 3.6 GHz, Radeon Pro 575X with 64 GB of DDR4 RAM and the Sonoma 14.6.1 macOS.

           

          Just hit the mask tracking issue where I could successfully 'track backward' the mask, but once I tried 'tracking forward,' the progress bar would fill up about 90% and then stop permanently. It was frustrating because I tried all other attempts to troubleshoot. I even tried the "delete unused media cache files" suggested here, but it did not work.

           

          I finally got it to work by selecting the second cache delete option (shown in this screenshot). I closed my project and then selected the "Delete all media cache files (requires restart)" option. Upon opening the problem project and initiating the mask tracking, I was able to successfully get it done.

           

          Hope this helps someone else out.

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          MarekMularczyk
          Community Expert
          MarekMularczykCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          Sep 7, 2024 5:05 PM UTC

          I'm having exactly the same problem.... Everything worked perfectly fine up till now and nothing makes it work. Tried everything and it just doesn't do anything when trying to use Track Mask Forward button.....  😞

            

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          Adobe Community ExpertAdobe Certified Professional
          Kurfuffle
          Participant
          Sep 13, 2024 6:06 PM UTC

          As Josha stated. Check the speed of your clip. 
          I did and forgot it was at 200%. 

          Set to 100% and bingo. Tracking works. 

          Then spread it back up to 200%.

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          MarekMularczyk
          Community Expert
          MarekMularczykCommunity Expert
          Community Expert
          Sep 16, 2024 8:46 PM UTC

          Yes, it was the speed 😉

            

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          Adobe Community ExpertAdobe Certified Professional
          Andre19963425wool
          Participant
          Jul 19, 2024 5:29 AM UTC

          I figured out a solution. The problem is that I had 2 active lumetri effects in the clip. I had to disable one of them in order for mask tracking to work on the other. Looks like mask tracking doesn't work well with clips that have all these extra effects, so maybe temporarily disable them to apply the mask tracking, then re-activate your effects

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            Jim Finn 2000
            Participating Frequently
            Sep 25, 2024 1:15 PM UTC

            Temporarily disabling lumetri effect did it for me! great tip

             

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            Zap222
            Participant
            Jul 7, 2024 2:23 PM UTC

            This has to be a bug as it sometimes works but mostly doesnt.  Problem is I need a stable platform and if Adobe cant supply it well it might be worth looking at other suppliers.  Go onto X and send a public message, they will answer you very quickly

             

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            David Škarda
            Participant
            Jun 29, 2024 5:41 PM UTC

            Same issue here and with no exact way how to fix it I've found sollution that is not exactlly smooth, but works. At least for me (Max M1 Pro). 

            It seems, that Premiere has issue with specific combination of Frame x Mask. I've found two possible sotlutions. Restart premiere pro with every take or move image 1-3 frames and then press button again 

            I'm not sure if it'l work for you, but it surelly is worth a shot. 

            Hopefully it'll be fixed soon

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