Motion Vector:Create Digital Fusion Examples.

NOTE: You need Twixtor 4.5 for these examples. You also need Digital Fusion 4.04e or later or Fusion 5 or later.

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

You'll find the 5 examples below in the MVCCreateExamples fusion file.

VectorCreateSimpleExample

This sample node 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).

MVC2_VectorCreateNoFgMaskUsed, MVC2_VectorCreateFGMaskused

For this project we leave the Display setting at Vectors.

Note the influence on the hand on the motion vectors in the "NoFGMaskUsed" node. The motion of the hand influences the motion of the background (the wall and face).

In the node "MVC2_VectorCreateNoFgMaskUsed" you can see how you can use a matte to separate foreground and background for even better results when an object in front passes other objects to get better results from Motion Vectors Create.

We also suggest setting the Display setting to Debug and playing with the various Debug Modes to see how the mattes affect the quality of the tracking.

Digital Fusion 4 users take note: it is not obvious by looking at the flow, but in the node "MVC2_VectorCreateFGMaskused" the LayersFGMask clip has been connected to the VectorCreateFG1Matte input mask setting that can be reached by right-clicking on the image in the viewer when the Vector Create node is selected (see the manual). This connection was accomplished by right-clicking in the viewer when the Vector Create node was selected and selecting "Bitmap" from the VectorCreateFG1Matte submenu.Also note that the connected clip's controls show up in the Masks tab for Vector Create.

Fusion 5 users: it should be obvious that the LayersFGMask clip has been connected to the VectorCreateFG1Matte input mask. This was done by right-clicking in the viewer when the Vector Create node was selected and selecting "Bitmap" from the VectorCreateFG1Matte submenu.

The rest of the examples are only applicable for Fusion 5.01 or later.

MVC3_ProblemShown, MVC3_WithSplines

These nodes show how, with Vector Create, you can get better results by guiding Vector Create with the use of Fusion's splines.

The node "MVC3_ProblemShown" exhibits what happens when Vector Create is not supplied manual tracking help. Note that the result is very unsatisfactory.

The node "MVC3_WithSplines" shows how you can guide Vector Create, in this case with two splines

For you to do and notice:

- Note that the tracking is very much improved
- To see the splines Vector Create is using to help guide the track, set Display to Source or Debug. When in this mode you can see that Vector Createdraws all of the splines being used.
- To see the splines Vector Create is using to help guide the tracking, set Display to Source. When in this mode you can see that Vector Create draws all of the splines being used.
- Because we've helped with tracking guidance, we've set all layers' Motion Sensitivities to 100.
- The splines' "Layer" setting is set to Main_BG (this is the default).
- The splines' "Use" setting is set to ON (this is the default)

MVC4_ProblemShown, MVC4_LayersAndSplines

These nodes show how, with Vector Create, you can get better results by guiding Vector Create with the use of a few judicial splines used in tandem with Vector Create's layer separation feature.

The node "MVC4_ProblemShown" exhibits what happens with regular Vector Create with no layer separation. Note that the result is very unsatisfactory.

The node "MVC4_LayersAndSplines" shows how you can guide Vector Create. in this case with 1 tracking point per layer.

For you to do and notice:

- Note that the Layer menu for the spline BG_EyesAndEars is set to "Main_BG"
- Note that the Use menu for the spline FG1_Eye set to "FG1"
- Note that the tracking has been improved
- To see (or animate) the Vector Create's splines set Display to Source or Debug. When in this mode you can see that Vector Create draws the spline being used to guide Vector 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.
- Its really important to note the spline guiding the background: it guides the background movement while the foreground obscures it (particularly note where the spline is for the second source frame of the sequence), thus guiding the motion estimator even through motion that is hidden.

MVC5_ProblemShown, MVC5_LayersAndSplines

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

The node "MVC5_ProblemShown" exhibits what happens with Vector Create, even with layer separation. Note that the result is very unsatisfactory.

For you to do and notice in the node named "MVC5_LayersAndSplines":

- Note that the tracking is greatly improved
- To see (or animate) the Vector Create 's splines, set Display to Source. When in this mode you can see that Vector Create draws the splines being used to guide Vector Create. Note that the tracking is signifcantly Debug. has been removed
- 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.
- Not all splines are used at all frame times to help guide Vector Create. Note that we move the splines off the image when not needed.
- 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.
- Not all rotosplines are used at all frame times to help guide VectorCreate. Note that we move the rotosplines off the image when not needed. To see when a spline is used, you can set the Display mode to Source and then turn on DrawGeom. When a spline is drawn, it is being used.
- Note that each spline is assigned to its appropriate separation layer.
- So that splines moved from off image to on image don't adversely affect the tracking, we animate VectorCreate's Use setting to OFF for each rotospline when a splines not meant to be used (that is, when off the image) and ON when it should be used. Remember, to be helpful in guiding Vector Create, you must animate the rotospline (and have it active) on at least two source frames.
- It is really important to note that the splines used for guidance show VectorCreate where objects move as they are obscured or as they move on/off screen.

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