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Complex tracking: Fusion vs. Mocha Pro?

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Hellopaul

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  • Real Name: Paul Roper

Complex tracking: Fusion vs. Mocha Pro?

PostTue Mar 06, 2018 3:18 pm

Hello,
I do a fair bit of shot cleanup on car shots - usually removing reflections, bits of rigging, GoPro-type cameras, etc. Usually, as well as removing the actual object, I also have to remove its reflection and/or shadow, too, and add in new reflections. And that's on a very shiny curved surface, with the car and/or camera moving.

I normally use After Effects, and occasionally Mocha AE (the bundled-with-After-Effects version), but having seen some interesting tracking/cleanup shots in Fusion, was inspired to download the trial version, but it doesn't include the camera/planar tracking features of the full version. I'm also about to try out the trial version of Mocha Pro, and wondered if people in this forum might have experience of both, and could offer some helpful advice/opinions as to how they compare.

I've seen some fantastic results from Nuke and Flame, and wish I had the budget to go with either of those.

Thanks in advance for any input!

~ Paul
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Bryan Ray

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Re: Complex tracking: Fusion vs. Mocha Pro?

PostTue Mar 06, 2018 7:31 pm

Personally, I still prefer Mocha to Fusion's PlanarTracker. I know some others have had great results from PlanarTracker, but Mocha can still perform magic that no other software can touch. It's pretty easy to transfer information from Mocha Pro into Fusion—it can export a four-point Tracker node or Fusion-format Polyline splines.

The only gotcha is that you have to make sure your start frame numbers match in both programs. By default, Mocha will respect the frame numbers from your files, but Fusion will always shift footage to the beginning of the Global range. So if your Fusion project starts at 0, but the first frame number in your image sequence is 1, you'll get a 1 frame offset that can be difficult to detect. It's easy enough to correct when you know it's there, but it can be baffling if you're not aware of it.
Bryan Ray
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Juha Takabe

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Re: Complex tracking: Fusion vs. Mocha Pro?

PostWed Mar 07, 2018 7:16 am

Mocha Pro can do magic and have saved me so many times.

My go to is Nuke + Mocha Pro + Mochaimport+.

I really like Nuke root paint node so haven't jump into Fusion cleanup workflow yet.


Also interested if Fusion can offer something similar to Mochaimport+ style workflow like stabilised view where you can do your cleanups on almost static "unwrapped style" view and re distort (or putting back motion) to clean patch.
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Sam Steti

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Re: Complex tracking: Fusion vs. Mocha Pro?

PostWed Mar 07, 2018 4:06 pm

Hey,
My opinion is quite the same as Bryan. I still prefer Mocha Pro, which I regularly use as a standalone but also sometimes as an ofx in Fusion Studio.
After years of use, I noticed some jobs didn't "need" Mocha and started with some basic 2 to 4 points tracking in Fusion (for example to track/follow an object and attach a file to one of its path).

Now, a lot of things also depend on your personal feeling. For example, in Fusion I don't really like the kind of sloppy and untidy UI overlays you get when you tracked 4 points + also display the center of - say - 2 objects like a garbage matte and another graphic one. It quickly gets you confused, where I'm never in Mocha.
However, I've been impressed by the quality and precision of the Fusion tracker, I really have to admit it.

Anyway, I used the Remove tab so often, and Camera Solve too, that I admit I cannot really get rid of Mocha in any way :)
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Kel Philm

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Re: Complex tracking: Fusion vs. Mocha Pro?

PostWed Mar 07, 2018 10:05 pm

I had to track the top of a birthday cake for a shot which I figured was going to need to be done by hand but Fusions Planar Tracker absolutely nailed it. I've been impressed with it so far.

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