Animation Tracking Subject in Video

[Sudo Chocolate]

So I shot a short film last week and am now in post production. I wondering if anyone has tips on how to add animated objects to a scene and have them follow an oblect. By the way, I am using premier elements 13 although I also have experience and access to a few other programs such as Synfig. Unfortunately no Premier Pro.

 

To be more clear, I shot the character holding a sword and want to replace it with a drawing of the sword (dont ask, it's part of the plot). I can go almost frame by frame and insert keyframes for it's position but I am wondering if there might be a faster, easier way. The sword we used in the fottage is bright green to make it stand out for this purpose but I do not know if this makes a difference.

 

Incase you are curious, the film is kind of a version of Turin slaying Glaurung; for you Silmarillion fans out there.

 

Thanks alot,

SC

[skyress3000]

This would be a job for After Effects, but I guess you don't have that

[Sudo Chocolate]

This would be a job for After Effects, but I guess you don't have that

Unfortunately no, any other options?

[nickl]

You probably can so something like that in BlackMagic Fusion or Resolve 12... Never done it myself. You can always get a trial of AE, too...

 

Also, HitFilm 3 Express can track and composite as you are describing.

Edited November 18, 2015 by nickl

[givingtnt]

Unfortunately no, any other options?

manual animation

[Sudo Chocolate]

You probably can so something like that in BlackMagic Fusion or Resolve 12... Never done it myself. You can always get a trial of AE, too...

 

Also, HitFilm 3 Express can track and composite as you are describing.

Thanks! I didnt realize that some of these were free but it seems like they are. Wish i had known this before I had bought PE13.

[nickl]

IKR, there's a lot of good free software out there!

[.spider.]

[ALwin]

snip

 

You should consider using After Effects even if it's a trial, or Blackmagic Fusion.  Don't rely a lot on any plugin or tool that will try to automatically try and track the movement of a "bright green object" in your video,  there are times it will work and there may be times it will not.  A good plugin will certain assist, but to make it look 100% nice you still need to manually check and adjust when needed.

 

I think what you are trying to do is similar to what VideoCopilot is showing in their "Light saber" tutorials.  But for you, instead of using a "Light saber" plugin, you just insert a drawing of the sword you want to use (with transparency) and set keyframes at certain timecodes to make sure that the movement of the "replacement sword" matches the "actual sword" filmed.

http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/light_sabers/

http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/light_sabers_v2/

 

PS: I think VideoCopilot gives away that "Light saber" plugin for After Effects, for free.  If anyone is interested.

[Sudo Chocolate]

You should consider using After Effects even if it's a trial, or Blackmagic Fusion.  Don't rely a lot on any plugin or tool that will try to automatically try and track the movement of a "bright green object" in your video,  there are times it will work and there may be times it will not.  A good plugin will certain assist, but to make it look 100% nice you still need to manually check and adjust when needed.

 

I think what you are trying to do is similar to what VideoCopilot is showing in their "Light saber" tutorials.  But for you, instead of using a "Light saber" plugin, you just insert a drawing of the sword you want to use (with transparency) and set keyframes at certain timecodes to make sure that the movement of the "replacement sword" matches the "actual sword" filmed.

http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/light_sabers/

http://www.videocopilot.net/tutorials/light_sabers_v2/

 

PS: I think VideoCopilot gives away that "Light saber" plugin for After Effects, for free.  If anyone is interested.

 

I have been doing basycally the same thing in premier elements but am looking to streamline the process without going frame by frame. I just got Black Magic Fusion (free version) but have now experience. If you can point me to some good 'quick start' tutorials that would be great otherwise I will look around myself. I am attaching on a part that I worked on. I went along every few frames and inserted keyframes. This turned out okay although I could certainly add a few more points to make it better as the sword in the footage sometimes shows (not to mention how terrible it is overall).

 

Any help would be splendid,

SC

swordshorttest.mpg

[ALwin]

snip

 

Uhhh, perhaps it might be better if you guys re shot the scenes with a "foam" sword made to look like the sword design you want to use.  Contact some LARP groups, I'm sure they have people who create complex design foam swords.

[Sudo Chocolate]

Uhhh, perhaps it might be better if you guys re shot the scenes with a "foam" sword made to look like the sword design you want to use.  Contact some LARP groups, I'm sure they have people who create complex design foam swords.

We have multiple good swords that we use for LARPing and other things but part of the point of this film is to have certain parts animated.

[ALwin]

snip

 

The sample video you posted, is it just a scene you recorded for the purpose of sharing with us or a clip extracted from what you actually filmed?

[Sudo Chocolate]

The sample video you posted, is it just a scene you recorded for the purpose of sharing with us or a clip extracted from what you actually filmed?

It was just to show how I was animating it.

[ALwin]

It was just to show how I was animating it.

 

Oh ok.

 

Anyway, as I don't know how your filmed scene looks like and what you want your final animation to be like, I can't help you besides telling you to do a Google search for motion tracking and object replacement tutorials for Fusion.

[AshleyAshes]

My vote would be for Mocha, there's a version of it included in Adobe Creative Cloud's After Effects.  Rather than being a point tracker, mocha is a planar tracker with vastly superior tracking features.  It's what we use at work primarily for mocha.  Mocha can then export it's tracking data to a vast range of other applications, so you can make use of it.

[ALwin]

My vote would be for Mocha, there's a version of it included in Adobe Creative Cloud's After Effects.  Rather than being a point tracker, mocha is a planar tracker with vastly superior tracking features.  It's what we use at work primarily for mocha.  Mocha can then export it's tracking data to a vast range of other applications, so you can make use of it.

 

Cool, I didn't know about this.  Thanks for letting us know.