How To Stabilize Motion In After Effects

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In this tutorial we explore how to use the stabilize motion tracker in after effects. This effect is sometimes called the Sherlock Holmes effect as it was featured in the film "Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows" featuring Robert Downey Jr.. This effect creates the idea that the camera is in perfect sync with a particular object in your scene, potentially the most powerful way to use this effect would be to lock on to a character's eyes. This creates an effect that's also reminiscent of David Fincher styled camera work.
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[@MrTerryRay1]

Thanks for this tutorial. I like how you explain this because you show how to easily achieve this effect.

[@blkmidia]

Awesome effect!!!

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Thanks!

[@rmjp]

Best tutorial, directly to the point!

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Thanks Rogerio!

[@AndroSpud]

Great video as always. A tip when trying to achieve this effect is to have the footage as steady as possible before attempting to track the motion, by using a static camera or a gimbal. Background motion which you usually don't pay attention to when the subject is moving over the shot becomes twice as noticeable when the subject is then locked in place.

[@hassanadnan5427]

+1 Absolutely easy to understand, thank you!

[@ammym.]

good work king, love you

[@FineappleRyan]

For a full day I've been trying to do this exact effect with a motion tracked null object parented to a camera layer with annoying results. Thank you so much for this.

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

We're so happy the video could be helpful! Cheers!

[@breakinglabarrier9430]

Great tutorial! I still have a lot of movement going on in the background. Any recommendations on those very shallow depth of field shots? Unfortunately, I didn't have access to my stabilizer at this particular time :(

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Maybe if you tried a warp stabilizer technique and then pre-composed and tried the stabilize motion on top of that? Sorry to hear it’s giving you trouble

[@MediaProcast]

In one word AMAZING

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Thanks so much! So glad you liked it!

[@Yahiamice]

Thanks!

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Cheers!

[@ali.sohail3211]

lmao hi yahi

[@maratines]

Jordan!!! I love your tutorials, buddy. I just used this exact technique on a project featuring a jogger. Thank you so much. Subscribed.

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Awesome! So stoked to hear Roberto! We're so glad this could help!

[@maratines]

Motion Array Tutorials I also got a year subscription to Motion Array! I love it. Thanks again.

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

@@maratines We are so honored! We really hope it's helping you take your videos to the next level! Thanks Roberto!

[@nageshtalla]

Great Stuff Bro.....Loved it

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

So happy to hear! Thanks Nagesh!

[@oaxaca-guides9270]

You helped me enormously, thank you very much!!!

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Thanks so much for taking the time to say that! We’re so happy to hear!

[@lauriewessel5978]

so helpful, best vid there is

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Cheers! Thanks!

[@timelapsebylkunl72]

A great tutorial that i am looking for. Thank a lot.

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Cheers! We're so happy you liked it!

[@anpic1]

Thank you!

[@shahinshuvo6132]

Hey man, It works great and without any problems.

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

AMAZING! So glad to hear! 😄

[@haroldthompson4608]

The timing for when it went out was perfect. Like it was planned

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Haha, glad you appreciated that 😂

[@serknor]

Awesome! Can the resulting path ( shown at 02:35 ) be smoothed or modified (ie:scaled, rotated) without having to edit dot by dot? Thanks!

[@Scorge]

well explained ! Gj

[@Michael_H_Nielsen]

This was perfect :)

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Thanks so much!

[@ivanandreev1958]

Awesome, thanks!

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Cheers!

[@bySterling]

So Awesome!!

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Thanks!

[@EarleSara]

Is this the tool that you would use to limit movements in footage (slow down camera movements)?

[@422frames]

Awesome, thank you!

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

My pleasure! 😄

[@PlumpTiger]

ugh thanks i spent so long looking at so many useless videos before i found this one

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

We’re so glad that you found us eventually 😄👍🏻

[@beatrisssss]

Thanks man!

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

No problem! 😄

[@Hollyweed1]

Thank you so much 🙏

[@apu889]

duude, you are the dude. thank you!

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Cheers! Thanks so much!

[@enclavemodus811]

Thanks! :)

[@yusufo9469]

Love this thanks:::!!!!!!!!!!!

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

So glad to hear!

[@artbypal8409]

great tutorial

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Thanks so much!

[@terryswafford5467]

Love it.

[@akanshasharma9157]

Thankyou sir

[@SunSkipper360]

Thanks for the Video! I am actually trying to stabalise a shot of a plane taking off directly towards the camera. I'm using the cockpit as the tracking target. But the final result is actually more shakey than before. Meaning I have done something wrong! Any idea of what is happening?

[@tief1975]

nice & clear sir,, cheers

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Awesome! Thanks! Glad it helped! 😄

[@ultramoxx1148]

Thanks man

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Cheers!

[@jasonsemper637]

This video might just help me save some gorgeous but shaky footage!!

[@chrissre7935]

Its cool. Just have to remmember to do Extra Margins when shooting so that the face dsnt take too much of the frame.

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Very true! 😁

[@KynsonMitchell]

You can use the motion tile effect, with mirror edges enabled, to extend the margins by reflecting the video. It's really useful for this kinda stuff

[@ky3004]

I came here after watching the movie UPGRADE i would highly recommend it has the effect in many fight scenes and it looks dope

[@jpatricioau]

thanx!

[@Amddurin]

Thank you - I used the wrong tracking mode for hours, now I'm back on track... - How much slowmotion is the video? (120fps > 25fps?)

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

So glad to hear you're back on track! We unfortunately don't have the exact fps the video was shot in. However our best guess is between 180-300fps.

[@user-kn6jg8kj6d]

Thanks bro :D

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Any time!

[@laurentc.8952]

Do you know why it's not possible to remap the speed with the Motion Tracking ? Any advise on how to do it ?

[@laurentc.8952]

is it possible to do this with adding a pin for a pivot point ? what i mean if if for example i record a video with a drone of a round about in top down, i want to have the car tracked and the video rotating around the center of the round about ? Possible i guess but how :)

[@JD-co4hx]

AMAZING

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Thanks!

[@blsureshbabu5159]

Excellent

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Thanks!

[@dellasx]

Yo! This is one of the edit scene in IT 2019

[@justinderoche]

Thank you very much! Also, you sound like a member of Kids in the Hall. Are you Canadian?

[@CamiloMonsalve]

Do you know how to increase the speed of the trackings?

[@jrow96]

Hi, if I shoot footage in 360 at 6k is the same effect easily obtained?

[@utkubelur1957]

thank you

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Cheers!

[@LuxemTheFez]

Nice video

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Thanks!

[@jackiemoon1992]

thanks!

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

No problem!

[@abieg.9229]

instead of scaling up to get rid of your black space, add motion tile and change output height and width to 400, then check reflect edges

[@Jona]

is it possible to make this stabiization not as 100 % as it is? like a bit not-so-acurate?

[@JohnClashofClans]

I dont have a tracker window at all in my Premiere Pro CC 2019... any idea?

[@PonTran194]

because this is after effect, not premiere pro.

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Indeed Tran is correct with his response. It's for Ae instead of Premiere Pro. Sorry for the late response.

[@tomasistudios2618]

when I push stabilize tracker the marker does not appear this has stopped me in my tracks how do I get the marker to appear

[@Parsianimation]

thank youuuuuuuuu

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Cheers!

[@Parsianimation]

@@MotionArrayTutorials ^_^

[@cdfegab]

great tutorial, for some reason when i hit analyze forward nothing happens

[@ParasTube]

I really wish premiere Pro had something like this

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Same. You can do it manually but it takes more time and effort

[@billycasper3351]

Which software are you using ? Sorry I am new to your channel and this field.

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

For this video specifically? We're using Adobe After Effects. We also do tutorials mostly on Premiere Pro but we also have a couple on DaVinci Resolve as well

[@billycasper3351]

Really helpful. Thanks a lot for the response.

[@smbhakti46]

G.O.A.T

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

You're too kind 😄🙏

[@twasbrillig33]

You said the tutorial video to track objects was in the description below!! WHERE!???!?!!! please someone provide a link. Thank you!

[@manuelandresarayapalma5966]

I expected same app on my android, if it is possible share a googleplay link please

[@iamCairn]

Would this look bad with 1080p footage or noticeably degraded in quality?

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

It depends on how much the footage was zoomed in when everything is applied. If it ended up pushing in as close as in our example then yes 1080p would show a noticeable degrade. However, if the effect is powerful enough and enjoyable enough to look at, it might not be a problem. All depends on the individual scenario

[@m4gn3tic82]

Where do I scale? (Like when you aimed your mouse cursor at the video, which key did u press?)

[@leoroumette9635]

It's "S" or you can drop it with the arrrows and go to transform (I don't know if that's clear)

[@Sglaucoss]

Maybe this will work for drone shots to stabilize the subject. Like a orbit shooting

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

That could be really cool! If you did something like that we'd love to see the results 😀

[@surzulu4708]

Great video and very useful. Hope you could monetize it!

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Thank you so much! 😄 Money is secondary, helping comes first 😄🙏

[@adrienviglianisi]

Quiet fluid ;) What's your config? I'm trying to rig up a good workstation!

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Hi Adrien! I actually just literally upgraded my system a few days ago! But the computer used in this example was as follows Intel i7-5820k GTX 980Ti 32GB of ram Multiple SSDs holding the project files, scratch files, and footage separately for maximum speed The new system is I9-9900K RTX 2070 Super 64gb of ram And the same ssd configuration We actually have a video all about system requirements and in that video is included at the end potentially the best way of setting up your drives for maximum efficiency and therefore speed. I’ll link to that video as well 😄 And stay tuned! Because we have a video coming out hopefully soon detailing the best workstation possible for Ae (spoiler it’s pretty much that new 9900k system)

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/r4LJqmiwq9Odq7s

[@lyricsvalley3408]

I like it

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Thanks! 😄

[@TheSenseiKai]

By the way, this motion stabilization could be more automated. It's actually pretty easy maths when you have to calculate the best placement so you won't get out of the frame. (Sorry if my English don't make sense)

[@goolygooly11]

Your English is pretty understandable

[@filippo967]

How do the camera effect of the movie upgrade 2018?

[@JD-co4hx]

This also reminds me of footage created with gimbals

[@nalul8443]

Hi, can this be done in vegas pro?

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

We believe it would be likely that something like this can be accomplished in Vegas, however we are not very well-versed in Vegas and likely could not answer your question. So sorry

[@StephenProffitt]

What's the difference between this and 'Track Motion'?

[@DaisyDesigner18]

how to fix shaky cam.. :(

[@EnglishRain]

3:40 - hey man, did you ever figure out any alternate solution that scaling up? Something like 'reduce canvas style' instead? Scaling up ruins the quality with already low res videos.

[@mustafakareemmusaalasadi7796]

You can record in high resolution like 4k and scale it down to 1080 like David Fincher he shot 6k footage and then he framed the shot to 5k If your camera doesn't support the high resolution you can buy used canon eos m for 100$ dollars with hack software (magic lantern) you can shot 5.6k and then you can frame the shot to 4k without losing quality

[@asdjesdsd]

is there a way to do with premier only?

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Unfortunately we don't know of any way to do this exclusively in Premiere Pro 😢

[@Jeremanteca]

i came because of the "Don Abandons alice scene" in 28 weeks later, this effect is applied in the infected that chase Don

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

So cool! We'll have to go back and look for the effect in the movie? Thanks!

[@Jeremanteca]

@@MotionArrayTutorials :D

[@PaoloFarinellaPhoto]

Thanks for this! Why cannot I see all those options in my tracker window? I only see the 4 buttons :(

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Oh no, what are the four buttons you have available? Stabilize motion should be the bottom right option of the 4 trackers

[@PaoloFarinellaPhoto]

Motion Array Tutorials Well I have the 4 buttons but when I click on motion tracking I don’t have all the extra options like type, etc...

[@PaoloFarinellaPhoto]

Found it, just in case someone else has this issue!!! forums.adobe.com/thread/2055698

[@reviewsheview]

it does not work in ae cc 2017

bless you..

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Thank you!

[@bangkencuszgaming4214]

nice

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Thanks!

[@YoelDiamante]

after hitting apply XY, it is not stabilizng the clip. any suuggestion?

[@maxpis4412]

same, smh

[@Casiok]

Thanks I’m franzj now

[@fiveteensensei]

i just rendering footage for 10 sec from 150mb videos and the result is 1.8GB ? is that something wrong ?

[@russchau]

Do you know why it stops right after I click on Analyze Forward? Nothing happens when I click on Analyze Forward...

[@lubomiratan]

Jordi, your accent has gone worse... :D Love!

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Haha, what do you mean worse? 😂

[@lubomiratan]

@@MotionArrayTutorials I barely hear any accent in this old video, compared to new ones... Still the content is top notch ☺️

[@XtopherJames]

IS THIS POSSIBLE WITH PREMIERE PRO??

[@MarwenRicky]

No, it's not

[@shaggyburns]

How do you speed up the tracker??!?!!

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Hi Jack, was there a particular section you're referring to? If it's just the speed of Ae processing the tracking I sped that up in editing so that you didn't have to sit and watch it.

[@neongooroo]

Came here from a video that shows how to do the same thing in Final Cut with an add-on for 50$

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Hopefully no $50 add-on needed 😁

[@aprikurnia]

👍🏻

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Thanks!

[@paulghattouni7005]

where can i download the same video that u are using it??

[@jonathanveloso6229]

Show

[@dhevine4778]

Is there any apps in mobile can do this thing?

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

We are unaware of any mobile apps for this but will keep an eye out

[@TimsWildlife]

Did not work at all with my macro shot of a butterfly. Too shallow dof I guess.

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Oh no 😟 sorry to hear...yeah that may be the case

[@papi1kzay479]

Here from Don Toliver- no idea

[@jpatricioau]

what effect is the minute 1:42, where the bars vibrate in this video,( kzbin.info/www/bejne/qnXWl2R5prdmedE ) you could make a tutorial or buy a tutorial that is made and explain it? Thank you

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Hi Juan, that one could be a variety of different methods potentially. The first place we might think to start would be by key framing the puppet tool with a repetitive motion. But some experimentation would be needed. We can add it to our growing list and let you know if we end up being able to make a video on it. Thanks for the suggestion!

[@erc_g20]

I keep getting shaky stabilized motion. Smh