Golf Videos - Tracking Lines | Creating Angles | Moving Circles

[Narey]

Hello all!

I'm quite new to After Effects and want to apply some AE skills to a friends YouTube videos.

There's a channel on YouTube called MeAndMyGolf - they use some neat looking tricks.

Example: HOW IMPORTANT IS YOUR BACK SWING FOR GOLF? - YouTube

They use lines which moves with the club shaft, circles that move with the club head and other important factors such as the hands and they also use like a degree looking effect to show movement.

Could anyone suggest how I would be able to implement these ideas and create my own version?

Thanks

Adam

[Mylenium]

There's litterally nothing in the video that goes beyond basic 2D tracking and by ways of it pinning some basic graphical elements to points in the video. It's trivial. You just have to learn some basics in AE.

Mylenium

[Narey]

I am learning AE - still a very new beginner hence the question lol.

I'm still learning motion tracking but still looking at YouTube videos on how to make sure a line is on the same shaft line - is this a case of frame by frame matching it with the shaft?

God knows where to start on the angles that constantly move - again still a noob.

Thanks,

Adam

[Roei Tzoref]

I am not following exactly. the video does not show graphics that sticks to a moving element in the scene (this requres Tracking), the graphic overlay are not moving but simply reveal themselves. if you want to know how to reveal graphics you should learn all about shape layers in Ae.

is this a case of frame by frame matching it with the shaft?

no, you track the footage. but I don't see anything of the sort in this video.

start your Ae journey here: After Effects tutorials

[Rick Gerard · Accepted solution]

Here's the best suggestion that I can give you that you can use right away to make your After Effects life easier. In your sample a new shot starts at about 2:24 and runs to about 3:20. In the shot (or take if you prefer) there are several overlay effects. The first one lasts about 20 seconds. Then there is a cut to another camera for a couple of seconds and the shot continues. At about 3:55 there is another overlay effect that lasts for about 4 seconds, then at about 4:18 there is another overlay effect that lasts for about 3 seconds. This pattern continues throughout the film. Short overlays on longer shots.

So what is my point? About 99% of all new users would put the entire shot in a comp and try and edit in a whole string of effects. I cannot even count how many time I have seen people working 10 or 15 minute comps that should have been split up into a dozen or more comps that were five to seven seconds long. To be efficient your comps should be just long enough to include the effect that you cannot do in your NLE. For the effects that I listed the best option would be to trim the first shot to just include just the 20 seconds for the overlay effect. The next overlay effect would be created in a comp that was just 4 seconds long. The next comp would be 3 seconds. Then, the comps would be rendered and edited back into the longer shots and the film using your NLE. This sounds like more work, but it is actually a lot faster in almost every case. When you are doing things like tracking or rotoscope it is important include just the frames that you are going to actually going to have to modify. This will save you hours every day that will add up to days or even weeks every year.

One other suggestion. Spend time with good training. The only way to do that is to vet your trainer. You have go to figure out if these folks really know what they are talking about. About half, maybe more, of the video tutorials on YouTube are poorly done, demonstrate inefficient ways to accomplish some task and many even teach you techniques that just don't work. If you can forgo 3 or 4 trips to Starbucks a week you can afford to sign up for some good training from folks like Total Training or Lynda.com and get a good handle on how to do things efficiently. The Search Help field at the top right corner of AE is often the fastest and most efficient way to find answers to procedure and technique questions. I use it all the time to find out if there is any new information out there on effects or techniques that I can improve.

[Narey]

Got a little confused with what video was what - I've watched most of their videos.

Pretty much, in the golf swing - they track the exact shaft movement with a glowing line which enhances what the shaft is doing.

Thanks,

Adam