Working With Autodesk MatchMover 2014

The process of creating assets and compositing a shot requires the vital puzzle piece known as match moving. Match moving is the technical ability to track a shot by computing the camera movements and translating those camera movements into a virtual camera. This virtual camera mimics the translation, rotation, and scale of the scene. One of the most popular software that has camera tracking capabilities is Adobe After Effects. The After Effects tracker does your basic tracking needs. The user chooses a series of points depending on how technical the track is. The reason the Adobe After Effects tracker is not used widely in the industry for high-end shots is because of it's limitations. After Effects CC has introduced a new 3D tracker, but even then, it lacks the capabilities of the industry standard Mocha Pro or The Foundry's Nuke. It's been stated as being more of a 2.5D tracker. Where do users go for cheap, but efficient match moving capabilities?

Autodesk MatchMover 2014 is a free alternative. I prefer MatchMover because of easy assimilation with Autodesk Maya 2016. It's as easy as exporting a .ma file from MatchMover and importing that .ma file into Maya.

The "automatic tracking" function allows tracking at a click of a button. For a more custom track, and for those tough shots that need special attention. The settings in the automatic track window adjust the sensitivity and density, and can increase the quality and number of tracks in the shot. Using the "clean-up assistant" after using the automatic tracker deletes the trackers the user does not find necessary. Throughout the course of tracking and editing, it is best to take note that executing the "solve for camera" function under the 3D tracking tab after every few edits. Doing so helps maintain the scene. To improve the quality of the track even more, scroll through the number of high quality track points (usually green) that have a duration of the entire sequence, and set them as a "hard track". This gives those points priority over all of the other tracks. Adding manual tracks into the video sequence builds upon the track as well. Be careful, adding poor manual tracks can worsen the track.

The "contour" function in MatchMover works as a mask. It is easy to draw out and edit through the sequence. For those not experienced with using the contour tool, it's best used for areas of the composition where the user would not want tracking data to be calculated. For example, an overexposed wall, or an actor, walking through a corridor.

There is an ability to insert a simple geometric mesh that can be used as temporary sample of how the shot is tracked, and whether or not there are sudden jerks or shits of the camera. The mesh can be transformed, rotated, and scaled. There is a render function too that renders the tracking points, and geometric mesh.

One of the biggest downfalls with MatchMover 2014 is the poor "coordinate system" set-up. It rarely performs as it should. For example, the "distance" tab doesn't explain as what it means. Is it inches, meters, centimeters? It is actually just Autodesk's default measuring system, If the Maya preferences have been changed to inches, then pretend to set the number to inches. Once inputting the tracker information, and which axis is which, it's time to create the new coordinate system. Majority of the time it simply doesn't execute the way the user would imagine. It is either upside down, or rotated in a weird mismanaged fashion. Even after multiple rounds of adjusting the information it is usually not as good what the "automatic tracking" outputs. Manually adjusting the coordinate system can help, but at times, can cause issues with re-solving the camera. The camera may not be able to solve and the tracking points can become altered and not work as well as they once did.

The inferface for MatchMover is not terrible, but it is not immaculate either. The biggest weakness is controling the viewport, especially when in 3D mode. It can be difficult to control where to look, but most of the time it gets the job done.

Autodesk MatchMover 2014 is a great alternative to the more well-known software. The ease to export from MatchMover to Maya can't get simpler.

On a side note, Autodesk also offers a free compositing software, Autodesk Composite. With the tracking abilities of Autodesk MatchMover, 3D magic in Maya, and compositing tools in Composite, cash-strapped individuals looking to create motion pictures, or 3D animations, can do so without breaking the bank.



        

Introduction to Video Compositing

In today's media dominated world, there is an increasing amount of video content being produced. This content is presented to the audience as documentaries, music videos, films, television spots, or even a simple YouTube video. One of the most important aspects to creating these forms of media is the ability to composite a shot and have it produced in a manner that is aesthetically pleasing to the audience.

What does compositing a shot mean? Compositing is the act of adding elements not originally in the shot to enhance the final composition. Everyone who watches any decently produced media encounters compositing. For example, the compositor could add a tree in the background that wasn't originally there, or the most common technique, shooting in-front of a green screen and inserting a background image behind the main object in focus.

The workflow of compositing the piece of media starts with planning the shot. Where and when is the shot? How will the shot be taken? Based off how the shot looks, the sky may be replaced with a more pleasant and appropriate sky, and the weird edge of a building may be masked out. 3D objects may be added to the shot to give a more dynamic feel. In order to do all of this, various artists have to create these assets for the compositor to work with. The sky may be taken from Adobe Stock and then used by the compositor after he/she created a matte of the original sky. The 3D objects would be modeled, textured, and animated by a 3D artist. Once everything is ready for the compositor, the scene can be properly arranged and composited.

Node-Based compositing allows the compositor to visual manage the edits of the composition via tree-like graph. One node is the original footage. The user would then create another node for masking the image, and have it "linked" to the original node (the footage), and then create another node connecting to the footage for color correction. After many edits the node-area looks like a huge family tree. This form of compositing is very effective and allows the compositor to "un-link" and "link" nodes very quickly with much ease. Node-Based compositing like The Foundry Nuke and Blackmagic Fusion are some of the industry standards for node-based compositing. My experience is that with node-based compositing, animating too many elements can be tedious, but the quality of the tools available for proper compositing is top-notch.

The Foundry Nuke's Interface

Layer-Based composting is best described as layers similar to what is in Photoshop. Adobe After Effects is the dominate layer-based compositing program. The hierarchy order of the layers works as if the top layer is the top image in the display window, and the bottom layer is usually the background image. This type of compositing is great for motion graphics and animated designs. It can get the job done with your average video compositing needs, but the layer workspace can become cluttered and slow down your machine after too many effects and adjustments are made. I also find the compositing tools in node-based programs to be a higher quality, even in the discontinued Autodesk Composite, I find the matte extraction function very effective.

Adobe After Effects Showing Off It's Goodness

It all comes down to preference, but if you're looking to get a compositing gig I suggest becoming familiar with node-based compositing. It may be scary and difficult to work in a new environment, but the benefits of producing dynamic composites will pay off.