{"id":555,"date":"2017-10-31T11:10:14","date_gmt":"2017-10-31T16:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ciraldo.stream\/uwm-vfx2\/?page_id=555"},"modified":"2017-10-31T17:20:54","modified_gmt":"2017-10-31T22:20:54","slug":"bad-pans","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/ciraldo.stream\/uwm-vfx2\/topics\/bad-pans\/","title":{"rendered":"Fixing Bad Camera Pans"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Fixing Bad Camera Pans<\/h1>\n<h5>[ <a href=\"https:\/\/ciraldo.stream\/uwm-vfx2\/topics\/bad-pans\/\">Lecture Notes<\/a> ] [ <a href=\"https:\/\/ciraldo.stream\/uwm-vfx2\/topics\/bad-pans\/lab\/\">Lab<\/a> ] [ <a href=\"https:\/\/ciraldo.stream\/uwm-vfx2\/topics\/bad-pans\/homework\/\">Homework<\/a> ]<\/h5>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s an example of a camera pan that has some pretty inconsistent camera motion throughout:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"June 17, 2013 - 360-Degree pan shot of Lethbridge, Alberta\" width=\"525\" height=\"295\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/vV-8GZs4x6U?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>With After Effects, we can fix shots like the one above so that they move much more smoothly and consistently.<\/p>\n<h2>How To Do It<\/h2>\n<p>Import the bad pan footage into After Effects and drag it onto the New Comp button to create a comp with the footage as the sole layer:<\/p>\n<p>Make this layer a 3D layer.<\/p>\n<h4>Track Motion \/ Stabilize \/ Repeat<\/h4>\n<p>Then, select the layer and do\u00a0<strong>Animation &gt; Track Motion.<\/strong>\u00a0(This is the most basic of the various tracking tools in AE.) If the\u00a0<strong>Tracker Panel<\/strong> is open you can simply press the\u00a0<strong>Track Motion<\/strong> button.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Important:\u00a0<\/strong>In the Tracker Panel, change the\u00a0<strong>Track Type<\/strong> from <strong>&#8220;Transform&#8221;<\/strong> to <strong>&#8220;Stabilize&#8221;.<\/strong>\u00a0 (FYI, this is how to access the original stabilizing feature of After Effects that was used prior to the <strong>Warp Stabilizer.<\/strong> So, somewhat hidden now, but still useful to know about.)<\/p>\n<p>In the footage, find a distinguishable tracking point that <strong>stays on screen for as long as possible during the pan.<\/strong> Track this point using the <strong>Tracker Panel<\/strong> until it is just about offscreen.<\/p>\n<p>In the\u00a0<strong>Tracker Panel<\/strong> click the\u00a0<strong>Apply<\/strong> button.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Now, making sure that the time slider is on the last keyframe of the last tracking pass we did, (and with the layer selected,) click\u00a0<strong>Track Motion<\/strong> in the\u00a0<strong>Tracker Panel<\/strong> again.<\/p>\n<p>This will add a new tracker property group to the layer. <strong>Repeat the steps above<\/strong> with a\u00a0<strong>new tracking point<\/strong> that similarly stays on screen for as long as possible during the pan.\u00a0Apply the stabilization and <strong>repeat until the pan is complete.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h4>Add and Animate a 3D Camera Layer<\/h4>\n<p>If you look at this 3D layer in one of the <strong>Custom View cameras,<\/strong> you&#8217;ll see that the footage moves through 3D space almost as if the pan was <strong>unwrapped and laid flat in space-time.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>If we now add a 3D camera and animate it to smoothly follow the footage as it moves through space-time, we can effectively re-shoot the panning shot in After Effects.<\/p>\n<p>First, add a <strong>One-Node 3D Camera<\/strong>\u00a0layer to the comp. The preset doesn&#8217;t really matter, and depth of field should be off for better rendering speed.<\/p>\n<p>At the beginning of the comp, the camera should be looking squarely at the footage. But, as you scrub forward, the footage slides away out of the 3D camera&#8217;s view. In order to keep the footage within the camera&#8217;s view, we need to animate the camera&#8217;s position.<\/p>\n<p>Next, at the beginning of the panning movement, <strong>enable keyframes for the camera&#8217;s position property.<\/strong> This will create a new keyframe for us, too, at the playhead position.<\/p>\n<p>In one of the <strong>Custom View<\/strong> perspectives, <strong>find the end of the panning movement<\/strong> by sliding the timeline playhead until the footage stops moving in space. (You might need to zoom out a bit and\/or play with the Custom View&#8217;s camera controls.)<\/p>\n<p><strong>Move the camera<\/strong> by sliding it on its x-axis until it roughly <strong>lines up with the final resting spot of the footage.<\/strong> At this point the camera is <strong>roughly<\/strong> <strong>in sync<\/strong> with the original camera.<\/p>\n<p>On the camera&#8217;s <strong>position property,<\/strong> apply\u00a0<strong>Easy Ease Out<\/strong> and <strong>Easy Easy In<\/strong> to the <strong>beginning <\/strong>and<strong> end <\/strong>keyframes, respectively. (e.g.,\u00a0<strong>Animate &gt; Keyframe Assistants &gt; Easy Ease Out.<\/strong>)\u00a0This will make the motion of the camera layer have a smoother, more natural <strong>start<\/strong> and <strong>stop,<\/strong> and be <strong>a little more in-sync<\/strong> with the original, real-world camera.<\/p>\n<p>Go back to looking through the<strong> 3D camera layer&#8217;s perspective.<\/strong> Scrub the timeline to see where the <strong>big problem areas<\/strong> remain &#8212; where the footage strays far out of the camera&#8217;s view. Add <strong>keyframes to the camera&#8217;s position<\/strong> to compensate. <strong>Doesn&#8217;t have to be perfect;<\/strong> we&#8217;ll fix minor deviations in the next step.<\/p>\n<h4>Nest the Comp, Use Scale to Fix Small Problem Spots<\/h4>\n<p><strong>In the Project panel,<\/strong> drag the comp you&#8217;ve been working on onto the <strong>New Comp button<\/strong> to create a new comp that has our original comp nested within it. <strong>Open this new comp.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Scrub through the timeline to find <strong>the largest of the minor deviations<\/strong> from the original, nested comp. Increase the\u00a0<strong>scale<\/strong> of the nested comp layer until the deviation is pushed offscreen.<\/p>\n<p>At this point, the final shot should be pretty smooth!<\/p>\n<h2>Further Improvements<\/h2>\n<p>You can experiment with the <strong>Effects &gt; Blur &amp; Sharpen &gt;\u00a0<\/strong><strong>Camera-Shake Deblur\u00a0<\/strong>effect to minimize any motion blur caused by sudden jitter in the original footage.<\/p>\n<p>You can also experiment with <strong>increasing the motion blur<\/strong> of the shot (during the pan) using the <strong>Effects &gt; Time &gt; Pixel Motion Blur<\/strong> effect. This can sometimes help a pan that is moving too fast.<\/p>\n<p>Often times, camera pans are simply too fast. After fixing any stabilization issues in the footage, use the Timewarp effect to slow the pan down.\u00a0The rule of thumb is to pan no faster than a full image width every seven seconds, otherwise judder will become too detrimental.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.red.com\/learn\/red-101\/camera-panning-speed\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Red Cameras: Panning Best Practices<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fixing Bad Camera Pans [ Lecture Notes ] [ Lab ] [ Homework ] &nbsp; Here&#8217;s an example of a camera pan that has some pretty inconsistent camera motion throughout: With After Effects, we can fix shots like the one above so that they move much more smoothly and consistently. How To Do It Import &hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"link-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ciraldo.stream\/uwm-vfx2\/topics\/bad-pans\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Fixing Bad Camera Pans&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":71,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-555","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciraldo.stream\/uwm-vfx2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/555","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciraldo.stream\/uwm-vfx2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciraldo.stream\/uwm-vfx2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciraldo.stream\/uwm-vfx2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciraldo.stream\/uwm-vfx2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=555"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/ciraldo.stream\/uwm-vfx2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/555\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":576,"href":"https:\/\/ciraldo.stream\/uwm-vfx2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/555\/revisions\/576"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ciraldo.stream\/uwm-vfx2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/71"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ciraldo.stream\/uwm-vfx2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=555"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}