Understanding Co-planar & The Surface in Mocha

In this short explainer video, Ben Brownlee shows how to improve your motion tracking in Boris FX Mocha, by understanding a couple of key concepts in the planar tracker; Co-planar and The Surface.
You will learn why shape placement matters so much and how to export the most useful tracking data for your shot.
Learn more about Mocha: bit.ly/2JE5zk2
#mochapro

[@Tatumini]

Why so much dislike?? Finally a clear and efficient video. Thanks for your job Ben.

[@BorisFXco]

Thank so much. I really appreciate it.

[@MrSenpaiTV]

These are the type of videos I been wishing Boris FX would make. I learned so much and Ben is so great at explaining and making things easy to understand for beginners. I would love to see more Premiere Pro focused tutorials with Mocha and the rest of the Borix FX tools because most tutorials are After Effects focused.

[@jessamaeamora1295]

Oppai Senpai 4

[@harmonfamilyvlogs]

Fantastic Mocha Videos. This is how it always should have been. Very clear and easy to understand tutorials and explainer videos. This kind of content is going to keep Mocha relevant and increase Mocha's user base. It truly is a powerful tracking software/plugin.

[@BorisFXco]

Thanks. There are definitely more of this type of video on their way.

[@mdsegara101]

Thank you..finally i found “the why” of how to use Mocha Pro ..and explanations of the basics with clear points..so satisfying..

[@BorisFXco]

Thanks so much. Glad you found it useful.

[@GraeHall]

Ho boy did I learn a lot and quick from this tutorial. It explained and clarified a bunch which has previously been unclear. It seems like for the head tracking of a bird in a low quality video where there's a bunch of quick movement and the contrast between the bird's head and the background is low, Mocha isn't what I want to use. What I'm trying to track isn't co-planar. But now I know what the term means, along with how The Surface works. Yay!

[@BorisFXco]

That's so great. I'm really glad you got a lot out of it *and* left a good comment. If you have Mocha Pro, PowerMesh is a feature that could help you out. We do a bird roto in Exercise 15 of Mocha Essentials. That may help you too : borisfx.com/free-training/mocha-essentials/

[@AeBlues]

Congratulations Ben! great addition to the team :)

[@BorisFXco]

Thanks a million. Looking forward to getting stuck in!

[@yakuba42]

Phenomenal teaching! Thank you.

[@juvyalib2658]

T

[@IslamicStorytimez]

3:47 thank you

[@ThePaintmanvn]

All clear ! thnks

[@garoz4editingskills215]

Brother You are so good in tutorial i understood very well,but I'm looking for plugins mocha pro and other options how can you help me please.

[@BorisFXco]

You can download a free trial of the Mocha Pro plugin here : bit.ly/30FLFMZ If you are a student, you can get a free student license. Let me know exactly what you are looking for and I will try to help.

[@JeesGeorgephotography]

Hi! Whenever i track (transform) to a solid layer after aligning the surface perfectly.. the solid layer does not behave as the tracking data! Which means- the solid layer does not move in 3D space. Please help

[@JdEntertainmentvlog]

I love it, thanks Boris for made this magical tool, please make a tutorial in detail on Boris partical illusion, how to use or animate in video footage action shot......

[@BorisFXco]

Great suggestion. I'll put that on the list.

[@AQuantumCraig]

this video was really well made. Definitely would like to see more videos like this

[@BorisFXco]

Thanks a lot. Consider it done!

[@chanelimagination2696]

I like this video.... Thanks

[@mastixmastix]

Clear and a great intro on the basics of how a planar tracker works. Voice pace is adequate. There is nothing more annoying that an instructor that talks to fast.

[@kentolarmas6303]

Thank you... from indonesia

[@BorisFXco]

Thanks - glad you enjoyed it.

[@Steven2156]

Very Interesting. Thanks for the explanation.

[@BorisFXco]

You're welcome. Hope it helps in your future tracking.

[@aroidpapa]

what do you do if something grows in front of what you want to track and skews the planar surface too much???

[@BorisFXco]

Check out Exercise 4b of the Mocha Essentials course. It's all about Track Mattes and how you can use them for exactly this issue. borisfx.com/free-training/mocha-essentials/

[@user-ow6uu5kx4e]

Hi. Ben. I'm a girl from S.Korea. I'm really appreciated for teaching the principle that I didn't know. Cause I always wonder why mocha has an adjective like 'coplanar' in front of its name. and I have two questions for you. While I watching the video(time point is 5 minutes 30 seconds point.) 1) You were explaining surface data and shape data thing but abruptly changed to 'the flexibility in separation between tracking data in the layer of shape data'. I know there are transformation data when I finished tracking. The shape data you said is the one that exists in that transformation data? like skew, corner pin information like these things? What's the difference between tracking data and shape data? 2) I want to know where the tutorials are which you said in the video(such as unlink tracking. pre-keyframing our shape before tracking and also making a snap to recycled tracking data for multiple purposes or to do some powerful paintwork techniques such as stabilize or destabilize or align the surface track. ) Can you link that each one separately to here?

[@BorisFXco]

Hi, You ask some interesting questions. Let's see if I can help. "Separation between the tracking data and shape data" is a good place to start, as this is a vital point about the Mocha tracker. First think of the tracking data as a go-kart, travelling down the road. You are the shape data sitting on top of the go-kart. You start the cart down the hill by hitting the track forwards button. As the driver, you can steer the movement of the go-kart, just like the shape you've drawn is steering where Mocha is looking for track data. And the go-kart is (hopefully) going to keep moving in the right path - helped by the direction you've steered it. The path down the hill is the tracking data. What I didn't say at the start, is that this is a magic go-kart. Once you have made a successful trip down the hill (got a good track), you can repeat that journey as many times as you want, and the kart will always take the same direction. The only difference is that you (the shape data) can now move around as you want, to do the things you need as you travel downhill. You want to grab a bottle halfway down the hill? Easy. Stretch your arm out, change your shape at the right time, and get it. The exported track data is the go-kart you were sitting on to get you the correct movement to your destination. The exported shape data is what you did when you were taking that trip. This is a strange way of saying that the shape data influences the tracking data when you make it. But after the tracking data is made, you can change your shape without fear of changing the tracking data, unless you re-track. So useful for creating mask shapes. As for other videos, try these: Unlink tracking : vimeo.com/206199120 Reverse stabilization technique can be found in the first section here : kzbin.info/www/bejne/h2K2XqCml9p2ra8 And for other basic techniques, the Getting Started series is a good place to start: borisfx.com/videos/?tags=&search=getting%20started%20with%20mocha Hope that helps!

[@berenfishe7363]

In the example with the car you said not to use the whole car shape because lots of planes, and the example of Good and Bad tracking results of the mocha logo was brief and very subtle. But if you're assuming people don't understand the concept of planes enough to need this video in the first place: then you need to make it even clearer visually, not just in your voiceover. Show the multiple planes on the car (bonnet, side, roof, screen,) as different coloured planes and show the before and after 'mocha' sign on the front as an overlay, toggling between the 'good' and 'bad' results a few times to show the distortion caused by a bad track. No one likes a 'spot the difference' between two very similar images, especially if they have to pause the video to even see them. Seems like you glossed over the main point that's fundamental to how people need to learn to break down objects into separate planes.

[@BorisFXco]

That's fair. We could probably have spent a bit more time on the comparison there. I'm going to leave this link here if people want to get a better idea of this (Skip to 2.44 in the Vimeo link): vimeo.com/206198832

[@SquidwardSamasHouse]

How come the Continuum +Saphhire bundle (annual sub) costs more than the Saphhire + Mocha bundle when it seems like Mocha and Sapphire are the tools you guys push the most?

[@BorisFXco]

Livingston B. Akoma The bundles are based on the list prices of each product. Continuum is a popular package that has quite a lot of great features not in Sapphire: 3D text, particles, keying and more.

[@SquidwardSamasHouse]

@@BorisFXco Makes sense, thank you!

[@MarlonOrellana]

how do you add multiple shapes onto one layer?

[@BorisFXco]

Click and hold on the tool you want to use in the tooldbar. A dropdown will appear. Select the tool with a little plus sign in the corner. This will add multiple shapes to a single layer.

[@MarlonOrellana]

@@BorisFXco sweet thank you so much!

[@IslamicStorytimez]

Please make tutorial of a helicopter hovering then turning left or right body of helicopter changes angle and prospective out of view How to track that please I subscribed I hope I can get an answer and tutorial for this urgently

[@BorisFXco]

Hi, a couple of things you can do here. 1) As the perspective changes to more extreme angles, turn the Minimum % of Pixels parameter *down*. You will need to be in the Classic workspace to see this control, and it is the opposite advice you will normally get for using it. You may also need to tweak the Angle parameter too. 2) At a certain point, you will need to animate this by hand. When it gets to an extreme angle that just doesn't track, delete the bad keyframes, and animate the last few frames by hand. This will save a lot of hair-pulling! If you are doing a roto on this helicopter, remember to break it into smaller, overlapping shapes. These will be better to track over time, and give the result you need. Finally, hit up the Boris FX forums if you want to get help from the community. They're a helpful bunch : forum.borisfx.com

[@IslamicStorytimez]

@@BorisFXco I will post a video of mocha and after effects with helicopter tracking. I think I can track ok as it sticks on well but when I use pad after a certain point when helicopter turns pad goes out of place

[@IslamicStorytimez]

Am trying to stick simple logo on it. I have done tracking on other video scenes but most hardest is working with objects that turn around like a cup or helicopters body. Can you make some tutorial for them.

[@LamNgoc1992]

i love Mocha .

[@BorisFXco]

Me too!

[@syafiisyafii3858]

Cahaya terindah

[@SappyDa]

Point tracker fans disliked this video.

[@omarzulu3584]

Mocha co-planar explainer...

[@BorisFXco]

Now try saying that fast 10 times!

[@josephinecano4527]

L