Mask Tracking Manually With a Small Mask

[luke_0276]

I'm not sure if this is a bug or just user error, but man it's been a frustrating morning. I am trying to blur a license plate on a car that is backing into a parking space. The auto mask tracking will not work because the car swings in slowly from an angle, so the plate changes both size and direction. I've tried separating into multiple clips to see if that helps to no avail, so I assume it's down to frame-by-frame tracking.

The problem seems to be when I create the original mask, it is considerably small, so when I try to make any slight movements, the hand will not appear. It only allows me to adjust the frame points with the pen, not move the mask itself for smooth tracking. And there doesn't seem to be XY controls either. I've tried auto tracking in reverse as well, which works a little better but still ends up looking pretty sloppy.

Any insights? Other methods I should try? It's such a seemingly insignificant part of the video, I hate that it's eating up so much time and energy. Plus, I need to recreate this same process with five other videos, so I'm losing hair by the second haha.

TIA

-Luke

[Kevin-Monahan]

Hi Luke,

What you might try is the new masking feature in Premiere Pro Beta. See if the mask can be more easily manipulated there. Let me know if you need help with that. As for your current situation, zoom in on the Program Monitor, so you can see the controls better. I hope the advice helps. Sorry for the frustration.

Cheers,

Kevin

[luke_0276]

Thanks, Kevin. I appreciate your suggestions. Unfortunately, I was fully zoomed with no controls available until the final handful of frames, when the subject was closer and the mask was a bit larger. So I was forced to cut the scene into three different ones, then go frame by frame to build out the mask path, adjusting corner points and blurring manually. Pretty annoying, but it got the job done. First time doing that, so at least I got some additional experience. Thankfully, it was just a rectangle lol.  

Thanks again, 

-Luke