5.5

1155Motion User Guide
Sharpen a clip’s reference area
A sharp, high-contrast pattern can provide a good tracking reference area. You may be
able to sharpen the reference pattern of a clip by applying a filter to a clip before tracking.
The tracker analyzes the clip, but not the result of a filter applied to the clip.
1. In Motion, apply the Sharpen filter to the clip and adjust its parameters in the Filters
Inspector.
2. Export the clip, reimport the clip into your project, then delete or disable the original
(exported) clip.
3. Perform your tracking operation again.
Because the tracker analyzes the clip, not the result of a filter applied to the clip, the clip
must be exported and reimported to your project.
Advanced tracking strategies in Motion
Use the following advanced techniques to improve your tracking results.
Smooth a track curve in the Keyframe Editor
You can smooth a track with the Keyframe Thinning function. Before smoothing the curve,
you might want to copy the behavior (as a backup) to the Library or duplicate the behavior
in the project. (For information on saving items to the Library, see Save custom objects to
the Library in Motion.
In the following graph, there’s a keyframe at every frame, and the curve is quite jagged.
The following example shows how you can simplify and smooth this curve.
1. In the parameter list of the Keyframe Editor in Motion, move the pointer over the
parameter you want to smooth; when the down arrow appears on the right, click it and
choose Reduce Keyframes.
The Reduce Keyframes dialog appears.
The Reduce Keyframes dialog applies a thinning algorithm to the keyframes for the
parameter, reducing the number of keyframes while attempting to maintain a similar
curve shape.