Can't copy Tracking Key frames to new layer.

[malavanti]

I'm trying to track a face and replace it with a PNG.  Basically this video. 1 MINUTE SPECIALS - FACE TRACKING in Adobe After Effects - YouTube

I make the ellipse and run tracking, but I never can lasso the key frames to the PNG.  Or copy and paste them to the PNG.  I don't even get the Effects option under Mask.  I took a screen shot of the vid and what mine looks like.

Mine doesn't give me the Face Track points.  When I try to link the PNG to the Mask Path I get this error.

Am I doing something wrong?  Is there someone that knows how to fix this?

[Rick Gerard · Accepted solution]

First, you picked a tutorial created by an amateur that does not show the most efficient workflow for that task. No explanations, a completely wasted step, and some bad advice. You have to vet your trainers. More than half of the new AE tutorials on YouTube are now by amateurs and most of them are pretty terrible. Your screenshots do not show any of the right properties.

The correct procedure:

1. Open footage in the footage panel by double-clicking the footage in the Project Panel
2. Set in and out points for the shot so you don't waste time processing frames you will not use
3. Create a new composition from the trimmed footage - the easy way - drag to the timeline panel or select in Project Panel and use File>New Comp from Selected
4. Draw a mask around the face on the first frame of the comp
5. Open the Motion Tracking Workspace
6. Press M to reveal the mask property and make sure it is selected
7. The Motion Tracker panel should show Mask 1
8. Set the Face Tracking Options to Detailed Features
9. Run the tracker then verify that the track is accurate
10. In the timeline set the mask to Off
11. Import your replacement face image and add it to the timeline
12. Make sure that the anchor point of the replacement face is precisely on the tip of the nose - use the anchor point tool to move it if necessary
13. Type position, nose tip in the Timeline Search field just to the right of the time/frame counter to reveal the position property of both the replacement face layer and the nose tip keyframes generated by the mask tracker (this is much cleaner than looking for the properties you need
14. Hold down the Alt/Option key and click on the position property of the replacement face layer to start an expression
15. Drag the expression pickwhip directly to the Nose Tip property of the footage layer

All done.

As an alternative workflow, you can open up the Effects control panel and reveal the Face Tracker points. Spen down the nose properties and look for Nose Tip, then drag the expression pickwhip from the replacement face layer's position property to the Nose Tip property in the Effects Control Panel. Personally, I like the Search field in the timeline because it is easier to just drag between two layers.

If the face turns to the left or right you can use the right eye and left eye inner and the mouth right and mouth left to create a rectangle that is pretty square to the face. You can use those four corners to control the distortion of the face layer to make the image look a little more like it is turning to the left or right.

This is what the finished comp would look like replacing this face in some test footage with a star shape layer. It took about 2 minutes to do:

If you do not want to use expressions you can select the Nose Tip property in the Timeline to select all keyframes, then copy (Ctrl/Cmnd + c) then select the Transform>Position property of the replacement face layer and Paste. You have to have the CTI (time indicator) over the first Nose Tip keyframe for this to work. If it is not there the timing will be off.

[malavanti]

Thank you very much.   I am a absolute beginner and this may be beyond me.  I tried to follow your steps, but got the same error.  Do you make instructional videos?  Or do you know of a vetted trainer?  I think it may be something with my After Effects set up.  I even tried to follow the motion tracking video on the Adobe website and my workspace/layout didn't match up.  That lead to the same error.  I know it's user error, but I just can't figure out what I'm doing wrong.

Thanks again for your help.