Mask tracking question

Question

Premiere Pro 15.4.1 (and earlier versions)

If I have tracked a mask, then go back to one of the tracking keyframes and alter the shape of the mask and redo the automatic tracking (forward or backwards) from that keyframe, it will not replace/overwrite the existing keyframes with the updated mask shape. With each advancement of the tracking to the next frame (during automatic tracking), the previously created mask shape remains. Why does it not track my updated mask shape?

The only way around this that I've found is to delete all the previous keyframes that I am about to replace. That's not a big deal if I'm going to redo the tracking all the way to the end of the clip, but it is a pain if I want to only replace a portion of the tracking. I've tried doing the automatic tracking one frame at a time, but if there's already a keyframe at the next frame, it will not be overwritten with my updated mask shape; the previously keyframed shape will remain. Is there a way to correct this?

R Neil Haugen · Accepted Answer

The program assumes that if you change the mask in the middle of a keyframed operation, that you still want the previous shape by the next keyframe. Unless you intevene.

So you can step through by keyframe, adjust as needed, and when the need no longer exists, you're done. The rest of the keyframed actions continue as originally set.

But if you want to permanently change the shape at point X, you have to delete the ensuing keyframes and re-track the mask from there forward..

If the default was otherwise, it would be a horrendous thing when you only needed to slightly shift the mask for a small segment, it would eliminate the rest of the work. For myself, I've had far more cases where I needed to only adjust a few keyframes than that I wanted to change the shape of the mask permanently.

Neil

Richard van den Boogaard · Answer

Like R. Neil Haugen said, this is the way masking works.

If you still have trouble with this approach, you could delete the points of the mask before or after the point where you wish to track from, copy the mask from the original point and paste to a location where you wish to track to or from. Manually reposition the mask at that point and change the nodes to your desired positions too. Then, track back or forth towards the original mask point, either automatically or frame by frame.

Hope this helps.

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded