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.
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