MOCHA AE dancing / flickering result in After Effects

MOCHA AE dancing / flickering result in After Effects

on Sep 5, 2015 at 7:23:17 pm

Hi everyone

I really hope someone can help me out here — it is getting a bit frustrating. I hope it is because i am a bit of a novice when it comes to tracking and someone can say to me; 'Hey — you just forgot about that button. Push that, and it works.'

Here is my problem. The result of my tracking in After Effects is dancing around, making these small tiny flickers. Try to see the result here:

The icon on his forehead is somehow ok in it's following of his movement, but it looks weird and not 'realistic' when it flickers all the time.

Here is what i have tried so far:

1) Removed the Anchor Point animation and made a 'reset'
2) Tried switching off "Position" and "Scale"
3) I have tried it with {x} in 'perspective in Mocha for AE and made the layers in After Effects 3D
4) I have tracked the camera in After Effects and created a camera based on that
5) I have tried to stabilize the footage, but that didn't go well….

In Mocha for After Effects it 'jumps' a bit, but i don't feel it is THAT much as the result in After Effects shows.
Try to look at a screen recording i did of the tracking part:

I really hope someone can help me out here. It seems ilke i am missing some basic knowhow when it comes to tracking.

Looking forward to hear your response.

// Brokop

Re: MOCHA AE dancing / flickering result in After Effects

by Marc Nibor

on Sep 5, 2015 at 8:10:36 pm

It's quite hard to tell, looking at your example. But it looks like you made the mistake almost everyone makes when using mocha for the first time.

Was your cursor (timeslider) at the correct position when you pasted the keyframes?

Make sure to move your timeslider in after effects to exactly the same position where you started to track in mocha.

this means if you started tracking at 0.00 you must be sure that your timeslider is exactly there when you paste the keyframes.

I'm almost certain that this is the cause of your problem since tracking this footage without an error should be a piece of cake for mocha.

Re: MOCHA AE dancing / flickering result in After Effects

by Kalle Kannisto

on Sep 6, 2015 at 10:28:18 am

That certainly looks like a timing error, either as per above response or a frame rate difference between original and tracking data.

Re: MOCHA AE dancing / flickering result in After Effects

on Sep 6, 2015 at 10:48:05 am

Hi Kalle

Thank you for your response. As i said to Marc; i have double checked the position and timing of the cursors positioning — and of course checked that it is not a 25 fps. vs 29.97 fps. error.

The problem — as i see it, is not the tracking, but the flickering.

Thank you again for answering.

// Brokop

Re: MOCHA AE dancing / flickering result in After Effects

by Kalle Kannisto

on Sep 6, 2015 at 12:28:20 pm

I did a quick test with simple two point AE tracking, one point in the inside corner of right eye and the other in the collar, and got this result. The tracking is pretty good even this way and Mocha does a better job.

9235_trackingtest.mov.zip

Re: MOCHA AE dancing / flickering result in After Effects

on Sep 6, 2015 at 1:05:47 pm

Hi Kalle

Thank you so much for doing this simple test. And you're right — it should just be that simple. It should just be that i make a tracking point, and the icon would sit still and move along with his head.
I have no clue why i just can't do what you just did. It is odd that the icon jumps around like that.

Will it be ok to ask of you to send me the .aep file — and can you tell me which settings you had put on the tracking part. (Rotation, camera, scale, anchor point etc.). And is there some basic setting — besides making sure to start at the same timeframe and the fps should be the same as well — that i have missed?

I have gone through several tutorials and worked with Mocha and tracking before. This just makes me .... in lack of a better word .... confused.

// Brokop

Re: MOCHA AE dancing / flickering result in After Effects

by Kalle Kannisto

on Sep 6, 2015 at 1:20:07 pm

Here's the file (AECC14). You can see the track point location and size. There might be better spots for the track points, but one needs to be near the target (forehead) and the other needs to track the rotation of the head in relation to it, so somewhere near the neck is good for the second track point.

9236_trackingtest.aep.zip

Re: MOCHA AE dancing / flickering result in After Effects

on Sep 6, 2015 at 1:22:33 pm

Thank you so much.

Have a nice day.

// Brokop

Re: MOCHA AE dancing / flickering result in After Effects

on Sep 6, 2015 at 10:46:02 am

Hi Marc and thanks for your response

You're right; it is a common mistake, but i am positive that this is not the case. I have checked it and double-checked it again, and after that; double checked it ones more.

And if you look at the footage, you can see that the icon is actually following the movement of his face pretty precisely. So; it is not the tracking itself that is the problem. The problem is the dancing around / flickering.