How to Track & Blur a Logo in Motion 5
In “Under 5 Minutes” Mark Spencer will teach you how to track and blur a logo and a license plate that moves off-screen in Motion.
Mark shows you how to use the Circle Blur Filter with a Track Parameter Behavior, and what to do when the tracking point disappears because of the actor’s motion.
On the license plate example, Mark shows you how to use the Gaussian Blur filter, and Transform Mimic Source to track to a point that stays visible, even when the object that is blurred moves off the screen.
In this episode I’ll show you how to track and blur a logo and a license plate, even when they disappear!
I’m Mark Spencer from RippleTraining.com, welcome to Motion Magic where you’ll learn visual effects and Motion graphics in Under 5 Minutes.
Here I am in Motion with a video clip I’ve imported.
I need to blur the logo on the subject’s hat.
With the playhead at the start of the project, I’ll go to the Library, to Filters, to the Blur folder, and drag the Circle Blur filter onto the video clip.
I’ll reposition the center over the logo, and adjust the Amount and the Radius in the Heads-up Display.
Since the On-Screen Controls are in the way, I’ll now press Command+/ to toggle them off while I adjust the parameters.
Then I’ll toggle them on again.
Now if I scrub the project, the blur stays still while the logo moves around.
To make the blur move with the logo, I’ll go to the Inspector, to the Filters tab, and from the pop-up menu next to the Center parameter, I’ll choose Add Parameter Behavior > Track.
A red plus sign in a red circle appears in the center of the blurred area, this is the tracker.
In the HUD, I’ll change the Transform to Attach to Source, so that the tracker stays centered on the blur as it tracks the logo.
Then I’ll click Analyze in the Heads-up Display.
The tracker tracks the logo until our subject turns and the logo disappears from view, then it fails and stops.
If I press Command+/ to disable the overlays and play that back, we see we have a good track for the first half of the clip.
I’ll turn the overlays back on.
But what about the rest of the clip?
I’ll move the playhead to the end of the clip, then reposition the tracker on the logo. Because we set the tracker to Attach to Source, this action will reposition the blur as well once I analyze this part of the clip.
In the HUD, I”ll check the reverse checkbox, then click Analyze. The tracker tracks backwards up until the logo disappears and once again it stops.
If I turn off the overlays again and play the full clip, the logo now stays blurred the entire time.
If I want to hide the blur while the logo is hidden, I can turn on recording and reduce the Amount in the HUD during the turn.
In this clip, I want to track the license plate. Notice how it moves off the screen due to the camera movement.
Since the plate is rectangular, the Circle Blur filter isn’t the best choice here. Instead, I’ll select the clip and press Command-D to duplicate it.
Then, I’ll select the Bezier Mask tool, and click around the corners of the plate to create the mask.
If I disable the original clip, we can see I’ve isolated the license plate.
Now I’ll go back the Library, to the Blur filters, and this time apply the Gaussian Blur filter.
I’ll increase the amount in the HUD, then I’ll select the mask and add some feathering.
If I want to blur it more, I’ll select the filter, and go to the Inspector where I can increase the blur.
This time, instead of tracking the Center of the blur filter, I want to track the mask position so that the mask moves with the license plate.
So with the mask selected, I’ll press F1 for the Properties Inspector, and use the menu next to Position to add the Track parameter behavior.
I’ll drag the original clip to the Source well in the Heads-up Display.
Now, since the license plate moves off the screen, I’ll make sure Transform is set to Mimic Source,
this way I can move the tracker without moving the blur, and therefore track something else that moves the same way, but stays on the screen, like these last few letters.
If I hold down the Option key, Motion shows me good tracking spots with red crosses, I’ll select this one.
Now I’ll click Analyze.
If I press Command+- to zoom out and play that back, we can see the mask stays attached to the license plate, even when it moves off the screen!
Click the Subscribe button below. If you have an idea, comment or suggestion, leave those below as well. Go to RippleTrainging.com for fast professional training on Final Cut Pro, Motion and DaVinci Resolve from industry professionals.
I’m Mark Spencer from RippleTraining.com, welcome to Motion Magic where you’ll learn visual effects and Motion graphics in Under 5 Minutes.
Here I am in Motion with a video clip I’ve imported.
I need to blur the logo on the subject’s hat.
With the playhead at the start of the project, I’ll go to the Library, to Filters, to the Blur folder, and drag the Circle Blur filter onto the video clip.
I’ll reposition the center over the logo, and adjust the Amount and the Radius in the Heads-up Display.
Since the On-Screen Controls are in the way, I’ll now press Command+/ to toggle them off while I adjust the parameters.
Then I’ll toggle them on again.
Now if I scrub the project, the blur stays still while the logo moves around.
To make the blur move with the logo, I’ll go to the Inspector, to the Filters tab, and from the pop-up menu next to the Center parameter, I’ll choose Add Parameter Behavior > Track.
A red plus sign in a red circle appears in the center of the blurred area, this is the tracker.
In the HUD, I’ll change the Transform to Attach to Source, so that the tracker stays centered on the blur as it tracks the logo.
Then I’ll click Analyze in the Heads-up Display.
The tracker tracks the logo until our subject turns and the logo disappears from view, then it fails and stops.
If I press Command+/ to disable the overlays and play that back, we see we have a good track for the first half of the clip.
I’ll turn the overlays back on.
But what about the rest of the clip?
I’ll move the playhead to the end of the clip, then reposition the tracker on the logo. Because we set the tracker to Attach to Source, this action will reposition the blur as well once I analyze this part of the clip.
In the HUD, I”ll check the reverse checkbox, then click Analyze. The tracker tracks backwards up until the logo disappears and once again it stops.
If I turn off the overlays again and play the full clip, the logo now stays blurred the entire time.
If I want to hide the blur while the logo is hidden, I can turn on recording and reduce the Amount in the HUD during the turn.
In this clip, I want to track the license plate. Notice how it moves off the screen due to the camera movement.
Since the plate is rectangular, the Circle Blur filter isn’t the best choice here. Instead, I’ll select the clip and press Command-D to duplicate it.
Then, I’ll select the Bezier Mask tool, and click around the corners of the plate to create the mask.
If I disable the original clip, we can see I’ve isolated the license plate.
Now I’ll go back the Library, to the Blur filters, and this time apply the Gaussian Blur filter.
I’ll increase the amount in the HUD, then I’ll select the mask and add some feathering.
If I want to blur it more, I’ll select the filter, and go to the Inspector where I can increase the blur.
This time, instead of tracking the Center of the blur filter, I want to track the mask position so that the mask moves with the license plate.
So with the mask selected, I’ll press F1 for the Properties Inspector, and use the menu next to Position to add the Track parameter behavior.
I’ll drag the original clip to the Source well in the Heads-up Display.
Now, since the license plate moves off the screen, I’ll make sure Transform is set to Mimic Source,
this way I can move the tracker without moving the blur, and therefore track something else that moves the same way, but stays on the screen, like these last few letters.
If I hold down the Option key, Motion shows me good tracking spots with red crosses, I’ll select this one.
Now I’ll click Analyze.
If I press Command+- to zoom out and play that back, we can see the mask stays attached to the license plate, even when it moves off the screen!
Click the Subscribe button below. If you have an idea, comment or suggestion, leave those below as well. Go to RippleTrainging.com for fast professional training on Final Cut Pro, Motion and DaVinci Resolve from industry professionals.
