Mocha Collaps Track Data and Track Again
Ameliorate your Mocha tracking and clean upward by using this clever Later on Furnishings workflow.
Motion Tracking is 1 of the most common tasks an After Effects creative person will tackle. Simply, information technology'southward easy to showtime off on the wrong foot, leaving you to fight with the software. Would you like to know how the pros go make clean and flexible tracks for replacing objects in a scene? Of course you do.
Manufacture legend and VFX for Move instructor Mark Christiansen lays out his tracking workflow which uses Mocha planar tracking, Photoshop, and some Afterwards Furnishings magic.
This is only a gustation of the professional workflows taught in our VFX for Motion course. If you discover yourself better off after this tutorial, simply think there'due south a lot more where that came from, so make sure to bank check out our courses page! Onwards!
Mocha Tracking and Clean Up Tutorial
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What are you going to learn in this tutorial?
This tutorial is fairly short, but jam-packed. Marking covers the full workflow he uses to create a clean-plate and to composite a graphic onto a tracked slice of footage. You lot will acquire:
HOW TO DO Basic PLANAR TRACKING IN MOCHA AE
You might be familiar with point-tracking in After Effects, but planar tracking is far more powerful and normally easier.
WHICH SETTINGS TO Apply FOR PROPER Movement TRACKING
Mocha AE is a very deep tool, and it helps to know which settings to focus on for the best results.
HOW TO Employ THE SCALE SURFACE TO FRAME FEATURE
This is the hush-hush sauce. You may never become dorsum to doing standard corner-pin tracks.
PHOTOSHOP TIPS FOR REMOVING THINGS FROM A FRAME
You don't demand to know every tool in Photoshop, only these ii. Make clean plates will be a breeze.
REAPPLYING A CLEAN PLATE TO YOUR SHOT
Now you've got a clean plate. What do you do with information technology? We'll tell you lot.
TRACKING IN A GRAPHIC TO YOUR FOOTAGE
The entire bespeak of this tutorial is to composite a graphic onto some footage of a sign. Nosotros finally get there in stride #6.
COMPOSITING TRICKS TO SELL THE REALISM OF YOUR Terminal SHOT
As a compositor, you need to learn a few tricks that will help sell the believability of your piece of work.
Swoop Deeper into Visual Effects
This is simply a small gustation of the wonderful and complex world of visual effects. If you're fix to take a grade geared towards VFX, make certain to bank check out VFX for Motion.
Some of the coolest work in the industry blurs the line between Motion Pattern and Visual Furnishings. This grade will teach you lot to move between both worlds, using avant-garde compositing techniques to add another dimension to your work.
VFX for Motion volition teach you the art and science of compositing equally it applies to Motion Pattern. Prepare to add together keying, roto, tracking, matchmoving and more to your artistic toolkit.
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Tutorial Full Transcript Below 👇:
Mark Christiansen (00:00): Well, hi there I'm Marker Christiansen, visual effects, artist and motion designer. In this short video, I'one thousand going to show yous a mocha tracking tip that volition basically give you a new superpower Motion tracking is i of the about common tasks. And after effects, artists volition tackle. I'm going to bear witness you a time-saving flim-flam that will blow your listen. Now, if you really want to hone your compositing chops, check out the effects for motion, the compositing and visual effects class that's built for motion designers. You tin also download the projection files and using this video to follow along or practice with subsequently you're done, watching details are in the description.
Mark Christiansen (00:44): All right, so hither's a fun challenge. We're going to remove the give-and-take. Stop from the stop sign. Well-nigh likely illegal. Nosotros're going to replace it with the school of movement logo. Now on the surface, this may seem like a adequately straightforward tracking exercise, but if you lot approach it the wrong way, you'll exist fighting the software the entire time. The first affair we're going to need to do is track the sign. We're going to exercise that using mocha Three, which comes for gratis with after effects. And then that applied the mocha effect layer. Now I'g going to click this button, merely before I do that, I need to exist in full resolution. Now mocha has opened and we're set up to track, even though this is sort of the light version of mocha, it is very powerful. And at that place are a lot of features. If you actually desire to become deep with this tool, checkout VFX for motility link in the description.
Mark Christiansen (01:34): MOCA is a planar tracker, which means that it can really look at a very large area of your image and figure out how that area is moving. It tin can even choice upwardly things like perspective modify, which is present at the start of the shot right here. So to start, I'thou going to come up here and but grab the Ten spline tool. I'm going to zoom into the image a little scrap, and then I'm going to depict a shape around the word stop. All I'm trying to exercise is pick an area that has some good details that the planar tracker tin keep track of it. At present, because this tracking area is moving rotating, scaling, and shifting perspective. Nosotros do need to accept all of these boxes bank check down here. At present I can track frontwards. Yous can see that MOCA is doing a very proficient chore of tracking this blue area.
Mark Christiansen (02:17): Information technology tells me that this part of the shot's been tracked. And at present we need to track backwards from this frame. This fault bulletin is simply telling me that at this frame, in that location nothing left to track. Every bit we scrubbed through this, you tin run across that MOCA did a really adept task of tracking. Fifty-fifty at the showtime of the shot. At present, typically what y'all would exercise at this point is named the layer. Something like stop sign, and so activate the surface for the layer. This bluish box has appeared, and what we tin can do is position it relatively in perspective as best nosotros tin. This is the surface area that nosotros'll get corner pin in after effects. We can fifty-fifty insert a clip here like a 16 by sixteen grid to bank check how well this rails worked and you tin see it's a good track. Now, all I have to do is save and head back to afterwards effects.
Mark Christiansen (03:04): Here's a comp that's 1920 past 10 80 with our logo scaled up to basically fill the frame. The reason I chose this size is considering that's the resolution of the shot that we tracked. Then in the corner pin data, that's coming over from mocha. That'south going to be based on that prototype size. If I elevate it VAT comp into the comp with my sign footage, I tin then fifty-fifty apply the tracking data from mocha. What I need to practice is twirl down, tracking data and go, and first create that tracking data in the effect. There'south only 1 layer in there and it'south turned on. If I turn off the logo layer, y'all can see that now the corner pin data has been applied. Now I merely need to apply that same corner pin to my logo. If I go dorsum to this mocha result, now I can gear up my export option to corner pin supports.
Mark Christiansen (03:49): Motion mistiness is that I actually get move blur for free from after effects. Then I make sure I'thousand exporting to the correct layer and hitting apply. Now the logo is stuck to the sign it's tracking really nicely, simply you're probably noticing that it's non the right shape. It'south been squashed a petty scrap vertically. This is really one of the challenges of using this workflow with mocha. You can meet that the corner pin is based on the surface that I prepare inside of moko, which was not 16 past nine. All the same, the compliment my logo in it is sixteen by nine. On top of that, I yet demand to remove the give-and-take terminate. It's going to be extremely difficult to create a patch for this. When I have to figure out what that patch should look like in a 1920, by 10 80 comp, that'south going to get squashed downwards to this size here. But of grade at that place's a better way, which I'm near to show y'all.
Marking Christiansen (04:36): The first footstep is to option a practiced frame, to apply it every bit the source for cleaning this upward. So in this case, what that means is I don't want any motion blur. I don't want to pick a frame where the stop sign is actually, really small in the frame. If we're zooming in or something like that in this instance, I don't have that result. So I tin can pretty much pick any of these frames. This 1 here is prissy and sharp, and I'm going to put a mark hither with the asterisk key. While I'm on this frame, I tin go back into mocha. I'k in sync with after effects, correct on that frame. What I'm going to practise now is first remove this inserted prune. I'grand going to select this layer. And then I'm going to click this button over here. When I do, you lot might notice that the surface has been expanded to fill the frame.
Mark Christiansen (05:19): If I scrub through, yous'll see that it is nonetheless tracked to the stop sign. Now, why is this useful? You'll observe out in a minute. The next thing I want to do is duplicate the Slayer. I can remove the MOCA Three effect. Now I want to freeze frame this layer right on this frame. So I'll right. Click time, freeze frame. And then I'grand going to pre etch the layer. I'll move all the attributes into this new composition and proper noun this patch. Next I'll come into my stop sign layer and I'll recreate the tracking data using that stop sign layer. I'll gear up the layer consign to patch and utilize the consign. At present it might non exist entirely obvious what's happening yet, but basically the patch layer, which again is just one frame of this video is now being quarter pinned and distorted to perfectly match the movement of the cease sign.
Mark Christiansen (06:08): Let's become into the patch pre comp and ostend that this is indeed just a notwithstanding frame to requite you a better thought of what exactly is going on. I can do a couple of things. First of all, I tin put a mask on this layer like this. Then only for demonstration purposes, I'grand going to utilise a hue and saturation effect to this and invert the hue dorsum in our main comp. Y'all can now see what'south going on. Anything that I do in this patch layer will at present come through on the footage pretty slick. And because we exported using the quarter pin supports movement blur pick, I can click the motion blur button. What that does is requite me free motility blur at the start of the shot.
Mark Christiansen (06:48): And then we've got ii tasks here. The commencement chore is to paint out the word, stop creating a bare stop sign. That'south going to be a picayune tricky because of the texture on this. The second chore, which will be far easier is to composite the schoolhouse of motion logo in place on the sign. Now I could use the clone stamp tool to exercise this all in later on effects, simply I'grand going to do information technology a dissimilar way. The way I adopt to practise this is in Photoshop. So I'm going to export a PNG of the unmarried frame I'm using video co-pilots console plug-in, which makes this really, really easy. I can but copy this frame to the clipboard instead of Photoshop. Now I can but brand a new 1920 by 10 80 frame and paste my shot right into it. Now I simply make a quick pick and Photoshop.
Marking Christiansen (07:33): Then I tin go to edit content enlightened, fill then using this tool, which works really well in Photoshop. I could make clean this up. This whole process took simply a few minutes and once it was done, I use the clone postage to add a few more than details, and then it was skilful. Just similar that. It's done. I can at present salvage this and reimport it into later effects. And so I've imported that file and I can but drop it on top like this. And so I tin can lower the opacity just a little bit like this, so that I could meet where the stop letters are and draw a simple mask around them. At present plow the opacity backup and feather the mask, a few pixels. At present we've got our patch. I can now ready this original layer here to be a guide layer so that information technology won't show up in the primary comp. At present we have a clean cease sign. The next step is pretty easy. I can simply drag the school of movement logo correct onto this comp and and so scale it down and position it where I demand it for this, considering the shot is in perspective. It might actually be easiest to use the corner pin effect.
Mark Christiansen (08:38): Now the perspective looks correct on it, just it's missing some of the texture that was showing through on the finish sign letters. In fact, if nosotros plough these layers off and look at the stop sign letters, they're not truly white. And then I'thousand also going to apply a fill consequence, the school of motion logo, I'll color, pick the main white color of the end sign. I'grand going to attempt and find the brightest part, which is probably right about at that place. And then I also want to endeavor to go some of that gritty stuff to show through. So here's what I'm gonna practise. I'yard gonna duplicate my patch layer and move information technology above the school of motion logo. So I'm going to duplicate the logo and move it higher up and set up my patch to utilise that equally an alpha mat. Let me rename these. Then information technology'southward clear what they are.
Marker Christiansen (09:xviii):Then I'm going to use the hue and saturation effect to remove all the color from this. Then a levels affects that I tin can get more than contrast out of the epitome. And so I can prepare this to multiply mode so that it shows up over the logo. Next I can adjust the levels, fifty-fifty farther play with the opacity until I'k happy with it. This logo is besides very sharp compared to the rest of the image. If you expect at the edge of the end sign hither, you can meet that the edges are definitely not very abrupt because this is a prosumer camera. Then I demand to mimic that the quickest means only to add together fast box blur to pixels seems to work pretty well. Then now the logo is comped onto the sign. It'south even got some of that grunge and clay showing through and voila. Nosotros have successfully tracked in a pretty photo realistic style, the school of move logo onto a stop sign.
Mark Christiansen (ten:07): At present to really sell this composite, there was a little chip of extra work I had to practice. I had to central frame a level's outcome considering the darkness of the stop sign changed a little bit every bit the photographic camera pan toward it. I also had to adjust the saturation. So I used the tint consequence to exercise that. So I added noise to match the digital noise from the camera. These are all the things we talk about in visual effects for motion, and they're all very helpful in selling a composite. Pretty cool, huh. Now, you know, i of my favorite MOCA power moves this play tricks has saved me and so much time. Make sure to hitting subscribe. If you desire more tips like this one and check the description so that you tin can download the projection files from this video. If you desire to really learn the ins and outs of positing tracking lucifer, moving roto and more all with the help of experienced manufacture pros and fun existent-world challenges, check out our course VFX for movement. Thanks for watching.
Source: https://www.schoolofmotion.com/blog/mocha-tracking-clean-up-after-effects