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After Effects camera tracking text

Explorer ,
May 04, 2020 May 04, 2020

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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 donĀ“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.

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correct answers 2 Correct answers

Community Expert , May 04, 2020 May 04, 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 Ca

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Community Expert , May 07, 2020 May 07, 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 90Āŗ, then adjusting the size of the text and positioning the text with the descender of

...

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Community Expert ,
May 04, 2020 May 04, 2020

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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 

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Explorer ,
May 05, 2020 May 05, 2020

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Hi again,

First of all thank you very much for the time wasted to answer me back Rick šŸ™‚
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 doesnā€™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.

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Community Expert ,
May 05, 2020 May 05, 2020

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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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Explorer ,
May 06, 2020 May 06, 2020

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Hi,

Thank you one more time.

IĀ“m adding text in Element 3D 

IĀ“d like to send you the project file.

How can I do it here ? I only see video url and photos attach

How can I upload a project file here ?

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Community Expert ,
May 06, 2020 May 06, 2020

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There are dozens of sites that do file sharing. I use Dropbox. Google Drive is another free one. Just zip up the AEP and the C4D file so I have all the resources.

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Explorer ,
May 06, 2020 May 06, 2020

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https://www.dropbox.com/s/ctc6oiip607c9y4/room.aep?dl=0 

 

Hope you can download the file my first time using dropbox, usually a use "sengb" or "wetransfer"

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Explorer ,
May 06, 2020 May 06, 2020

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In the example with the solid "launch missile in the carpet" everythingĀ“s ok.

In the example with the text, the text donĀ“t stick with the carpet. I conected the "position and the orientation" from the group 1 null to the "position and the orientation" to the track null 1. 

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Community Expert ,
May 06, 2020 May 06, 2020

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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.

 

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Explorer ,
May 07, 2020 May 07, 2020

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Hi,

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

hereĀ“s the footage 

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

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Community Expert ,
May 07, 2020 May 07, 2020

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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 90Āŗ, 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.

Screenshot_2020-05-07 10.59.17_jXO0IT.png

 

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Explorer ,
May 07, 2020 May 07, 2020

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Hi,

It is solved as soon as I pulled up the Y axis in element 3D (like you did in the video) it helped, beside that you teached me alot the "set ground plane" and the "guide layer" I did not know about šŸ™‚

Thank so much again for time spent šŸ™‚

IĀ“m following you in youtube looking forward for more tutorials šŸ™‚

Regards from Portugal

H.

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New Here ,
Aug 13, 2020 Aug 13, 2020

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Thanks, I have the same problem. I just started out with element 3d. I've have set the solid layer and all but my 3d model is not parenting but (shift+parent) works. thanks again. if you have a YouTube channel I would love to watch your tutorials.āœŒļø

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