Motion Vector:Create Combustion Examples.

NOTE: You need Motion Vector:Create 4.0 for these examples. You also need Combustion 3.0 or later.

This directory contains several projects to help explain features of Motion Vector:Create .

Important: These tutorials assume you have read the manual that was put on your disk with the plugin upon installation.

Before opening the project examples, make sure to move the movies from the SourceMovies folder into this folder (make sure the movies are in the same directory with the After Effects projects, otherwise After Effects may not find them).

In all these examples we've set the Display setting to Debug. As is pointed out in the manual, when at frame 0 and you are calculating motion vectors to the previous frame you are really debugging the motion vectors calculated at frame 1. Of course before you would use the motion vectors you'd want to make sure that Display is set to Motion Vectors.

MVC_1SimpleExample

This sample project shows a simple example. In this example we've applied Motion Vectors:Create to a piece of footage. We've set the Display setting to Debug. As is pointed out in the manual, when at frame 0 and you are calculating motion vectors to the previous frame you are really debugging the motion vectors calculated at frame 1.

Try setting the Motion Sensitivity to 0 (to force minimal pixel movement, which creates a poor track for this sequence) and see what happens to the created Debug images. Notice that when Debug View Mode is Diff that when there is more white in the areas of difference between the source image and the image of the surrounding frame warped using the motion vetors (that is, poor tracking).

Play with other Debug View Modes and see what is displayed in both good tracking (Motion Sensitivity set to 70) and bad tracking (Motion Sensitivity set to 0).

MVC_2LayerExample

This sample project shows how, with Motion Vectors:Create, you can use a matte to separate foreground and background for even better results when an object in front passes other objects.

Note the comparison between the No FG Mask Used comp (poor tracking) and FG Mask Used comp, the former has better tracking because the plugin can differentiate between foreground and background object movement based on the supplied matte.

MVC_3TrackPointExample

This sample project show how, with Motion Vectors:Create, you can get better results by guiding Motion Vectors:Create the use of a few judicial Track Points.

The composition "Problem Shown" exhibits what happens with regular Motion Vectors:Create with no help guiding the tracking. Note that the object on the left is not tracked well in the Motion Vectors:Create Debug result.

The composition "WithTracking Pts" shows how you can guide Motion Vectors:Create... in this case with 3 tracking points.

For you to do and notice:

- Note that the Use menu for for Track Points 1, 2 and 3 have been set to "Main_BG"
- Note that the tracking is better in the comp using tracking points
- To see the Motion Vectors:Create's track points, set Display to Source or Debug. When in this mode you can see that Motion Vectors:Create draws all of the points being used. Make sure to animate Track Points when Display is set to Source or Debug.
- Because we've helped with tracking guidance, we've set the Motion Sensitivities to 100.

MVC_4SplineGuidance

This sample project show how, with Motion Vectors:Create, you can get better results by guiding Twixtor the use of a After Effects' masks.

The composition "Problem Shown" exhibits what happens when Motion Vectors:Create is not supplied manual tracking help. Note that the result is very unsatisfactory.

The composition "With Mask Guides" shows how you can guide Motion Vectors:Create. in this case with an AE mask.

For you to do and notice:

- Note that the tracking is very much improved
- To see the splines Motion Vectors:Create is using to help guide the track, set Display to Source or Debug. When in this mode you can see that Motion Vectors:Create draws all of the points being used.
- Note that by default, when each is assigned to the Main_BG layer, which is appropriate since we only have 1 layer to be tracked.yer, that the mask is used to help guide Motion Vectors:Create because the Mask Opacity (viewable in AE's timeline) for the mask is, by default, set to100%.
- Because we've separated the image into layers, and because we've helped with tracking guidance, we've set all layers' Motion Sensitivities to 100.

MVC_5TrackPointsAndLayers

This sample project show how, with Motion Vectors:Create, you can get better results by guiding Motion Vectors:Create the use of a few judicial Track Points used in tandem with Motion Vectors:Create's layer separation feature.

The composition "Problem Shown" exhibits what happens with regular Motion Vectors:Create with no layer separation. Note that the result is very unsatisfactory.

The composition "Twixtor Pro w Tracking Pts" shows how you can guide Motion Vectors:Create. in this case with 1 tracking point per layer.

For you to do and notice:

- Note that the Use menu for for Track Point 1 is set to "Main_BG"
- Note that the Use menu for for Track Point 2 is set to "FG1"
- Note that the tracking has been improved
- To see (or animate) the Motion Vectors:Create's track points, set Display to Source or Debug. Whenin this mode you can see that Motion Vectors:Create draws the spline being used to guide Motion Vectors:Create.
- Because we've separated the image into layers, and because we've helped with tracking guidance, we've set all layers' Motion Sensitivities to 100.
- Is really important is to note the track point guiding the background: it guides the background movement while the foreground obscures it (particularly note where the track point is for the second source frame of the sequence). thus guiding the motion estimator through motion that is hidden.

MVC_6SplinesAndLayers

You will need Combustion 3 or later this example.

This example shows a very complex example with 4 layers (3 foreground mattes supplied) and several masks, used on several layers, to guide Sourcer's tracking.

The composition "Problem Shown" exhibits what happens with Motion Vector:Create Pro, even with layer separation. Note that the result is very unsatisfactory.

For you to do and notice in the comp named "Splines and Layers":

- Note that it is advisable to set Combustion to calculate frames at Half resolution (that is, "Medium" is recommended for Combustion's quality setting).. This is so you can easily navigate the project. After you've explored the project and its settings, you might want to turn this to Full to see how much better the results are.
- Note that the tracking has been improved
- Because we've separated the image into layers, and because we've helped with tracking guidance, we've set all layers' Motion Sensitivities to 100.
- Note that for each spline has been assigned to a particular layer by setting the "Layer" setting for each spline.
- Note that by default, when the spline is created that the spline, by default, is used to help guide Motion Vector:Create because the Use parameter is, by default, set to On.
- Not all splines are used at all frame times to help guide Motion Vector:Create . Note that the Use setting for each spline is keyframed to Off when not used at a particular source time. When not used to help guide the tracking, the splines are often moved off the image.
- Remember, to be helpful in guiding Motion Vector:Create , you must animate the spline (and have it active via the Use setting) on at least two source frames.
- Note that the Use setting should be animated when in "source time," that is, when Display is set to Source or Debug.
- To see what Motion Vector:Create is using to guide the tracking, set Display to Source or Debug. Note that Motion Vector:Create does not draw the masks unless they are active (via the Use setting) AND the Display menu is set to Source or Debug.
- Is really important is to note that the splines used for guidance often show Motion Vector:Create where objects move as they are obscured or move on/off screen.

Copyright 2000-2004 RE:Vision Effects, Inc.