Motion tracking overview

Motion tracking is a method of recording the movement of an element (a shape or reference point in a movie clip) in the Canvas, then applying that recorded movement data to another element in the Canvas. For example, you can use motion tracking techniques to:

  • “Pin” a post-production graphic to the side of a moving bus

  • “Track” a blurry circle to a person’s face to preserve an innocent bystander’s anonymity

  • Stabilize a ridiculously shaky camera to vastly improve a “found-footage” thriller

  • “Replace” a daring stuntman’s head with the mug of a lazy leading actor

There are six tracking behaviors available in Motion. You apply a tracking behavior to an object in your project—typically a movie clip—to record and analyze its movement. The result of this analysis is a track—recorded movement data—that can be applied to any other object in the project, transferring the motion of a source object to a destination object.