Visual FX Guide to DR18 - What Am I Missing? (Video Attached

Working through the Visual FX Guide to DR18.

When I try to track the sky, the tracker node both expands to show a magnified view, and expands to magnify over the black 1080 background (as performed a few sections earlier in "Controlling a Composition's Resolution"). Also, when I tried to blow past this and track it anyhow, the tracker was not interrupted.

What it says in the training book is simply not what I'm seeing so clearly I'm doing something wrong. What am I missing here? Since last night I have gone over this section four times to no avail. If there's a vetted teacher I'd pay for online lessons on this stuff but short of personalized direction, I wanted to put this video here and ask for advice.....

Here's the link to the book - https://documents.blackmagicdesign.com/ ... 9295613000. The major issues begin on page 90 as shown in the video.

Somewhere into hour four of beating my head against the wall.....

Is this a bug? If I select another node and then come back to Merge1, then I can see what's behind the tracker, but it still zooms and doesn't match what's in the tutorial (or look any good).

The Editor's Guide had completed timelines for review. I looked in the Visual Effects Guide but don't see those included, so I continue to be on my own....

Is there any way that I can view someone else's completed node tree for this? Or can anyone look at mine if I export and attach the composition here?

Well if it does zoom, then it works better than it says in the manual. This is probably something that was added or improved or fixed ever since the visual guide was created. As for why it sometimes does and sometimes doesn't show I'm not a 100% sure.

My guess is that because you're tracking footage (actors) from another part of the flow which at that point in the flow (merge 2) maybe the tracker doesn't get its images yet to display.

'Modify with tracker' is something I seldom do anyway, because using an actual tracker node gives you more control over what you're doing. So you're not doing anything wrong and the fact that you don't get 100% the same results isn't a problem either. You can select tools and widgets from either view, it's the selected node in the flow view that determines what tool's controls you'll be adjusting.

This may not be your problem but you appear to be trying to modify a node upstream (Merge2) with media that is downstream. As far as Merge2 is concerned Actors does not exist. I think it is Merge1 Center you should be modifying. Maybe the back to front labelling is causing confusion.
It's also a good idea to have the node you a working on loaded in a viewer, otherwise you will very likely not see what you expect to see.

'Modify with tracker' is something I seldom do anyway, because using an actual tracker node gives you more control over what you're doing.

Thanks for your reply, and....

Yes, from the manual: "Although the process of tracking is the same as the Tracker node, the Tracker modifier is a single point tracker that tracks up and down and side to side movement, so it is more limited than the multipoint tracker you used in the split screen. Still, it is perfect for quick, simple tracks, as we have here."


I'm still confused on what any of this even means though. I'm not sure if it's overwhelm, exhaustion, or the Visual FX Guide not really explaining the theory (or if it does and I'm just not comprehending it). To give context to that last sentence, I don't even know what "Modify With Tracker" is doing right now. I feel lost on a chapter that is estimated to take "50 Minutes" and has now spanned into Day Three of confusion

This may not be your problem but you appear to be trying to modify a node upstream (Merge2) with media that is downstream. As far as Merge2 is concerned Actors does not exist. I think it is Merge1 Center you should be modifying.

Thanks for your reply. The whole thing is confusing to me still. From the Visual FX Guide, it seems to confirm what I am doing even though nothing makes sense right now. It says:

Tracking the Sky into Position

As you play the composite, it looks fine when the image is still, but as soon as it plays and
the camera moves, the illusion falls apart. For this sky replacement to work, the sky needs
to move as the camera moves. Instead of using the Tracker node as you did in the previous
lesson, you’ll apply the Tracker as a modifier.

1. Select the Merge2 node that is connected to the Sky node in the Node Editor.

You’ll need to apply the Tracker modifier to a node that contains position controls.
The Merge tool includes center X and Y controls that can be used to reposition the
clip connected to the foreground input.

2 In the viewer, right-click over the Merge’s center onscreen control, and from the menu
choose Merge 2: Center > Modify With > Tracker position.

The Tracker modifier is attached to the Merge’s center X and Y controls. Although the
process of tracking is the same as the Tracker node, the Tracker modifier is a singlepoint
tracker that tracks up and down and side to side movement, so it is more limited
than the multipoint tracker you used in the split screen. Still, it is perfect for quick,
simple tracks, as we have here.

Adding a Tracker modifier displays the tracker pattern and search rectangles over the
center position in the viewer. Since it is a modifier, the tracker controls are displayed in
the Merge2’s Modifiers tab.

3 At the top of the Inspector, click the Modifiers tab to display the tracker controls.
The Tracker modifier assumes that you want to track the background of the Merge
node. In our case, we want to track the ACTORS node.

4 From the Node Editor, drag the ACTORS node to the Tracker source field at the top of
the Inspector.

NOTE As you drag a node from the Node Editor into an Inspector source field,
the node will appear to move at first, but it’ll snap back into its original location
once the mouse pointer leaves the Node Editor.

5 Move the playhead to the start of the render range.
Just as you did in the previous lesson, you need to position the Tracker over a high contrast
pattern that moves precisely how you want the sky to move. For this shot, the
ridge in the background has a few rocks that stick out. These would make good high contrast
tracking points that we can use for the Tracker.

Then it goes on from there.....

Is the guide just not written clearly or is it me? Does this make sense to anyone else? I'm totally lost on this at the moment and feeling thwarted, as if I'm getting nowhere, but it's only temporary.

So really quickly, in your first video a lot of your problem is that you are moving the tracker modifier around in the viewer windows, but you are not paying attention to what node the viewer window is displaying. It's confusing because you can still see the control for the active tool, in this case the Merge2 node, but your viewer window is displaying what is happening in the Matte2 node and not the Merge2. Specifically in the video when you ask about which window, you needed to hit 1 or 2 with the Merge2 node selected to get it displayed in one of the viewers.

I did all five of the courses last year, got all the certificates too. That sky one messed me up for a while too, I don't remember how I fixed it. Your impression of the books having typos and not being laid out in the best way to learn the subject matches how I felt most of the time. But the classes and books do get your hands on a decent amount of the controls, and it's a huge program.

If your are going to try for the certificates, work through the entire book a few times and supplement with some YouTube videos on things you're not clear on. I used a flash card app called Cram to drill the questions in the book. It was a free app that worked on the web and my phone, if you search the book titles in Cram you can probably find the cards I created, feel free to use them.

Sean, let me see if I can clarify somethings for you. I don't have the training footage; so, I had to recreate with footage I had at hand to get a grasp of what it was that this lesson was trying to get across.

So, starting at the beginning, the sky image is being merged on top of a BG node. The BG node will have the dimensions of your project. The Transform node is allowing you to reposition the larger sky image within your project's dimensions. That is, the sky image is larger because we will need that when we track the Actors footage and we have enough coverage in the background.

So, the BG node and Sky image are inputted into Merge 2. Select this Merge 2 node and view it in one of the viewer's. In the viewer, you will see the transformation crosshairs. Right click on that, a menu pops up and scroll down and highlight the Center > Modify With > Tracker position.

With the Merge 2 node still selected, in the Inspector on the right, click the Modifiers button at the top.
What you will be doing is modifying the center position of Merge 2 (your Sky image) with tracking a point on your Actors footage. So, in order to do that, you will now click on that Actors loader node and (while still holding the mouse button down) drag that node to the Inspector window and drop it in the "Tracker source" field. The name of the Actors footage should now show up or it will be the Loader name for that footage.

This tells the Modifier Tracker that instead of the tracking the BG node (of Merge 2), we want to track the Actors/Loader node we dropped into the Track source field. So, once that is done. You can go back the viewer and you should see the tracker point. Now, here is where the problem for you comes in. When you are positioning the tracker point, you are seeing the black box. That's because the pop up tracker viewer is showing what is attached to the background input of Merge 2; not the Actors footage. In this case, it's a black image. Like it says in the book "The Tracker Modifier assumes that you want to track the background..."

That I believe should be fixed (as it should be taking information from the Tracker source); because you want to see the footage you will be tracking. However, over in the Inspector, under the Modifiers tab, you should see a small preview window that allows you to see where you want to place your tracker point. Use that and place it where you want and then track.

Hope that helps.

A million thanks Ernest. That actually helps and makes a lot more sense to me than what I was getting out of the .pdf. It still tracks the entire shot and doesn't get interrupted at frame 90 like the VFX Guide says it will, but I was able to work with your reply to actually get something that looks fine in the end! I really appreciate your help!

If you shift drag select/copy your nodes from the node area and paste them between the two [code] [code] texts that appear, when you click on the Code icon, above the posting box, readers can get a better idea of what you are doing.
I think I see what you are doing now, disregard the first part of what I posted, it was nonsense as the 'Actors' track overlaps the comp time of the main background clip, otherwise there would be no point. If you drag the Actors' clip into the viewer when you click on Merge1 and go into the Modifiers tab, you should be able to position the tracker in the viewer containing the 'Actors' clip .