Help wanted following an object in video - Please read in

Hi there,
This is my first post on the forum.
I hope to be able to help others as I get more proficient in FCPX.

I have filmed a presentation given by a person and the presentation is projected onto a screen to the presenter's right.
I plan to replace the presentation on the video with imported frames of the original presentation lifted from the original powerpoint.
My plan is to split the screen of the video project into thirds so that the presenter occupies the right hand third of the screen and the powerpoint slides occupy the other two thirds.
The problem I have is that the presenter tends to move about and I need to keep them in shot by tracking him in the right hand side pane of the video.
This is not something I have had to do before and despite reading books and googling, I cannot find out how to do it,
Please can anyone give me some guidance here?
I may not be explaining myself properly or there may be a facility within FCPX that does this out of the box although I cannot find it.
Any help/pointers would be gratefully received.

Many thanks

Dave

Welcome to the forum Dave.

Do you kow SliceX / TrackX ?

It's the tool that most of us use for this kind of job.

More specifically what you need is TrackX.

Hi Dave, hi Manoucho,

not sure if I understand this right, maybe we can clarify? I understand that you want to keep the presenter in the right hand pane, is this correct? But he moves around so you basically want to move the whole image to the left and right so that the presenter remains in the original position?

You could keyframe the position parameter in the inspector pane to smoothen this but it can take a while to get it right.

Manoucho, how would you use TrackX for this? Have no Mac here right now so cannot play around.

Good night!

I also don't have FCPX open so it might not be exactly the right process.

1. Add the video on the primary storyline
2. Duplicate the video on top of it and disable it
3. Bring a TrackX layer. Track the presenter. As source clip for the layer, choose the duplicated video
4. Now your TrackX layer is the original video that is moving with the presenter. You just have to crop it on the sides for your split screen and that should be it.

Hey Manoucho & Overturf,
First of all thanks for replying to my question.

You have both understood what I am trying to do correctly.
I would like to end up with a video that is shifting left to right as the presenter moves so i can keep them centred. Then I can crop the screen so they can be situated on the right hand third of the screen with a video of the powerpoint presentation running in the other two thirds of the screen.

I rather stupidly said I'd have it finished by tuesday and so far I've achieved nothing.

I've downloaded the demo of Track X and installed it.

So step by step I have done this:

1. Imported camera file (Clip 1) Originally approx 10mins but now using a 2 second clip
2. Added the video to the primary storyline.
3. I duplicated the clip using apple-C, Apple V then placed it on the lane above the original clip.
4. I then right click to disable the original clip.
5. I bring the TrackX layer onto the lane above the duplicate and trim it to the same length as the video clip.
6. Placing the cursor at the start I then define shape on the presenter and then press track.
7. The program does its stuff and I have a shape that correctly tracks with the presenters movement.
8. This is where I get lost... I have done something wrong of you have wrongly assumed basic human intelligence at this end
9. Manoucho, your step four doesn't work for me. I've been at it for hours and am stuck.

Please can you give me a step by step "Dummies Guide" to doing this?

Cheers

Dave

Hi Lizardpoint,

this is what I wanted to know from Manoucho, too. I know that TrackX is a great tracking tool and I used it successfully a couple of times but I don't know how to sort of "invert" the tracking so that the video slips left/right and the presenter stays in the given position. Hopefully someone can chime in here.

Until then, did you try keyframing the position parameters in the inspector? You could put a black solid generator on top of your presenter-clip and crop the right border of this generator. This provides a very simple mask that covers the two thirds on the left and lets you see only the part on the right. Now when the subject moves you change the position value of the presenter-clip until the subject is at the correct position. Keyframe that. Depending on how long your clip is and on how much your subject walks around this can be a lot of work, though.

Does anyone know if one could achieve this with sort of image stabilization in tripod mode? Thinking of Lock&Load here?

Too bad I'm out of the office.

Lizardpoint, maybe you can post some seconds of your material to see how bad it is?

Best,
Sebastian

If i understand correctly:

I think it is a situation where I woud 1- STABILIZE the speaker clip with MOTION to do the job of keeping the speaker a the fix position ( the raster will go crazy...) 2- Output the result then import back in FCPX: position, zoom and crop at desired position... 3- add slides on the other side of the frame

Hey Francois,
Thanks for reading my post.
I've downloaded and installed the trial of lock n load but I'm missing something here too as every time I hit the track motion, I get a "No tracking Data" alert.
I've done this several times, watched the tutorial and I cannot get it to work...

I'm hoping Manoucho will tell me what I'm doing wrong with Track X asI seem to have got partial results with it.

Cheers

Dave

I will try to put my theory to test and will post back in about 7 hours , i must go out for a while ...

Hey Francois,
I really appreciate your help.
I've set myself a real dumb timescale and am regretting the entire project...
I'd appreciate anything you can tell me.
Cheers
Dave

Dave,

did you see my post above Francois' post? Any good for you using keyframes and masking the simple way?

Sorry guys I was away from office as well.

Lock & Load will achieve very bad results in my opinion, because it's meant to stabilize the image as a whole. It might work but you'd still need TrackX to isolate the presenter. (Of course I might be wrong)

Dave, I see you're online. Can you post here a We Transfer link with the footage (or part of it?)

I will try to see what's wrong with Step 4 and then explain to you better how to achieve it.

PS: now Dave you're regretting the project but after you've learned how to do it you will be happy to have more skills!

Hi

So I've spent some time to try it with some footage I have. Everybody was right, and I was wrong

There are at least two methods (there might be more!). They might work both, or none might work, it depends on your footage.

Method 1 (automatic, might work brillantly or fail miserably). Idea of François.

1. Add SliceX Shape Mask Layer to your clip.
2. Create a shape around your subject & track that shape.
3. You get a clip with only your presenter. All the rest is black.
4. Export this clip.
5. Import that clip and use Lock & Load to stabilize it. Click Track Motion. In the parameters choose: Scaling mode: fixed scaling, Stabilization mode: Smooth, single shot. Set Strength to 2, and Horizontal to 2. The rest to 0. [Note: this step is the one where you might have to tweak the parameters to get something satisfactory.]
6. Cmd-C this clip. Select your original clip in the timeline and Cmd-Shift-V. Paste "Lock And Load". This will paste the stabilization.
7. Crop your footage on the sides as you were planning to and place it next to your other clip with the screen.

That should work.


Method 2 (Manual. Will work, with patience). Idea of Overturf.
1. Chose your clip.
2. Track manually your presenter with keyframes. Go on the first frame of your clip, and in the inspector use the position parameters to place him in the middle of the screen. Of course you will have black bar on one side but you will crop later. Toggle keyframing on. Everytime he's start to move in one direction, add a keyframe.
3. Etc. I think I don't have to explain that one but if we do just ask.

PS: it's apparently a recurring question that is asked to Coremelt. There is a thread called Keeping talking head centered in frame that you can find here: www.fcp.co/forum/4-final-cut-pro-x-fcpx/...ad-centered-in-frame

The final solution has not been given but I will ask if somebody can update it.

Good luck!

Edit:
Maybe a method 3 found on Apple Communities:
discussions.apple.com/thread/4789234

I don't know if that works or not.

Hey guys,

Great News !!
I did it Francois' way ...
I exported the clip as a movie, imported it into Motion, then used the stabilise plugin set to horizontal only and then export that back out of motion.
Seems to be fine but the proof will be when I get it back into FCPX and crop it down.
Thank you all for your help !!
I'll try to post a brit of the footage when its finished.
Cheers
Dave

:woohoo:

Updated first post and made other tests:

Depending on footage, MOTION "stabilize behavior" can use full image, a specified surface or traditional tracking points. I have also tested Davinci Resolve stabilizer which is quite a performer !

Thanks to everyone who helped me get through this....

Cheers

Dave