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Known Participant
August 12, 2017
Question

Text do not stick to camera tracker - why?

  • August 12, 2017
  • 7 replies
  • 9129 views

Hi all

I have watched about ten youtube videos on this matter and gone through it frame by frame. Everybody can do it, but somehow not me.

I want to camera track and not point track

This is how i did it: YouTube. Where do I go wrong?

Best regards

Jesper

This topic has been closed for replies.

7 replies

Participant
June 7, 2020

Hi everyone,

 

After I finish tracking and creating solid and camera, the video I input into the precompesed layer(track solid) doesn't seem to show.

What may be the cause of this 

Participating Frequently
February 4, 2020

HERES A FIX! 

I know this is super late but im having this same issue with premiere 2020. I found the issue (kind of) 

As you said it works when you import directly to ae which is annoying. I am also going from premiere. 

I tried a lot of things to fix it like trying different clips, and direct videos from my browser. 

THE FIX. just go to a new timeline. I opened a new timeline and did it and it work. I am nto sure what the issue is with that timeline but it is not currupt and wont let me do direct link to ae. 

Richard van den Boogaard
Community Expert
Community Expert
August 12, 2017

Okay, that is weird behavior.

Have you tried to create a different tracking area? Sometimes the wonders of Ae can be tricky...

Known Participant
August 12, 2017

Yes - tried that too. Still the same.

Can I somehow create a camera and do something ith the snail icon?

(sorry for the newbie terms)

Community Expert
August 12, 2017

I see a couple of errors in your workflow. The first mistake is that the tutorial you linked to was made by an amateur that kind of figured out a way to make something work but left out a couple of key steps in the process and also demonstrated a completely amateurish way to create a shadow that was not even closely lined up with the rest of the shadows in the shot. You have to vet your trainers.

The second mistake was completely procedural. It is important to set an origin and ground plane and stick some kind of a reference object, text or solid to the ground to see if it tracks properly. The option is near the bottom of the panel that opens up when you right click on a target. A better technique would have been to set your target as the origin and ground plane, then create a solid or a text and camera and check the tracking. If it sticks you then can start manipulating the placed 3D element.

And even better technique would be to size the target before you place your text layer so that the size is appropriate. It is also not a good idea to use Scale to resize text especially when it is a 3D layer because Z scale is also changed and this can move the text if the anchor point is not precisely on the z plane. Sizing the target helps get things the right size and using font size is also a good idea.

If your placed 3D layer is snot tracking you should first open up a second 3D view and see if the placement makes sense and the camera is moving as it should. If you established an origin and ground plane and placed a reference there the object should be at comp center. If you did not the placed 3D layer can be anywhere.

Another thing that may be throwing off your track is the lens distortion in your shot. There is quite a bit of lens barrel distortion in the shot. Notice the curved horizon:

The AE camera is perfect. If your shot is not it's a good idea to fix the distortion before running a camera track. Sometimes fiddling with the knobs in the camera tracker can give you a more accurate solution.

So here's what I would try. Pick several tracking markers somewhere in the middle of the shot to get a target that looks like it's pretty well lined up with the ground, Size the target so that it looks like it is about the same size as something in the shot that you can use to line up a ground plane. set Origin and Ground Plane and then add a solid and a camera. Now add Effects>Generate Grid to the solid and see if the grid lines up with the ground. Check to see if it sticks to the ground. If it does you can replace the solid with a text layer or just create a new text layer, make it 3D, select the placed solid, hold down the shift key and parent the 3D text layer to the solid. This will snap the 3D text layer to the exact position and orientation of your test solid.

If you can't get the solid to stick to the ground then your track is no good and you'll have to make some adjustments to the camera tracker settings or remove the lens distortion and start again.

last point - make sure that Active Camera is selected and the comp is in the Classic 3D mode. Not all shots can be successfully camera tracked. This one looks like it would work fairly well without removing the lens distortion and would probably work very well if you could correct the distortion.

Richard van den Boogaard
Community Expert
Community Expert
August 12, 2017

Before creating a text or a null object, you have to make sure the desired tracking points remain visible for the length of the track. Simply scrub through the timeline to make sure this is the case. If not, find other tracking points that do and create your plane there. It's easy enough to place the desired object in another location, using either the position or anchor values.

Known Participant
August 12, 2017

The spot that I picked is visible all the time in the clip

Richard van den Boogaard
Community Expert
Community Expert
August 12, 2017

Hi Jesper,

Camera motion tracking is indeed best achieved in Ae, rather than PPro, although both applications work seamlessly together through dynamic link, as shown in the tutorial video you linked to. From PPro you can replace any given clip with an Ae composition, which sends the clip from PPro to Ae for further tweaking.

Inside Ae, just follow the tutorial step by step (make sure you use Track Camera not Track Motion in Ae) and select a big enough plane (which may consist of multiple camera tracking points) and it should work. It may be that the source file gets attached at a wrong place in 3D space, however, so you may need to adjust the X, Y and/or Z position values. If that can't be done, tweak the Anchor settings instead.

Please share a working link of your YouTube video so we can all see what you're trying to achieve.

Known Participant
August 12, 2017

Hi -

I think thats what I did. I made it once, but I cannot reproduce the success

the link should work now

Ann Bens
Community Expert
Community Expert
August 12, 2017

Text does not stick to camera tracker why?

because that is a feature in AE. Premiere does not have motion tracker.

You can however if you want keyframe the text, but that usually means a lot of work.

(your second link does not work)

You posted in the Premiere forum.

Known Participant
August 12, 2017

Whoops - sorry AE question.

Bye

Ann Bens
Community Expert
Community Expert
August 12, 2017

Moved to AE forum.

Community Expert
August 12, 2017

Are you using Premiere or AfterEffects?

Known Participant
August 12, 2017

After Effects