warp stabilizer for dummies, please help

[pcs9100]

I am working on tracking a shot that I added on to a television in a living room that has a green screen on it. The shot moves around and zooms in, and I  was able to track the shot to stay in the television, but I am unable to get it to stabilize and warp stabilizer does not do much to help it. Also if you can also give me some advice on how to clean up the footage, because the warp stabilizer has made the footage flicker and that is not part of the original footage. I have attached a link of what the video is doing so you can get a visual.

[kirkeric]

I'm curious, was the footage meant for the TV not what you had originally planned?  Just wondering why that insert shot would be moving all around.  However here's what I'm seeing and thinking.  You tracked it well enough so let's focus on the shot in the TV.

First thing I'd do is do the stabilizing in it's original comp with the raw TV scene footage.  If it's real bad, it may be tough to stabilize but I can't see what the original looks like so that's speculation for me.  If Warp doesn't work, mocha import + might help or use the mask tracker.  In any case after stabilizing, render that out first. Then import back in, place in comp and insert in to TV.

That would be my approach.  So, just depends on how badly the footage moves.  And even if it does move, is it intended to just be background footage or is what's on the screen actually important to the shot?

Eric

[pcs9100]

Eric,

Thank you for responding, the footage was added after it was shot, the television screen was a green screen and I added the footage that is currently on the television to that. I tracked the shot as much as I could by hand after replacing it but it is still moving around and warp stabilizer does not seem to work. I tried to stabilize it before tracking, but the footage in the television still moves. I also pre composed both layers and tried to stabilize the motion of the moving footage in the pre comp and it still moves around, I am working on the warp stabilizing it right now, it is currently analyzing it, but it is going to take an hour. I also tried to track it in mocha AE but I was not able to get it to work when I paced the track into AE. I am going to try it one more time and update you on that.

[kirkeric]

Is it possible to post a short portion of the TV Clio on YouTube? I think your primary shot seems tracked well enough though the movement on the TV may distract a bit from truly telling.

I think the big question is can u just reshoot the TV part? Based on your efforts, I'd guess not.

Because the footage on the TV could be shaky as heck and perhaps it was intentional for the TV spot, which has no impact on the insert.

I'm just curious how the footage would look without the attempt at stabilizing.

Eric

[Rick Gerard · Accepted solution]

Here's how I would handle the shot. First, unless Warp Stabilizer is absolutely necessary to smooth out the camera move I would not use it. If I had to use warp stabilizer I would only use it after the composite was complete. That's the only way that Warp Stabilizer will treat all parts of the shot in the same way. You can do that by rendering a visually lossless DI (Digital Intermediate) using a suitable production codec of the composite or you can drop the comp you used to create the composite in a new comp and run warp stabilizer on the nested composition. That's not usually recommended because you'll have to set the nested composition's resolution to full and render each frame in ram before Warp Stabilizer starts it's work. This slows down the process and can cause a host of other problems, especially on a long shot.

As for replacing the TV screen, first, if you had anything to do with shooting the shot don't apply green to the screen, just turn it off. The dark screen will let you easily composite reflections on the picture and help sell the shot as real. If you want light from the TV to effect your actor then feed it a white (for daylight color balanced lighting in the scene) or a yellowish signal to match a tungsten balanced scene and experiment with intensity. Roto will be easier than simulating light on the actors face by hand.

I would replace the screen using this technique. In 90% of the object replacements that I have done in the last two or three years this has been the most efficient way to build a really good composite. It also makes any roto you have to do much easier and you only process the frames that you actually need.

I hope this helps fix your problem. You'll never get Warp Stabilizer to work well Warp Stabilizing the footage first then building the composite.

One other suggestion. It looks like you are editing at least two shots together in After Effects. I get this from your screenshot and the work area that's visible. You'll be much better off in almost all of your AE work if you limit each composition to a single shot. An AE comp should generally include only the frames in a single shot that you actually need to process in AE. While it may seem like a good idea to do some editing in AE and build a sequence you'll end up with a composition that is harder to fix when something goes wrong, is more likely to have something go wrong, and is harder and more time consuming to work on when you are actually doing the compositing than it would be if each comp contained a single shot and you did the editing in a NLE.

It's just like working with sound in Premiere Pro. I spent a decent part of the last two days showing an editor how to clean up audio and polish his mix using Premiere Pro's ability to edit the sound of a sequence in Audition. We accomplished a better cleanup and mix and added a bunch of additional sound fx, polished up the mix, fixed some EQ problems in about 1/4 the time he had spent trying to do the clean up and mix in Premiere. Using the right tools in the right way will save you a bunch of time in the long run.