User Manual

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One unavoidable side effect of the stabilization process is that transparent edges appear along
the edges of the image. These edges appear because the stabilizer does not have any
information about what lies off frame, so it cannot fill in the missing bits. The Planar Tracker
node offers the option to either crop or zoom away these edges. When filming, if the need for
post-production stabilization is anticipated, it can sometimes be useful to film at a higher
resolution (or lower zoom).
The Planar Tracker Stabilization Workflow
1 Track: Select a roughly planar region that represents the motion that you want to
stabilize. Track the shot (see the tracking workflow in the Track section).
2 Switch the Operation Mode to Stabilize: Until a stabilization is computed, the Planar
Tracker will just output the input footage.
3 Adjust stabilization options: Frequently changed options are Parameters to Smooth
and Smoothing Radius.
4 Compute stabilization: Press the Compute Stabilization button and wait for the
stabilization computations to finish. Play back the output of the Planar Tracker node to
see the effects of the stabilization. Notice that transparent edges have been introduced
around the edges of the image by the stabilization transform.
5 Refine: Adjust the stabilization options and recompute the stabilization as many times
as desired.
6 Handle transparent edges (optional): Set the Frame Mode to either Zoom or Crop
as desired and then click the Auto Zoom or Auto Crop button. Play back the footage
to observe the effects. If there is too much zoom or the image has been cropped too
small, try reducing the amount of smoothing.
Parameters to Smooth
Specify which of the following parameters to smooth:
X Translation
Y Translation
Rotation
Scale
Smoothing Window
When stabilizing a particular frame, this determines how the contributions of neighboring frames
are weighted. Available choices are Box and Gaussian.
Smoothing Radius (Frames)
Determines the number of frames whose transforms are averaged together to compute the
stabilization. A larger Smoothing Radius results in more smoothing but introduces more
transparent edges.
Compute Stabilization
Clicking this button runs the stabilizer, overwriting the results of any previous stabilization. As
soon as the stabilization is finished, the output of the Planar Tracker node will be immediately
updated with the stabilization applied.
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