Motion Tracking - Keep object centered

[jrisken]

There ought to be a way to do this, but I don't see how:
I record forums, and the presenter frequently wanders back and forth across the stage. I can use the motion tracker to track his wanderings (since the camera is set to a fairly wide angle).
What I want to do with the motion tracking information is have the presenter's clip pan back and forth as he walks forth and back - with the net result that he stays in the center of the screen. (I'd use a zoomed portion of the image so that there would be enough to fill the frame.

Is there a way to do this? It would make forum recording so much easier.

[rwernyei]

One could manually keyframe using VSP X6's Customize Motion feature. Right click your clip on Track 1 and select Customize Motion. Set the Size X & Y values to 100 for the first and last frame by clicking on the diamond. Now, you're ready to start keyframing. First, I would cheat and put a piece of transparency tape in the center of the Preview Window. Scroll throughout your clip and physically move the clip to place the speaker directly under your tape marker. Each movement creates a keyframe(diamond). Upon finishing, depending on the severity of movement in your clip, you will either need to crop the picture a little or a lot. This can be done by changing the Size X & Y values. Make sure to enter the same Size value for all keyframes(diamonds) that were created. In addition, this cropping might offset your position. Again, this can be done by changing the Position X & Y values. Play and preview. If happy with the results, click OK. That's it.

Hope this helps.
Robert

[jrisken]

Yes, thanks. That's a very nice description of the way to do it manually - and one that I've used in another editor prior to this time.

I'll save your description (since the mechanics of various editors are different, and you've said it well) but what I had hoped for was something that would let me use the track info more automatically. Imagine I've drawn a frame (call it the head frame) around the speaker's upper body - the talking head. I keyframe him at the start when he's in the center and when I've zoomed into the headframe (so there's lots of full-frame info outside of the zoom). As he walks he'll reach his farthest distance left. Then the software would drop in another keyframe and set the x,t coordinates to pull that image back to the center. Repeat as needed.
If the speaker wanders so far that there's no slopover left in the full frame, well, that's where manual editing would take over.

[rwernyei]

Unfortunately, this cannot be done in VSP X6. It could probably be done in Adobe After Effects using its tracker controls or Warp stabilizer, 3D camera, parenting tracker data to null objects and use of expressions but I have never tried it.

In addition to my earlier advice, one might want to do all the keframing using FX-Active Camera filter. Reset all frames to None and then scroll throughout the video and set keyframes changing the values for Horizontal, Vertical and Crop where needed. Again using tape as a cheat for the center.

This is exactly what you want. Tracking camera under development in Tokyo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn5YQVvW-hQ

[rdecroocq]

Hi guys
I have the same problem and have been investigating for a while
Does anybody know if this is now possible to do in VSP X10 Ultimate?
Thanks!
/R

[weaver]

Unfortunately, this cannot be done in VSP X6. It could probably be done in Adobe After Effects using its tracker controls or Warp stabilizer, 3D camera, parenting tracker data to null objects and use of expressions but I have never tried it.

In addition to my earlier advice, one might want to do all the keframing using FX-Active Camera filter. Reset all frames to None and then scroll throughout the video and set keyframes changing the values for Horizontal, Vertical and Crop where needed. Again using tape as a cheat for the center.

This is exactly what you want. Tracking camera under development in Tokyo.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qn5YQVvW-hQ

In simpler jobs you can get acceptable results from modern drone cameras. They usually have a object follower functions. The earlier used the gps receiver in the remote control, and the SW just synchronized the gps signals, ie the camera followed the remote controller. The latest models follow the video content, you can mark the person/point etc and the drone or just the camera will follow this marked point.
The tracking camera in Tokyo is probably out of range forour budgets, the position isupdated in 1/10000 sec!

[jrisken]

Well, affordable technology is finally catching up with this problem. Wyze makes a "Pan Cam" that sells for under $40 and that physically pans to keep a moving object in frame. It can record to microSD card.

[weaver]

I checked some reviews, but it seems that the camera cannot make a smooth pan ( I would like to see better videos from the pan). It looks like the camera has a fixed speed pans, ie if the object is out of the preset windows the camera turns quickly to the next position and wait until the object does not leave again the preset windows. ( I do not know why they do not promote correctly this function). If you know a better video review please send a link.

Thanks

[jrisken]

I think that's a pretty good summary. I mentioned the camera because in the limited situation where you might be trying to track a pacing speaker it could work - as a second-camera-backup to be incorporated in post when necessary.

Also, the folks t Wyze are both smart and market-conscious. I think a later version of the camera might be really good. So, it's something to keep an eye on.

[weaver]

I just asked because I use quite often such function with drones. Some of them are following the object when they are not in the air (stay on desk). and I am quite happy with the camera motion in this mode. i would like to try the Wyze, just because its size and price. I would search for further reviews..

[jrisken]

Interesting. I'll have to talk to my drone-besottted son.