Burning Question: How Do I get Great Results when Camera Tracking and Match Moving?

This question has come up many times with people looking for tips or the best products to use. This is a complex topic with artists who specialize in match moving. Techniques and tricks will vary based variables like lighting, movement, whether things go off screen, if the footage is handheld, if there are tracking markers, etc., so these tips and tutorials are more general. Whatever your project, you still want your results to look invisible. Here are a few tutorials and some products for better results!

This article features tutorials on general match moving. Specifically, we are featuring The Pixel Farm PF Track, Boris Mocha Pro, Boris Continuum: Match Move, and Boris Mocha Pro.

Featured image credit: Phillip Kofler @flooy

What is Match Moving?

Match Moving, often called camera tracking, is a method of tracking the live action in a shot so that you can match the camera moves when 3D, CGI, and visual effects elements are incorporated into a shot.

Listen to a computer voice read the Wikipedia entry on Match Moving for you.

Match Moving Examples

Matchmove demo reel examples

Drone Matchmoving Reel from Alexander Kolosovski

Will Phillips Matchmove Showreel 2015

“Matchmove Reel” – by Yvan Galtié

Match Moving and Camera Tracking Tutorials and Tips

Tracking and Matchmoving

Andrey Lebrov makes fantastic tutorials that include great tips and examples. He really knows his stuff!

More General Match Moving Help

• How to fix an impossible match move – The director of a Star Wars fan film offers advice for when it seems impossible for a shot to be match moved. From Creative Bloq.
• Tracking markers on a greenscreen – VFX New Zealand has some tips for you.
• VFX Camera Database – Look up the camera properties to help you solve shots.
• Matchmover tip: obtaining the actual field of view for any lens using a survey solve
• Lens specs of smartphones for camera tracking in Blender

Advanced Tips & Techniques with Mocha & AE

In this one hour tutorial, Ben Brownlee, VFX artist, and Curious Turtle trainer, works through some real-world examples of using Mocha in conjunction with Adobe After Effects and Boris Continuum Complete to tackle a number of challenges with a focus on image restoration and beauty work.

PFTrack Tutorial – 3d Camera Tracking

Tutorial from TunnelvizionTV. It’s a couple of years old but it’s a great tutorial.

Maya Tutorial: PFTrack To Maya

Another high-quality tutorial from TunnelvisionTV.

Boris Continuum Complete Match Move in Sony Vegas Pro

John Rofrano explains how to use BCC’s Match Move plug-in for OFX in Sony Vegas Pro to match text to movement on the screen.

Tools for Camera Tracking / Match Moving

Boris Mocha Pro

Powerful, award-winning motion tracking software driven by the highly-acclaimed mocha Planar Tracking Engine

mocha pro has the ability to track even the toughest and most problematic shots, even following objects that go off screen, become obscured by another object, or lose focus, because it tracks “pixel patterns”, not points. This same mocha technology that powers our products is also authorized our technology partners.

Get Boris Mocha Pro   Download Demo

Other Mocha options:

• Boris Mocha Pro Plug-in – Perpetual License
• Boris Mocha Pro Plug-in – Annual Subscription
• Boris FX: Continuum and mocha Pro Bundle
• Boris FX: Sapphire, Continuum, and mocha Pro Bundle

Mocha Training:

• Curious Turtle Getting Started with mocha Pro
  A new fundamentals course for mocha AE and mocha Pro.
• https://www.toolfarm.com/buy/curious_turtle_master_mocha_vol. 2
  Curious Turtle Master Mocha Vol.2 – A new series of tutorials for BorisFX’s Mocha family designed for those who know the interface but want to always get good results. The course is paced to introduce and reinforce ideas over time and shows many strategies on how to fix bad track and shape data. The total course is over 7 hours long, split into a total of 13 exercises.

Mary Poplin gives an overview of Mocha Pro’s camera solver.

The Pixel Farm PFTrack

Unrivaled 3D Tracking brings endless creative possibilities

PFTrack’s unparalleled match-moving and camera tracking precision make it the visual effects professional’s most in-demand tool. The latest ground-breaking release adds more ways to manipulate depth maps, UI improvements, comprehensive photogrammetry tools, experimental RGBD pipeline, and extended support for digital cinema cameras.

Get The Pixel Farm PFTrack       Download Demo

Boris Continuum Unit: Match Move

Fast and Easy Witness Protection and Billboard Sign Replacement

Blur out unwanted people and objects. Seamlessly match the movement of one clip to another for tricky shots. Includes 3 filters & 10 presets. Cross-host license.

Boris Continuum Unit: Match Move Download Demo

Boris Continuum Match Move is also included in these products. 

• Boris Continuum – Perpetual License
• Boris Continuum – Annual Subscription
• Boris FX: Continuum and mocha Pro Bundle
• Boris FX: Sapphire, Continuum, and mocha Pro Bundle