Manual 3D Tracking
 
 
 

Before you start manual 3D tracking, you should examine the clip closely to determine the points you want to track. The quality of the 2D track has a direct impact on the 3D tracking result, so it is important that you have a strategy for positioning the trackers in the clip sequence. Use the Stabilizer to track and stabilize the clip as accurately as possible. See Tracking and Stabilizing.

For optimum results, each frame in the clip you are tracking must contain at least six track points. In the Stabilizer, this means six trackers are enabled. Also, at least two frames in the clip sequence must have a minimum of eight trackers, and these two reference frames should show the widest camera movement.

When tracking, the more track points you have in each frame, the smoother and more accurate the tracking result will be. As you place the trackers on the image, consider the following guidelines:

To set up manual trackers:

  1. In Action, click 3D Track.

    The 3D tracking controls appear.

  2. From the 3D Tracker Option box, select Manual.

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  3. In the 3D tracking controls, click Stabilizer.

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    The Stabilizer menu appears.

  4. Add trackers to the scene by clicking Add Tracker.

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    NoteYou can track points only on the back clip that you load in Action.
  5. Drag each tracker to a position on the image following the guidelines described in Basic Manual 3D Tracking.

    You should have at least six trackers active at any one time, and at least two frames should have eight active trackers.

  6. In the Stabilizer menu, click Analyse to process the 2D tracking path and check your result.

    If the tracking is not correct, try standard tracking techniques as described in Tracking and Stabilizing.

  7. Click Return to return to the 3D tracking controls.

When you track a pattern that appears to drift or stray, you should set more intermediate trackers in the frames of the sequence, and ensure both the first and the last reference frames are set properly.