cannot solve go pro camera track no matter what I do

#1

I can’t get a good solution no matter what I do and I’m about ready to throw my computer out the window or take a hammer to it.
This only ever seems to happen with footage I shoot for some reason. I normally don’t seem to have much of an issue getting a good solution with other people’s footage.
I’ve tried for hours to get something useable but it’s just not happening. I’ve tried user tracks only, auto tracking only and both user / auto tracks. Nothing. Tried shutter roll removal. Nothing.
Tried both distorted and undistorted. Nothing. Tried entering in the focal length and letting the software guess it. Nothing. Tried image processing. Nothing. Tried all those things amongst others.
Used a few top of the line applications except 3D equalizer.
Here is a link to the footage that I’ve shot:
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/enbeefmo6kvz1//camera%20track%20trouble

It could be that I didn’t shoot the plates correctly, that’s fine, I’m not much of a videographer. I do notice though as mentioned that most of the time I have issues with a track it’s something I shot.

Could someone take a crack at them and if you get a working solution let me know exactly what you did?

Really really appreciate it. I’m going to take a break from it for a bit and work on something else for the time being.

EDIT: Specifically, I used boujou, PFTrack, Nuke and syntheyes.

#2

In order to get a good 3d track you need to have some movement in the camera for it to get a good track. I think that might be the reason why you cant get a good track.

I am always able to get a working track on my gopro footage. Ill give it a try using after effects and report back to you.

#3

I just tried 3d tracking your footage in after effects CC and there were no problems. I precomped the footage and did the optics comsensation in there. I was then able to 3d track the precomp no problem. Average error was 0.56 pixels. I wasn’t able to get any points in the background, but there isnt really anything to track, soooo.

It gets harder and harder to track the wider you shoot. I usually shoot narrow or medium. The video gets a bit distorted when you shoot wide and then do optics compensation.

It is also good to have some more motion when doing 3d tracking. It might seem a bit counter intuitive, but that is how it is.

If you have a lot of moving objects like a person or a car driving by, then you’ll have to mask the object out before you do the 3d track.

#4

The problem might be lack of image-stabilization.

Certainly in both clips there are parts where the footage jerks/vibrates. The software works by selecting pixels where there are high levels of contrast. If the image jerks, those points can suddenly disappear never to re-appear (or move so far from one frame to the next, that the software doesn’t know where the points are) and the software is like wtf!

Another thing is that those points have to be stationary. So with regard to the town-center, you would probably best do that manually as there are so many moving objects. The best tracking points would be the window corners and the ATHLETA signage. However, a lot of the best tracking points go off screen. Have you tried breaking the image up into small segments and tracking each segment rather than the entire clip all in one go?

#5

hey thanks all!

I’d just like to say that I’ve done most of what you would normally when tracking from masking moving moving objects to setting it to a pan as opposed to free move, due to lack of parallax. Used boujou, pftrack, and nuke’s camera tracker all of which I’ve used extensively.
BUT the one thing I didn’t try was After Effects camera tracker! :banghead:
That’s great to know that you got a working solution keskkesk12. I might have to just track in AE when shooting go pro stuff IF I shoot with it again for camera tracking.
Today I went back to reshoot using my canon 600d, most of which turned out great. I love my go pro but I will try to avoid it in the future for shots that need to be tracked.
Sidow, it’s so funny that you mention that because this morning I thought, “Hmm, maybe it’s all due to a lack of camera stabilization?” I think you’re definitely on to something there as most of shots I’ve tracked used some kind of physical stabilizer.
And I haven’t broken up each clip into segments per se but as part of the troubleshooting process I did try doing the first 100 frames for each and still wasn’t getting any love.

Thanks again guys :slight_smile: