PFTrack Introduction

10 Day Course
Date: Anytime
Times: 10.00am to 5.00pm
Price: £150.00
Instructor: Self-Learning

Course Setup
This course consists of 10 video-based lessons. Each lesson is approximately 30 minutes in duration and most include supplementary files and footage.
This course can be taken at any time - for instance every day for 10 days, or once a week for 10 weeks.

Launched in 2003, PFTrack established itself as the Match Mover of choice for high-end visual effects productions.

This introductory course will introduce the fundamentals of matchmoving or camera tracking - a visual effects technique for inserting CGI elements into live-action footage with correct position, scale, orientation, and motion relative to the photographed objects in the shot.

All lessons are practical led and use a variety of footage (HD, SD, greenscreen, CGI) for you to work with. Areas covered include (but not limited to): the PFTrack camera tracking process, user interface, tracking techniques (including hand-held), survey information, lens distortion, stabilisation, coordinate systems, object tracking, grid usage, and film terminology.

Course Outline:

Lesson 1: Tracking hand held cameras. Solving problems caused by motion blur and lack of parallax.

Lesson 2: fcurves and 'fixing' camera paths.

Lesson 3: Tracking a camera plus a moving object. Integrating with 3D elements.

Lesson 4: Using reference frames to solve a nodelock shot and reconstruct the real position of the trackers.

Lesson 5: Focal length detection.

Lesson 6: Creating modeling based on tracking data, texturising and compositing.

Lesson 7: Tracking clouds for use with an airplane composition.

Lesson 8: Compositing tricks

Lesson 9: Tracking of a stereo shot

Lesson 10: Finishing and compositing the stereo shot.