Tracking Motion (Pro Only); To Track Motion And Apply It To Another Layer (Pro Only) - Adobe AFTER EFFECTS 7.0 Manual

Displays the Tracker Plug-in Options dialog box, which includes options for the AE Original Built-in
Options
Tracker. This command is only available if you choose to use the older After Effects tracker plug-in.
Note: When you begin tracking, After Effects sets the quality of the motion source layer to Best and the resolution to
100% to improve the image quality and make the selected feature region easier to find.

Tracking motion (Pro only)

To track motion and apply it to another layer (Pro only)

One of the most common uses of motion tracking is to create composites with other footage or images. Motion
tracking lets you combine elements filmed separately or animate still images so that they appear to have been shot
together.
Select the layer you want to track in the Timeline panel.
1
Note: The selected layer must include motion or changing frames, such as video source footage for Track Motion to be
available in the Animation menu. If you want to track motion in still images or a sequence, first pre-compose the layer
by choosing Layer > Pre-compose.
Choose Animation > Track Motion or click Track Motion in the Tracker Controls panel. After Effects then
2
performs the following actions:
•
Displays the Tracker Controls panel with the selected layer listed for Motion Source.
•
Creates a new track and displays its name in the Tracker Controls panel for the Current Track.
•
Displays Transform for Track Type (or Raw, if you haven't added the target footage to the composition yet).
•
Adds a track point for the motion source in the Layer panel.
•
Adds the new track to the Motion Trackers section of the motion source layer in the Timeline panel.
3 Click Edit Target in the Tracker Controls panel, and choose the Motion Target layer from the Layer pop-up menu.
Select Position or Rotation as appropriate.
4
If you want to track a range of frames, define the work area you want to track in the Layer panel for the source
5
footage.
In the Layer panel, move the current-time indicator to the frame from which tracking should begin.
6
Using the Selection tool, position and resize the feature and search regions over the feature you want to track.
7
Note: The search region needs to be only big enough to accommodate the frame-to-frame position change of the feature.
Drag the attach point where you want After Effects to position the footage.
8
9 In the Tracker Controls panel, click either the Forward Analyze or Backward Analyze button to begin tracking.
Watch the tracking to make sure that it is accurate. If not, click the stop button to stop tracking, and then correct the
problem as described in "Correcting a drifting feature region (Pro only)" on page 346.
10 When you are satisfied with the position of the feature region and attach point throughout the footage, click the
Apply button to apply the motion to the specified target layer. If you are tracking position, you can choose to
constrain motion to the x axis or the y axis. After Effects creates keyframes for the target layer.
See also
"To set a work area" on page 121
ADOBE AFTER EFFECTS 7.0
337
User Guide