05c Using the Data - Stabilization [Mocha Essentials]

Tracking data isn't just used for matchmoving. Stabilization is just a single extra click away. We start off with recycling track data and turning it into stabilization data. Following this, we see how to choose our anchor frame and customize the stabilization.
In the second part of the tutorial we look at a simple way of stabilizing with corner pins. Plus how we to use corner pin stabilization for doing paint and touch ups, using the same type of data.
After watching, you will know how to use your track data differently. You will also understand some circumstances why to use corner pin stabilization rather than transform stabilization.
Chapter List
00:00 Start
00:42 Setting up the tracking data for stabilization
04:14 Choosing the start frame for stabilization
06:37 Stabilization with corner pin
08:44 Reverse Stabilization
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#borisfx #mocha #motiontracking

[@rahuldeshpande3516]

Actually what you're really doing here is stabilizing with respect to a plane in the video (and everything else in the video would be adjusted to compensate for that). This is a very powerful effect! thank you! Hence, you can use this for the Vertigo effect

[@filmkaar-nitin]

Thank you. Very helpful.

[@ronydey2696]

That's really get something in hi sir myself Rony an VFX student from India

[@ArisMelachroinos]

I got it working, however if you zoom in and toggle on and off the stabilized precomp, you will notice that the stabilized layer has softened a bit... I am not using motion blur, and I do have collapse transformations on...

[@borisfxlearn]

Glad you got it working. There will be some mild softening with this reverse stabilization technique, as each copy of Power Pin is calculating new pixels. It usually is not noticeable in the final comp. If it is, you can add a small amount of sharpening to balance it out.

[@JohnSundayBigChin]

Wow, this is a blow mind technique..I got lost in the part when you expand or align the planar surface in Mocha...what would be the difference with not doing it?

[@borisfxlearn]

Yeah, it's a tough one when you first come to it. The Surface is the representation of the tracking data that you will use in the host. If you are just doing a regular insert, then you want to align the Surface to the edges of the thing you're inserting into. If you are matchmoving from a single frame, you want to expand the planar surface to the edges of the screen, so that everything flows correctly from that frame. Do something to that one frame, and it will look correct across the rest of the frames. As for reverse stabilization, that's the mind melter the first time you see it. Usually this is used for things like paint, where you want to sample a live image to make sure that any lighting changes are automatically cloned correctly. I hope this makes it all a bit clearer. Experiment a little, and it should start to make sense quite quickly.

[@JohnSundayBigChin]

​@@borisfxlearn Thanks for replying, now it's a bit clearer for me. Excellent tool and very well explained everything.

[@rahuldeshpande3516]

We can use this to create the Vertigo effect!

[@borisfxlearn]

Absolutely! Lock down a face with a moving camera, and the background seems to change perspective. It's a great and simple effect.

[@strikingtwice]

Sorry for being thick here, i feel like i'm missing what you did how it is different from just tracking the car topper? It's a planar surface, why not just track that?

[@borisfxlearn]

You're not being thick, the example here was chosen for simplicity and maybe doesn't show off the technique to its full. The reverse stabilization technique allows you to do more work when the image is changing color or brightness between frames. It is often used for paint cloning when shadows cross the image, and for beauty work. If an area is moving in perspective, it is very difficult to get a consistent clone source unless you stabilize the image first. That's where this technique really comes into its own. Hope that helps to explain things.

[@frumpeting]

@@borisfxlearn I just did a mind numbing couple of shots the hard way. Still use Mocha pro 4 and researching this very idea to not have to do that again. Shot was finished and looks great but this is SO HELPFUL!

[@eladet11]

Thanks! After some practice with your footage I thing I've got it. One thing that was important and wasn't mentioned in the "stabilize - destabilize workflow" is - you must be on the correct frame before coming back to Mocha and hit the "align surface" button. Otherwise, the paint will be stuck somewhere else in the frame. Are there other reasons for using this button? Is it explained on the course?

[@borisfxlearn]

Good point about being on the correct frame. Align Surface will also be used for similar reasons when we get to PowerMesh.

[@tief1975]

by the correct frame what do you mean?

[@eladet11]

@@tief1975 the frame in which the thing you want to paint on the sign is exactly at the correct spot.

[@tief1975]

@@eladet11 cheers

[@marcoamato4760]

Hi, I have the problem with this exercise. I have a problem. 1) I draw the Taxi poster with Mocha Pro 2) On Ae I do the tracking Data, invert it and export it on the same level with Corner Pin selected 3) I duplicate the layer on Ae 4) On the original layer I paint, click on drawing transparency and create a precomp. 5) I go to the copied layer and open Mocha Pro. I use Align Surface. I save and exit Mocha Pro 6) In Ae I use Tracking Data and export everything to the precomp created before with Corner Pin selected. In the end the painting moves badly and the clip remains poorly stabilized. I checked that there was only one corner pin on the precomposition. And not many. Just what I wanted to create with export. What could it depend on? Thank you for your answer :)

[@borisfxlearn]

I think I know the problem. If you're still seeing a poorly stabilized version of the original clip, turn off the Corner Pin effect. The original should just be the original. The precomp should have one corner pin _inside_ to stabilize and one corner pin _outside_ to destabilize. If you're still having problems, please join us on the Discord or Forums and post screenshots of your setup. We should be able to see what's wrong easier. Thanks! forum.borisfx.com/ or www.borisfxdiscord.com/

[@marcoamato4760]

@@borisfxlearn perfect!!! I forgot to turn off Corner Pin effect to the duplicate level in AE. Now it run in the perfect way! Thank you so much! :))))))))))

[@KZLR]

What's the best way to reverse stabalize in Nuke?

[@borisfxlearn]

Nuke makes it really easy. Use the Nuke Corner Pin Export to take data from Mocha and copy that to the clipboard. Come back to your Nuke project, paste the data in and click on "Invert" in the CornerPin 2D node it creates. That gives you your reference to paint on / comp to. You can't do the Inverted Corner Pin into normal Corner Pin workflow with nodes in between as that breaks concatenation. So for example with paint, what you do is add the normal (uninverted) corner pin to the end of the paint node, passing only the paint with alpha through, and then Merge that over the original plate. Does that make sense?

[@KZLR]

@@borisfxlearn Thank you, that does make sense, I appreciate your response !

[@zdenekklusacek3575]

Sadly this does not work when you need to make a jittery motion smoother, which is most of the times.

[@borisfxlearn]

If you have Mocha Pro you can use the Stabilise module to do smoothing for you. If you're in After Effects, alt-click the Position parameter to add an expression and type : smooth() You can add different elements to this expression, but this should get you started.

[@zdenekklusacek3575]

@@borisfxlearn thanks will try that as I am in AE.

[@VishalSingh-jd8eo]

now i wanna watch barry potter

[@borisfxlearn]

It's a very similar story, but the main character wears a lot of thin silver necklaces and a too small pork pie hat.

[@Abdo.A]

Very confusing

[@borisfxlearn]

Don't expect to understand it all the first time around. Try to follow along with your own footage a few times, and it will make sense soon.