How To Stabilize Motion In After Effects

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In this tutorial we explore how to use the stabilize motion tracker in after effects. This effect is sometimes called the Sherlock Holmes effect as it was featured in the film "Sherlock Holmes: A Game Of Shadows" featuring Robert Downey Jr.. This effect creates the idea that the camera is in perfect sync with a particular object in your scene, potentially the most powerful way to use this effect would be to lock on to a character's eyes. This creates an effect that's also reminiscent of David Fincher styled camera work.
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[@MrTerryRay1]

Thanks for this tutorial. I like how you explain this because you show how to easily achieve this effect.

[@rmjp]

Best tutorial, directly to the point!

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Thanks Rogerio!

[@ammym.]

good work king, love you

[@hassanadnan5427]

+1
Absolutely easy to understand, thank you!

[@AndroSpud]

Great video as always. A tip when trying to achieve this effect is to have the footage as steady as possible before attempting to track the motion, by using a static camera or a gimbal. Background motion which you usually don't pay attention to when the subject is moving over the shot becomes twice as noticeable when the subject is then locked in place.

[@blkmidia]

Awesome effect!!!

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Thanks!

[@maratines]

Jordan!!! I love your tutorials, buddy. I just used this exact technique on a project featuring a jogger. Thank you so much. Subscribed.

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Awesome! So stoked to hear Roberto! We're so glad this could help!

[@maratines]

Motion Array Tutorials I also got a year subscription to Motion Array! I love it. Thanks again.

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

@@maratines We are so honored! We really hope it's helping you take your videos to the next level! Thanks Roberto!

[@MOHMMAD102627]

In one word AMAZING

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Thanks so much! So glad you liked it!

[@oaxaca-guides9270]

You helped me enormously, thank you very much!!!

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Thanks so much for taking the time to say that! We’re so happy to hear!

[@timelapsebylkunl72]

A great tutorial that i am looking for. Thank a lot.

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Cheers! We're so happy you liked it!

[@FineappleRyan]

For a full day I've been trying to do this exact effect with a motion tracked null object parented to a camera layer with annoying results. Thank you so much for this.

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

We're so happy the video could be helpful! Cheers!

[@nageshtalla]

Great Stuff Bro.....Loved it

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

So happy to hear! Thanks Nagesh!

[@lauriewessel5978]

so helpful, best vid there is

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Cheers! Thanks!

[@Scorge]

well explained ! Gj

[@shahinshuvo6132]

Hey man, It works great and without any problems.

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

AMAZING! So glad to hear! 😄

[@422frames]

Awesome, thank you!

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

My pleasure! 😄

[@haroldthompson4608]

The timing for when it went out was perfect. Like it was planned

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Haha, glad you appreciated that 😂

[@Hollyweed1]

Thank you so much 🙏

[@serknor]

Awesome! Can the resulting path ( shown at 02:35 ) be smoothed or modified (ie:scaled, rotated) without having to edit dot by dot? Thanks!

[@ivanandreev1958]

Awesome, thanks!

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Cheers!

[@Michael_H_Nielsen]

This was perfect :)

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Thanks so much!

[@anpic1]

Thank you!

[@bySterling]

So Awesome!!

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Thanks!

[@beatrisssss]

Thanks man!

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

No problem! 😄

[@yusufo9469]

Love this thanks:::!!!!!!!!!!!

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

So glad to hear!

[@enclavemodus811]

Thanks! :)

[@EarleSara]

Is this the tool that you would use to limit movements in footage (slow down camera movements)?

[@breakinglabarrier9430]

Great tutorial! I still have a lot of movement going on in the background. Any recommendations on those very shallow depth of field shots? Unfortunately, I didn't have access to my stabilizer at this particular time :(

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Maybe if you tried a warp stabilizer technique and then pre-composed and tried the stabilize motion on top of that? Sorry to hear it’s giving you trouble

[@apu889]

duude, you are the dude. thank you!

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Cheers! Thanks so much!

[@timmonta7765]

nice & clear sir,, cheers

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Awesome! Thanks! Glad it helped! 😄

[@Yahiamice]

Thanks!

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Cheers!

[@ali.sohail3211]

lmao hi yahi

[@artbypal8409]

great tutorial

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Thanks so much!

[@terryswafford5467]

Love it.

[@akanshasharma9157]

Thankyou sir

[@ultramoxx1148]

Thanks man

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Cheers!

[@JonnyHeather]

Thanks for the Video! I am actually trying to stabalise a shot of a plane taking off directly towards the camera. I'm using the cockpit as the tracking target. But the final result is actually more shakey than before. Meaning I have done something wrong! Any idea of what is happening?

[@PlumpTiger]

ugh thanks i spent so long looking at so many useless videos before i found this one

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

We’re so glad that you found us eventually 😄👍🏻

[@jpatricioau]

thanx!

[@jasonsemper637]

This video might just help me save some gorgeous but shaky footage!!

[@user-kn6jg8kj6d]

Thanks bro :D

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Any time!

[@ky3004]

I came here after watching the movie UPGRADE i would highly recommend it has the effect in many fight scenes and it looks dope

[@abieg.9229]

instead of scaling up to get rid of your black space, add motion tile and change output height and width to 400, then check reflect edges

[@blsureshbabu5159]

Excellent

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Thanks!

[@JD-co4hx]

AMAZING

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Thanks!

[@chrissre7935]

Its cool. Just have to remmember to do Extra Margins when shooting so that the face dsnt take too much of the frame.

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Very true! 😁

[@KynsonMitchell]

You can use the motion tile effect, with mirror edges enabled, to extend the margins by reflecting the video. It's really useful for this kinda stuff

[@laurentc.8952]

Do you know why it's not possible to remap the speed with the Motion Tracking ? Any advise on how to do it ?

[@laurentc.8952]

is it possible to do this with adding a pin for a pivot point ? what i mean if if for example i record a video with a drone of a round about in top down, i want to have the car tracked and the video rotating around the center of the round about ? Possible i guess but how :)

[@jackiemoon1992]

thanks!

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

No problem!

[@utkubelur1957]

thank you

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Cheers!

[@Parsianimation]

thank youuuuuuuuu

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Cheers!

[@Parsianimation]

@@MotionArrayTutorials ^_^

[@LuxemTheFez]

Nice video

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Thanks!

[@justinderoche]

Thank you very much! Also, you sound like a member of Kids in the Hall. Are you Canadian?

[@twasbrillig33]

You said the tutorial video to track objects was in the description below!! WHERE!???!?!!! please someone provide a link. Thank you!

[@Amddurin]

Thank you - I used the wrong tracking mode for hours, now I'm back on track... - How much slowmotion is the video? (120fps > 25fps?)

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

So glad to hear you're back on track! We unfortunately don't have the exact fps the video was shot in. However our best guess is between 180-300fps.

[@dellasx]

Yo! This is one of the edit scene in IT 2019

[@jrow96]

Hi, if I shoot footage in 360 at 6k is the same effect easily obtained?

[@cdfegab]

great tutorial, for some reason when i hit analyze forward nothing happens

[@CamiloMonsalve]

Do you know how to increase the speed of the trackings?

[@manuelandresarayapalma5966]

I expected same app on my android, if it is possible share a googleplay link please

[@lyricsvalley3408]

I like it

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Thanks! 😄

[@Jona]

is it possible to make this stabiization not as 100 % as it is? like a bit not-so-acurate?

[@surzulu4708]

Great video and very useful. Hope you could monetize it!

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Thank you so much! 😄 Money is secondary, helping comes first 😄🙏

[@TheSenseiKai]

By the way, this motion stabilization could be more automated. It's actually pretty easy maths when you have to calculate the best placement so you won't get out of the frame. (Sorry if my English don't make sense)

[@goolygooly11]

Your English is pretty understandable

[@billycasper3351]

Which software are you using ?
Sorry I am new to your channel and this field.

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

For this video specifically? We're using Adobe After Effects. We also do tutorials mostly on Premiere Pro but we also have a couple on DaVinci Resolve as well

[@billycasper3351]

Really helpful. Thanks a lot for the response.

[@filippo967]

How do the camera effect of the movie upgrade 2018?

[@JD-co4hx]

This also reminds me of footage created with gimbals

[@smbhakti46]

G.O.A.T

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

You're too kind 😄🙏

[@ParasTube]

I really wish premiere Pro had something like this

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Same. You can do it manually but it takes more time and effort

[@adrienviglianisi]

Quiet fluid ;) What's your config? I'm trying to rig up a good workstation!

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Hi Adrien! I actually just literally upgraded my system a few days ago! But the computer used in this example was as follows
Intel i7-5820k
GTX 980Ti
32GB of ram
Multiple SSDs holding the project files, scratch files, and footage separately for maximum speed
The new system is
I9-9900K
RTX 2070 Super
64gb of ram
And the same ssd configuration
We actually have a video all about system requirements and in that video is included at the end potentially the best way of setting up your drives for maximum efficiency and therefore speed. I’ll link to that video as well 😄
And stay tuned! Because we have a video coming out hopefully soon detailing the best workstation possible for Ae (spoiler it’s pretty much that new 9900k system)

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

th-cam.com/video/yQfy5zvnjuY/w-d-xo.html

[@m4gn3tic82]

Where do I scale? (Like when you aimed your mouse cursor at the video, which key did u press?)

[@leoroumette9635]

It's "S" or you can drop it with the arrrows and go to transform (I don't know if that's clear)

[@tomasistudios2618]

when I push stabilize tracker the marker does not appear this has stopped me in my tracks how do I get the marker to appear

[@StephenProffitt]

What's the difference between this and 'Track Motion'?

[@PaoloFarinellaPhoto]

Thanks for this! Why cannot I see all those options in my tracker window? I only see the 4 buttons :(

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Oh no, what are the four buttons you have available? Stabilize motion should be the bottom right option of the 4 trackers

[@PaoloFarinellaPhoto]

Motion Array Tutorials Well I have the 4 buttons but when I click on motion tracking I don’t have all the extra options like type, etc...

[@PaoloFarinellaPhoto]

Found it, just in case someone else has this issue!!!
forums.adobe.com/thread/2055698

[@Sglaucoss]

Maybe this will work for drone shots to stabilize the subject. Like a orbit shooting

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

That could be really cool! If you did something like that we'd love to see the results 😀

[@bangkencuszgaming4214]

nice

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Thanks!

[@russchau]

Do you know why it stops right after I click on Analyze Forward? Nothing happens when I click on Analyze Forward...

[@iamCairn]

Would this look bad with 1080p footage or noticeably degraded in quality?

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

It depends on how much the footage was zoomed in when everything is applied. If it ended up pushing in as close as in our example then yes 1080p would show a noticeable degrade. However, if the effect is powerful enough and enjoyable enough to look at, it might not be a problem. All depends on the individual scenario

[@EnglishRain]

3:40 - hey man, did you ever figure out any alternate solution that scaling up? Something like 'reduce canvas style' instead? Scaling up ruins the quality with already low res videos.

[@mustafakareemmusaalasadi7796]

You can record in high resolution like 4k and scale it down to 1080 like David Fincher he shot 6k footage and then he framed the shot to 5k
If your camera doesn't support the high resolution you can buy used canon eos m for 100$ dollars with hack software (magic lantern) you can shot 5.6k and then you can frame the shot to 4k without losing quality

[@fiveteensensei]

i just rendering footage for 10 sec from 150mb videos and the result is 1.8GB ? is that something wrong ?

[@nalul8443]

Hi, can this be done in vegas pro?

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

We believe it would be likely that something like this can be accomplished in Vegas, however we are not very well-versed in Vegas and likely could not answer your question. So sorry

[@YoelDiamante]

after hitting apply XY, it is not stabilizng the clip. any suuggestion?

[@maxpis4412]

same, smh

bless you..

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Thank you!

[@JohnClashofClans]

I dont have a tracker window at all in my Premiere Pro CC 2019... any idea?

[@tranphuc7685]

because this is after effect, not premiere pro.

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Indeed Tran is correct with his response. It's for Ae instead of Premiere Pro. Sorry for the late response.

[@Casiok]

Thanks I’m franzj now

[@Jeremanteca]

i came because of the "Don Abandons alice scene" in 28 weeks later, this effect is applied in the infected that chase Don

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

So cool! We'll have to go back and look for the effect in the movie? Thanks!

[@Jeremanteca]

@@MotionArrayTutorials :D

[@asdjesdsd]

is there a way to do with premier only?

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Unfortunately we don't know of any way to do this exclusively in Premiere Pro 😢

[@lubomiratan]

Jordi, your accent has gone worse... :D Love!

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Haha, what do you mean worse? 😂

[@lubomiratan]

@@MotionArrayTutorials I barely hear any accent in this old video, compared to new ones... Still the content is top notch ☺️

[@DaisyDesigner18]

how to fix shaky cam.. :(

[@reviewsheview]

it does not work in ae cc 2017

[@shaggyburns]

How do you speed up the tracker??!?!!

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Hi Jack, was there a particular section you're referring to? If it's just the speed of Ae processing the tracking I sped that up in editing so that you didn't have to sit and watch it.

[@XtopherJames]

IS THIS POSSIBLE WITH PREMIERE PRO??

[@MarwenRicky]

No, it's not

[@aprikurnia]

👍🏻

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Thanks!

[@neongooroo]

Came here from a video that shows how to do the same thing in Final Cut with an add-on for 50$

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Hopefully no $50 add-on needed 😁

[@dhevine4778]

Is there any apps in mobile can do this thing?

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

We are unaware of any mobile apps for this but will keep an eye out

[@papi1kzay479]

Here from Don Toliver- no idea

[@paulghattouni7005]

where can i download the same video that u are using it??

[@TimsWildlife]

Did not work at all with my macro shot of a butterfly. Too shallow dof I guess.

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Oh no 😟 sorry to hear...yeah that may be the case

[@jonathanveloso6229]

Show

[@erc_g20]

I keep getting shaky stabilized motion. Smh

[@SeanyKrabs]

Doesn't work at all, after I apply nothing happens

[@MotionArrayTutorials]

Sorry to hear. If you have multiple other layers in your composition, try clicking the "edit" button within the tracker to make sure that your footage layer is what the effect is being applied to