Arrow Tracking with video

[rodneyk47459877]

I have an arrow that traces a path. Now I need that arrow to stay in position in the video as the picture moves (also drifting off screen).

I have tried various tracking options and just can't seem to get it to happen. Thoughts?

[Rick Gerard]

I can only guess at your workflow. I assume that the arrow that follows a path was created with at least one layer and it is not the same layer as the video. If you used 2 or more layers to create the animated arrow then it is probably a very good idea to pre-compose the arrow.

Once you have that done you have several options. You can find some spot in the video that doesn't change much and Motion Track that spot. You can motion stabilize the footage so that the point of interest in the video does not move. You can use the Camera Tracker. You can use Mocha AE to do some planar tracking. You could employ mask tracking. The most efficient way to track something in the shot depends on the shot. Without seeing the shot or at least a screenshot of the shot with a detailed explanation of the shot and the motion in the shot I can't point you to the most efficient solution. 

Rather than make a guess I'll wait for more info. The solution will involve some kind of motion tracking and possibly a null parented to the arrow layer or pre-comp. There could even be the possibility that the easiest solution is to just animate the position of the animated arrow layer by setting a couple of keyframes.

[rodneyk47459877]

Thanks,

I have the video uploading now here: 

I'm looking for the arrow to track along the dark blue area and have the begining of the arrow leave the screen with the content

The arrow is on a different layer

[Rick Gerard]

The video does not tell me anything about your comp. How is the scene animated? How many layers? What does the comp look like? Are the layers 3D.

From what I see the blue line does not track anything. If the background is just a movie then you could track something in the shot then attach that track point to a null, then parent the arrow layer to the null. You could also just set about 3 keyframes for the arrow layer.

[rodneyk47459877]

Thanks, 

Your tight the line isn't tracking anything and that's what I'm trying to resolve with motion tracking. I have tried your suggestions so I think I'll just have to keyframe the whole thing 

Thanks for your assistance though

[P.M.B]

When you say you've tried "various tracking options" it doesn't tell us much.  You should say exactly which options you've tried and where in the workflow it failed.  In the mean time her's a three part tutotial of some motion tracking that should serve your purposes.  They're pretty basic so maybe you've already tried them but...well if you'd tried them and done them correctly they would have worked so... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUCoG7qwYNo

[Rick Gerard]

I watched all 3 of those tutorials. I would give them a C+. There is a fair amount of info but the workflow is not at all efficient, the Mocha section is really weak and not at all the workflow that I would have used, again because of efficiency, The Camera tracking section would get a D. The workflow kind of worked for the first example but would not work at all on most scenes, there is no mention of setting an origin and ground plane, and a lot of users could be easily confused by the workflow and end up with tracking that does not work. You have to be very careful when you look for tutorials. The best place to start is the Learn section of the AE home screen, the User Guide section of this forum or the AE product page. They all point here: Learn AE  

Please let us know if and how you solved your problem.