Adding Track Anchors

You can add as many track anchors as required, depending on which transformational components you wish to track. For example, when tracking in areas of distortion or noise, it's a good idea to add a lot of tracking anchors and then average the results to get a better overall track.

1.

Enable the fast-add button and click in the Viewer to add tracking anchors, or click add track on the Tracker tab in the properties panel to create the required number of anchors.

Note:  Holding Ctrl/Cmd+Alt and clicking in the Viewer also enables fast-add mode.

New anchors always appear in the center of the current Viewer. You’ll also notice an anchor zoom window in the top left of the Viewer. This allows you to accurately position tracking anchors without zooming the entire Viewer.

2.

Temporarily disable tracks using the checkbox on the left of the panel or remove tracks by selecting them in the Tracks list and clicking delete tracks.

Positioning Track Anchors

Each track anchor consists of a pattern and search area:

• Pattern - the target pixels tracked across multiple frames. This pattern should be as distinct as possible from the surrounding frame and remain visible throughout the majority of the sequence.

• Search - the area of the current frame in which the pattern is likely to be found in the next frame. Large search areas can affect performance.

1.

Drag the crosshair in the center of the anchor over the pattern to be tracked or manually adjust the track_x and track_y fields in the Tracks list.

In the example, the corner of a building is directly under the crosshair.

Note:  You can enable Settings > snap to markers to assist you when placing anchors.

Note:  Whether you select blobs or corners, a guide displays in the Viewer as you drag the anchor, highlighting likely patterns.

Release the mouse to snap the anchor to the marker.

2.

Adjust the pattern and search areas as required using the following methods:

• Click and drag the boundaries to adjust on a single axis. For example, dragging a vertical boundary adjusts the area on the x axis.

• Click and drag the corners of the boundaries to adjust on both axes. Hold Shift, click and drag to scale the area.

Note:  Hold Cmd/Ctrl to adjust boundaries asymmetrically, that is, irrespective of the anchor position.

3.

Reset the pattern and search areas by clicking in the Viewer tools.