TRACKING MARKERS

 

HOW TO PLACE THEM & WHY IT’S EASIER THAN YOU THINK

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For a while, I was wondering why I couldn't get clear on the rules for tracking markers.

Then it dawned on me that I might be overcomplicating things; perhaps there only are two principles; too little, or too much.

So all those little tracking marker decisions we make; how many, what size, how far apart, this crazy looking triangle or that old fashioned gaffa tape cross? All of this fall neatly into the frankly massive and very forgiving middle ground.

In most cases, the answers will be something nice and vague. Things like 'some' tracking markers sounds good. "How far apart?" would be "A bit." And "will this work?" would be "Probably yes"

Sure, spend some time getting it right, you might as well. Just don't labour under the illusion, like I did, that this is an exact and perfect science.

Here's the breakdown;

STEP 1 - Avoid too little. It really is impossible to track a large featureless area.

STEP 2 - Avoid too much. It really is a massive chore (and drain on your budget) to remove masses of oversized high contrast markers that you didn't even bother to track

STEP 3 - Aim for what feels right for your shot😎

Since we're here let's consider some of this middle ground, there may some quick wins to be had;

  1. It's generally accepted nowadays that simple small circular dots offer the best solution; They track. And they are easy to remove.

  2. A variety of random shapes can be useful. A planar tracker will love this. A 3D tracker might not hop from marker to marker as much.

  3. Super heavy, high contrast is probably overkill. It may require precise time-consuming work to remove, whereas a simple brightness shift would track the same & could potentially be blurred off in seconds.

  4. What's your movement? If it’s extreme, like a shaky mobile phone, go for something chunky that might hold it's form a little better under motion blur.

  5. Size your markers for their on-screen size and not their on-set size. For example, if u set them up for a wide shot they'll be massive if u shoot close up

Cheers

Grant

 
 
 
Dylan Winn-Brown