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AFTER EFFECTS • CINEMA 4D • BOUJOU BULLET

3D MOTION TRACKING
Effective use of motion tracking can transform your live-action footage. Motion graphics pro JJ Johnstone
reveals how to use motion tracking when undertaking complex 3D compositing in After Effects and Cinema 4D

Motion tracking, or match-moving,

ON THE CD is the term used to describe the
You’ll find all the files simulation of live-action camera moves and
you need to complete perspective inside compositing software
this tutorial in the such as After Effects, Combustion, Shake
folder marked
Tutorial\Tracking
or Flame for 2D, and Boujou, PF Track,
on this issue’s CD. SynthEyes or Matchmover for 3D. It’s
commonly used to apply special effects
TIME NEEDED to feature films and commercials, but it’s
3 hours becoming more common within type and
INFO
character animation in motion graphics.
Open Boujou Bullet or your match- Using Boujou Bullet’s Masking tools,
JJ Johnstone
is an art
There are several types of motion
tracking in both 2D and 3D. In the 2D
1 moving software. Import your QuickTime
movie, or use tracking_clip.mov from this
3 mask out any moving objects in your
scene – if you don’t, the moving objects will
director, environment your options range from issue’s CD, and select the area of the clip throw off the track’s results. If you want to
designer, tracking the X and Y-axis along with zooms you wish to track. Track the least amount track a moving object instead of the
and and rotation on the Z-axis. You can also use possible, because extra footage adds a lot background, select that function and continue
animator from Brooklyn, motion tracking to stabilise a shaky or more time to your track and reduces the masking the moving object.
New York. To see more chance of you creating something smooth.
unstable shot. Motion tracking in 3D is for
of his commercial,
broadcast and music complex camera moves across all three
video work, go to axes. Three-dimensional tracks allow for
www.jjjohnstone.com. dimensional objects created in 3D software,
such as extruded type or character models.
Though 3D tracks definitely have their
advantages, they shouldn’t be used unless
necessary, because they add a new level
of complexity and more work.
Whether you’re tracking in two or three
dimensions the principles are the same; the
only real variable is the software and
method for setting it up. In this tutorial I’ll
touch on a few methods of 3D motion
tracking. Tracking in 2D can be handled
2 Select the right type of camera move
for your shot. My shot is a free-move,
meaning it moves freely rather than
4 Select the correct interlacing format
for your footage from the Setup wizard,
shown above. Enter any Focal Length
entirely in After Effects Professional. remaining locked down to a tripod. Make information that you may have, otherwise skip
For 3D tracking I will use Boujou Bullet, sure you set the correct framerate under this option and move to the next step.
a trial of which can be found at www.2d3. Camera Properties. The clip provided on this
com/asp/products/product-downloaddemo. issue’s CD is set to 30fps.
asp?product=7. With Boujou you can
export straight into a 3D package, such as
Maya or Cinema 4D, or export into After
Effects. I will cover some of these options,
because each one has unique advantages.

Tutorial and illustration by JJ Johnstone

www.jjjohnstone.com

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AFTER EFFECTS • CINEMA 4D • BOUJOU BULLET

5 Go through your clip and add track targets before you

track. These are keyframed points for the track to
focus on. The more you can add the better your final result.
You don’t need to go frame by frame, just make sure you
cover a given point throughout the shot. Choose points that
have high contrast and good texture to track.
11 Add a background object to your comp, then
create a new material using your QuickTime
movie as the Colour channel. Line up your object
or type with the original QuickTime for good
compositing. Now add the Compositing tag to your
8 You will need to add scene geometry to your
new 3D scene by selecting tracking points and
designating which axis they belong on in the Setup
object by right-clicking on the object and selecting
Compositing from the C4D Tags list. Remember to
turn off your background when you render.
wizard. This will orient your track to the X, Y and/
or Z-axis for compositing. Do not add too much
geometry because it will end up distorting your
track. An origin and one or two axes will work well.

6 Click on the track and watch as the match-moving

software locates hundreds of points for each frame
of your clip. After it tracks through every frame, it will take
12 Open your Render settings by selecting
Render>RenderSettings and prepare your

some time to solve the track and come up with a 3D

representation of your shot.
9 Now export your composition. Go straight into
After Effects, importing the Maya file Boujou
Bullet created for your track. Your composition will
comp for rendering. Use Straight Alpha for a good
transfer into After Effects. Save a compositing file for
After Effects in the Render>Save dialog box. Now
import with a camera and a series of nulls, which render your tracked object.
replace your tracking points. You can also export to
your favourite 3D package – for me it’s Cinema 4D.
CHECK INTERLACING
Make sure you know if
your footage is interlaced
or not. Your tracking
results will jump around
if you are using
interlaced footage and
don’t select the right
tracking type. Most
consumer and prosumer
cameras are lower field
first for SD and upper
field first for HD/HDV. If
7 Now that your move is
solved, go through the 2D
and 3D previews to make sure 13 Open After Effects and import the .AEC file
C4D created or the Maya file Boujou created.
you are unsure about the nothing looks off or jumpy. If The Maya comp will have a keyframed camera and a
you do find a problem, you can Open your composition in Cinema 4D. You’ll series of nulls. The C4D comp will have a folder with
interlacing, import your
clip into After Effects and
create a de-interlaced
follow the Troubleshooting
steps in the Setup wizard to
10 notice that Boujou created a null with a
keyframed camera and a series of reference nulls
your comp retaining the camera info and any lights
you had in C4D, as well as the rendered 3D object.
proxy of the clip. The clip smooth out your camera or to replace the tracking dots. Add a model or some
on this issue’s CD is a trouble-shoot bad tracks. extruded type to the scene and notice how the
progressive one. camera travels around the object.

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SMOOTH IT OUT
If your tracks are looking
a little weird, add a scene
object to make sure
the track geometry is
correct. If the camera is
jumpy, run through the
trouble-shooting steps
and select Noisy Camera.
Now resolve the track
You may need to go through your C4D

14 Import your original QuickTime clip

and place it into the comp with the
3D render. Match up the clip, remembering
what frame your track starts and ends on.
Paste the camera from the tracked comp
into the comp with the 3D render and the
original QuickTime clip.
17 render and fix random jump frames.
It is common in motion tracking to have a few 20 Duplicate your Background clip and
move it above your 3D render. Mask
with a smoothing
restraint to get a
smoother overall track.
random single frames with a jump in position. around the dumpster toward the end of the I usually export a
To adjust a jump frame, just keyframe the clip, so it will cover your 3D clip. Keyframe composition tracked
position before and after the frame, then go to your mask wherever it’s needed. normally and a second
the frame and tweak accordingly. one that is smoothed,
then compare the two in
After Effects.

ENSURE
COMPATIBILITY
To make Cinema 4D and
After Effects compatible
with each other, open
your Application>
Maxon>C4D folder
and select Exchange
Plug-ins. Unzip the
If you are working with the Maya file,
15 you will need to set your anchor and
position to (00,00,00) when you add anything
corresponding version
for your version of After
Effects (6.5 works with
in After Effects. This will centre your object 7.0). Now drag the plug-
to the camera.
18 Add a shadow to your object or type.
Duplicate the 3D render in your
composition and scale it only on the Y-axis. 21 Use Levels to adjust the contrast and
black-and-white points to match the
in into AE’s Plug-ins
folder. This will enable
you to import .AEC
Add Hue/Saturation to darken it and a Fast or clip, then add an Adjustment layer over the files generated by C4D,
Gaussian blur to make it less harsh. Move it top with all of your colour corrections applied retaining all of your
into a position below your 3D layer and place to create a better composite. You could also layers and objects
in a realistic shadow area, taking your light add a layer of grain. between C4D and AE.
source into consideration.

22 Finally, go
through and
fine-tune anything
you see fit. Play
around with some
lights in your C4D
comp to make your
light source as
believable as

16 If you are having issues with your

Maya camera jumping around or
being locked in too tight, go through and
possible. Import
lights from C4D
into AE for added
delete a few frames at a time, keeping every
fourth or fifth frame. This will loosen up the
track and give it a more organic motion.
19 Your shadow will follow the 3D layer,
since it is already tracked. Fine-tune
your shadow using a feathered mask (Shift+
precision.

Apple+N). Keyframe the masks to suggest

your light source or just soften the shadow.
Lower the transparency of the shadow to
match the scene.

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