User Manual

To use the Track Center (Append) mode, do the following:
1 When the pattern has become untrackable for some reason, stop analysis and move
the playhead to the last frame that tracked successfully.
2 Choose Track Center (Append) from the Path Center pop-up menu in the Inspector.
3 Now, drag the Pattern selector to a new pattern that can be tracked from that
point onward.
4 Restart tracking from the current frame.
When selecting a pattern to use in appending to an existing path, a pattern that is close to the
old pattern and at the same apparent depth in the frame generates the best results. The further
away the new pattern is, the more likely it is that the difference in perspective and axial rotation
will reduce accuracy of the tracked result.
Setting Up Tracker Offsets
Often, it’s impossible to track the thing you want to apply an effect to. For example, the only
pattern available for an accurate track is a button on an actor’s sleeve. However, the effect
requires the person’s hand to be glowing. To cause the glow’s effect mask to be centered on
the actor’s hand, it’s necessary to use the Tracker Offset control.
The Tracker Offset controls in the Inspector.
The X and Y Offset controls allow for constant or animated positional offsets to be created
relative to the actual Tracker’s pattern center. The position of the offset in the viewer will be
shown by a dashed line running from the pattern center to the offset position. You can also
adjust the offset in the viewer using the Tracker Offset button. Clicking the button enables you
to reposition the path while keeping the Tracker pattern in place.
The Tracker Offset tool in the Node toolbar of the
viewer; a track of the orange dot is being offset to
the center of the ray gun.
Once an offset for a pattern is set, you can connect other positional controls to the Tracker’s
Offset menu using the Connect To > Tracker: Offset Position option in the control’s contextual
menu. The path created during the track remains fixed to the center of the pattern.
Chapter – 73 Using the Tracker Node 1502