Motion Tracking inside FCPX

I am an Avid editor learning FCPX (loving it so far). I have a question. Is there a motion tracking feature in this app without having to purchase a third party plugin?

Hey Rick, welcome to the forum.

Glad to hear you are enjoying FCP X.

Nope there is no motion tracking inside FCP X, the SliceX/Mocha plugin from CoreMelt is your best friend for this.
Or you can use FCP X's companion app Motion 5 to do the Motion tracking and export the clip to FCP X.

- Ronny

That really sucks. Apple need to put those kind of things into the app it is extremely useful to have those features built in already. I am learning as I go along but so far this is a awesome program. I see where they are going with it so I decided to add it to my skill set. Thanks for the response accept my friend request you seem to know your stuff with this FCPX. Thanks again.

Yes it is an awesome program and I appreciate that, as an Avid editor, you can see where it's going. During the past years I have learned that Avid and FCP X actually go along very well in large facilities. They both have unique strengths, so as a post-production manager it is much wiser to have Avid and FCP X in-house than Avid and FCP7 or Premiere.

I agree it would be useful to have motion tracking built inside the app. But FCP X is a work in progress. Features that are useful to a very large user base or features that are important for a specific target market (such as MXF for the broadcast industry) are added first, and they give third-party developers the chance to fill in the holes for features that haven't made it into the app yet.

We gradually see more things from Motion being ported to FCP X, so I wouldn't be surprised if drawing bezier masks and motion tracking will also make it as built-in features one day.

- Ronny

We gradually see more things from Motion being ported to FCP X, so I wouldn't be surprised if drawing bezier masks and motion tracking will also make it as built-in features one day.

That would make a lot of folks happy. But also can't help but wonder about the future of Motion as a stand-alone program.

Russ

Hi Russ,

I really wouldn't be worried about that.

- Ronny

FCPX will never have the extensive toolset as Motion. To put both in one app would require junking up interfaces very badly, which IMHO would be a huge step backwards.

Remember that Apple has publicly said their plan for FCPX all along has been the DSLR model. You buy the body, then add on accessories that you want, don't pay for what you don't need. At $299 (USD) it is way cheaper than PPro or MC. So adding on SliceX/TrackX I don't see as an issue. Besides, Coremelt can devote more resources and focus more on that than Apple can. Apple has a LOT on their plate, so let the guys who are best at specifics do it. The price is right for it.

But yeah, Motion and FCPX aren't becoming the same application. They're going to share tools, probably more and more, but I can't see that happening 100%. NLE interface and motion graphics/effects interfaces simply are apples to onions.