06 Adjusting Your Track with AdjustTrack [Mocha Essentials]

The best way to fix problems with your tracking data is to find the fundamental cause, eg tracking the wrong area, not using multiple shapes or track mattes, or needing to make some small changes to your tracking parameters. But sometimes these things are not possible and you still need to compensate for drift, or an object being completely covered or going offscreen. In this exercise we will focus on AdjustTrack. Specifically, how to set it up, adding keyframes, common issues with adjusting the track, and when you shouldn’t be using AdjustTrack at all.
What happens if your track is drifting or not quite exactly where you want it? That's when adjust track comes into play. This exercise covers adjust track, specifically identifying the problem with your track and knowing when to adjust your track or simply start over. We cover the in depth controls for setting your Adjust Track Points, talking about what the different transforms do, setting your reference frame, and adjusting your reference points. We will also cover when to use the Surface View & when your shot is a good candidate for Auto Step. If you really need a rock solid track and don't quite know how to get there, this lesson is for you.
When you have completed this exercise, you will understand how, when and why to use the AdjustTrack module and how to take the correct data from it.
Chapter List
00:00 Start
01:12 Identifying the problem and when to adjust
02:08 Setting Adjust Track Points
03:28 Setting your reference frame
03:55 Adjusting your reference points
05:35 Surface View & Auto Step
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#borisfx #mocha #motiontracking

[@Vr360degreesvideos]

Track doest work in Mocha Pro, I just bought it because this nice tutorials.. but when to use in my real footage.. nothing works.. I have a 3D 360 and need to remove a few pictures on the all.. the camera is moving, I mask the object I want to remove on the first frame, after a few seconds.. the mask goes in another direction... and is a simple task.. as the objets on the wall are alone..

[@rahuldeshpande3516]

This is SOOO POWERFUL!

[@woolenwoods665]

THx for this concise and educational tutorial!

[@borisfxlearn]

Glad it was helpful! Thanks for joining us on this course.

[@rahuldeshpande3516]

This is genius by the way!

[@ronydey2696]

Great and much needed helpful tutorials hi mam myself Rony I'm an VFX student from India

[@borisfxlearn]

Thanks for watching!

[@DustinHarrelson]

so helpful, thank you!

[@borisfxlearn]

Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for the kind comment.

[@TheMouseMusician]

Oh hail Mary Queen of Tracking! :)

[@borisfxlearn]

She'll love that. I'll make sure she sees this.

[@workingtitle5480]

Nice one Mary 👍

[@borisfxlearn]

Thank you for watching! 😃

[@videoart1496]

So in simple words. We have to set our reference points perfectly and then manually or with auto, to match the current frame with reference frame right ?

[@borisfxlearn]

Yes, that's it.

[@eladet11]

Hi, I’ve got things that doesn’t work as you show. Hope you could help me :) 1. When I choose the Transform Type and then try to move the planar surface - it just moves the pink points but the surface stays in the same place. 2. I didn’t understand what the Surface View is used for. And how come moving the point of the surface changes the shape of the planer? As we learned on the videos, the planer shape influences the surface and not the other way around… 3. Auto step didn’t work well at all. The points of the surface just moves around when people walks over it. Why is that? I wanted to try and change the “Search Region Size”/ Maximum Motion” to 15 as in the video but It doesn’t let me add any number. Thanks!

[@borisfxlearn]

1) It sounds like you're making changes on the first frame where you set your points. When you first hit Set Points, it creates the pink points and lets you move them to areas where you can easily identify them. Move to any other frame and move the pink points (which will now actually be red squares) and the Surface will begin to react. 2) In AdjustTrack, you are adding an extra level of adjustment to your tracking data. The tracking data isn't being changed by the adjustments you're making, you are adding to that data, which also moves the shape. Because remember, the shape data is also being driven by this adjusted tracking data. 3) Auto Step is just automatically setting a keyframe every x number of frames. If that reference cannot be found, for example if people are walking through, it won't be very useful. If you have other questions or want to show an example, please join us on the forums or on our Discord channel. forum.borisfx.com/ or www.borisfxdiscord.com/

[@eladet11]

Thank you so much for the detailed answers! I'll check it out

[@ArisMelachroinos]

I couldn't find any straight forward tutorial of applying the actual adjusted track. Do we have to create a new layer and link to the tracked one while checking "adjusted"? Can it be done without a new layer? For example for screen replacements, if you have a layer with an adjusted track, if you try to apply the corner pin (either with the plugin or with copy-paste) the adjustment isn't there. Am I missing something?

[@borisfxlearn]

The adjusted track data should be the data exported without any further work on your side. If it looks right in Mocha, then it should look fine back in your host. Can you contact Support so they can see if there is something else amiss : borisfx.com/support/open-a-case/

[@rahuldeshpande3516]

Question, I barely if at all see any Perspective/Shear change in the video if at all. I mostly only see translation changes. However, the perspective option was selected above for educational purposes?

[@borisfxlearn]

This is a deceptive piece of footage. If you have the premium version of the course, you can test it yourself. The camera is moving just enough in 3D to not just be a translation change. Mary may have selected Perspective for educational purposes, but if you wanted to get the road stabilized without drift, you would need all four corners. Hope that makes sense.

[@lehestro]

Hello Mary, firstly thank you so much for this! Secondly, it's not working for me, haha! I saw what you wrote to the commenter below, and maybe my issue is similar. It looks like you're able to effectively set keyframes for the surface (I don't see you adjusting the track, but the surface corners). Whenever I try and adjust my surface, it changes it for the whole of the clip. I don't understand what I'm doing wrong. (Also I can't set reference frame - it is greyed out).

[@borisfxlearn]

I think I can help. The first thing to check is that you have set your initial points. Choose the transform type and hit Set Points to create your points. If you are not using Perspective, then you will not have four points to move. What Mary is doing is moving the reference points that are connected to the Surface points and not the Surface itself. Adjusting the Surface will always move it for the whole clip. Move the reference points though, and you can adjust the Surface movement.

[@lehestro]

@@borisfxlearn Ah, thank you for clarifying! Really cool of you guys to help us learners out. Mocha is a great tool, but can be confusing.

[@SR_PRODUCTIONS]

anyone know why when i track and create the 3d camera or track points to create a 3d track. omcha doesnt export it as 3d. it still sits as if its on a single plane. just gives the illusion that its in 3d

[@borisfxlearn]

How many layers have you tracked for the Camera Solve? Each of those solved layers will give you five points describing that plane in 3D when you import that data back into your host. Remember you will need to install the separate Mocha 3D Track Importer if you want to use this in After Effects : borisfx.com/downloads/?product=mocha You can then use those 3D points to help drive other layers or effects in 3D. If I have misunderstood the problem, please consider asking in the forums : forum.borisfx.com/ It's a lot easier to see the problem if you include screenshots.

[@SR_PRODUCTIONS]

@@borisfxlearn thanks. I have the 3d solver plug in. Have done 4 layers and even the add multiple to single layer. I can get the track data but it doesnt come out 3d. If i use 2 views in AE you can see its not 3d. I checked the forums. I'll post with screen shots.

[@alirahimi9401]

Great

[@borisfxlearn]

Thanks for watching!

[@kaczorefx]

Mary please. A real tutorial where you actually need and use the additional adjustment points, ie with 1/3 of the screen going out of frame. I'can't for the life of me figure out the new workflow. The old one was simple and intuitive, even without the additional points, but the new one just falls apart every single time when I try adding points mid shot :(

[@borisfxlearn]

Maybe this helps : borisfx.com/videos/mocha-pro-2021-improved-adjusttrack-module/ The most important thing with the new workflow is to set what type of movement you want to adjust. That determines how many points you work with. Remember, you can still work with the old AdjustTrack by choosing Classic mode.

[@kaczorefx]

@@borisfxlearn Yes, this is the ONLY tutorial using the new adjustment points - the problem with it is that in this shot all the additional adjustment points are useless, you don't need them - the 4 corner points are enough to solve this shot. Also in this tutorial you can already see the problem with the additinal points - you need to move every single point separately one by one (moving one doesn't influence the others) - you can do that ONLY if you can see all the features, none of them is obscured, and if that's the case, then what's the point of additional adjustment points?

[@kaczorefx]

@@borisfxlearn It's been over a year now with this new Adjustment tool, and there isn't a single tutorial showing how to properly use it, not from you, not from any other artist - this should be telling you something. It wouldn't be a huge problem, since we still have the classic Adjustment tool, except that you guys broke it in 2021 release and it's still broken today even in the latest January build. What's more I actually got a reply from your support that the classice tool will not be developed any more, that now we should use the new tool - so great there is no working track adjust in Mocha right now.

[@borisfxlearn]

Hi, I hear your frustration. The Classic AdjustTrack tool is working just as the original AdjustTrack module did. KZbin comments are a very inefficient way to have this type of conversation. If you want to talk about your problems with the AdjustTrack where the Mocha development team will actually see it, please post on the public forums (forum.borisfx.com/ ) I can guarantee you will be talking to more qualified people there. I also see the need for more in-depth AdjustTrack training and have added this to our tutorial list.

[@kaczorefx]

@@borisfxlearn I did. It's already reported there, over a year ago, still no fix today. And no, Classic AdjustTrack is not working as it used to, it's broken. You can't adjust your track in any frame that is before your reference frame, or the control surface explodes :/ You're right about YT comments but I guess I'm just trying any way I can to reach you guys, the frustration is big. I think you guys should check the forums more often and see how other users are frustrated with this as well. The other big point of frustration is that transform tools don't work with the new AdjustTool, we can't move all adjust points at the same time, we used to with the old one. So yeah a tutorial showing a real world shot done using the new tools would be great, because if you're so sure that the new tools are working then aparently there is a whole chapter of secret techniques and key shortcuts missing from the manual ;)

[@drinnerd8532]

I'm sorry, but I'm done with Mocha... this software seems like a great answer at first but ALWAYS ends up dissolving into a *bleeping* NIGHTMARE when it decides it doesn't want to track, properly... AND, the process for trying to resolve all Mocha's failure's to track is just WAAAAAAAY TOOOOO COMPLICATED. I'm off to something else. Thanks but no thanks ...

[@borisfxlearn]

This is usually about technique. When things start going wrong there's usually a reason for it. For example, is there a shadow or reflection moving across the image? Or does something pass across the shot? Or maybe the movement starts to go fast and there's a lot of motion blur to follow. As is said in this video, AdjustTrack should not be your first choice for these issues. AdjustTrack is best for getting past a part of the shot that *cannot* be tracked. There is almost always a solution to help you over these tough areas. This could involve changing the area you're tracking (as shown in Exercise 04a of this series), using track mattes (shown in Exercise 04b), or adjusting the type of tracking and parameters you're using (Exercise 03). If you have a tough shot, visit our forums for help (forum.borisfx.com/ ). Or use another tracking solution, you're more than welcome to try that too. Good luck with your shot.

[@vladimirmorozoff8153]

Tracking is not always a simple process. If you think that other solutions are ideal, you're wrong. For example, DaVinci offers great tracking tools, but you can encounter even more problems with them the moment you try to figure out how to adjust the track. Mocha is really awesome in many ways. Thank you, Mary (and the other guys), for the tutorials!

[@kaczorefx]

Do you have anything else? Honestly curious as all other tracking solutions, except matchmoving, don't even come close to what I can track in mocha.