CAMERATRACKER | Features

• Camera Tracking Directly Inside After Effects
• Core Tracking Workflow
• Fully Automatic and Fully Configurable Operation Modes
• In-Viewer Menu
• Object Creation
• Ground Plane
• Point Cloud Feature Preview
• Stats Readouts & Refine Workflow
• Lens Distortion
• Focal Length & Film Back Estimation
• Nodal Pans
• Other features

Camera Tracking Directly Inside After Effects

CAMERATRACKER is a plug-in for After Effects. Unlike all other tracking solutions, you do not have to leave your compositor of choice in order to pull a track. This does away with the usual problem of finding formats which round trip correctly, and cuts those vast feature lists of conventional standalone trackers, listing format support and so forth, down to just those which matter for pulling a track. The track is maintained live, so you can always go back at a later date and refine the results if necessary, and at any point you can use the tracked data to create cameras, nulls and solids locked to positions within the context of your scene.

Integration with After Effects gives you the benefit of being able to preprocess your image sequence using any of the powerful tools available, without having to learn a new interface or pay for duplicated functionality. You also benefit from direct integration with comp camera effects such as Shatter and Red Giant Software's Trapcode Particular, plus the swathe of After Effects scripts available from the community, including those allowing IO with Cinema4D, Maya, and 3D Studio Max and more.

Core Tracking Workflow

CAMERATRACKER analyses a source sequence and allows creation of an After Effects camera, which matches that with which the original sequence was shot. The basic process is 3 stages, namely:

• Track - automatically seeds a number of track points, based on a series of user configurable parameters, and tracks them through the sequence. The tracks are dropped and new ones are reseeded if they fall below a certain quality threshold, and then are verified in a bi-directional tracking pass.
• Solve - Solve - builds a model of the 3d feature positions of the track points, and the camera with which they were shot, based on the parallax observed in a number of key frames, picked according to a series of user configurable parameters.
• Create Scene - creates and After Effects camera and null which embody the shot analysed. The null can be used to control overall scene parameters, such as the scale, offset and rotation.

Fully Automatic and Fully Configurable Operation Modes

CAMERATRACKER can be run either fully automatically, or using its incredibly in-depth configurable options to allow you to tweak everything from tracking and validation through to solving and object creation.

In-Viewer Menu

CAMERATRACKER features a unique in-viewer menu, allowing quick and easy operation of the plug-in without having to move the cursor, and thus your point of attention, away from the image itself.

Object Creation

The in-viewer menu and associated keyboard shortcuts allow you to create After Effects solids and nulls within your comp, positioned to match your currently selected tracked feature points. Easily tie objects and text within the context of your scene.

Ground Plane

CAMERATRACKER allows you to configure a ground plane, thus setting the entire scene's orientation and offset via a variety of means, including:

• Best fit set to selected, for rapid scene setup. It takes the currently selected points and fits a plane through them. With 3 points the plane uses those points as the defining structure, with 4 or more it finds a least error alignment. The center of the best fit plane is used for offset, and the angle for the scene orientation.
• Explicit set origin, set x, set y, set z, allowing fine tooth control over the scene's offset and orientation. Multiple point selection for axis options fits a best fit line through them. Great if you have multiple track points locked against an axis line in your scene.
• Scene null for manual tweaking. All CAMERATRACKER created cameras, solids and nulls are by default parented to the scene null. This allows you to easily configure the scale, rotation and offset of the entire scene using the standard After Effects null controls.

Point Cloud Feature Preview

Once a shot has been solved and a scene created, the user can flip CAMERATRACKER into rendering a 3D feature preview which details the positions of the individual feature points, and their current selection and frame state. This unique feature can be used to visualise and assist in setting ground planes and creating objects.

Stats Readouts & Refine Workflow

CAMERATRACKER features a comprehensive solve stats and refinement workflow. Standard After Effects parameters are set showing a number of useful statistics, both after the track phase and after the solve phase. These parameters include measures for:

• Track counts
• Track lifetime, in minimum and average values
• Track distance, in average and max values
• Solve keyframe status
• Solve overall error
• Solve margin of error (a great quality measure for your track)
• Solve per-frame errors, in average and maximum values
• Solve per-track errors as the maximum value

A variety of tools are provided for working with these stats, to allow particular features to be isolated and removed including:

• Data overlays: Selection and 'hover over' tooltips are provided on feature points, so you can easily see the data of the underlying point. These include measures of track length, distance, and error stats.
• Track finders: Easily select the worst offenders on the current frame using the track finder functionality available both in the in-viewer menu, and via hotkeys.
• Threshold stats: Quickly select and remove the worst offenders across the time range of your entire sequence, using the built in After Effects' graph editor.

Lens Distortion

CAMERATRACKER can estimate the lens distortion of the tracked clip for you, and then provides the ability to both flatten and redistort the plate. It'll additionally refine an estimate you dial in, and supports both spherical and asymmetric distortions.

Focal Length & Film Back Estimation

CAMERATRACKER is able to work from either known focal length and film back shots, or to estimate this data for you using its high tech and production tested solve phase algorithms. Locked and varying focal lengths can be calculated, and a flexible 'refine' function allows you to explicitly define a rough estimate should you wish to lock to a particular range.

Nodal Pans

In addition to supporting standard moving camera shots, CAMERATRACKER's flexible track validate and solve stages can additionally be locked down to solve nodal pans (i.e. where camera body and lens is rotated around the nodal point of the combination).

Other features

• Matting workflow/Object Separation - to enable selective tracking for dealing with more tricky shots.
• Powerful display functions - showing track and feature quality measures both qualitatively and as an overview
• In-track display options - to allow the user to elect feedback or not during the tracking process.
• Sub-range selection - track only the time region you so desire, using the combination of work area and analysis range options presented.
• Support for 32-bit After Effects CS4 and 64-bit After Effects CS5
• Fully float 32-bit image processing.