4.562/4.502 Fall 2019 Architecture in Motion Graphics Prepared by: Wenzhe Peng and Takehiko Nagakura last Revised: 2019.10.01

Lab Session Note for Camera Tracking in Blender

1. Blender Blender is a free and open-source software that has a wide range of functions to make and process animations. It is a very complex and comprehensive environment, and we only introduce its tiny portion helpful for camera tracking. The software is available here.

https://www.blender.org/download/

2. Basic workflow and learning resource If you like to use a moving camera for recording of live figures or objects, below are good the step-by- step instructions. a. When you record the video, make sure that you have good number of markers that camera can easily track. The markers are any small points distinguishable on surfaces, and showing in the video for the entire or substantial duration in the footage. The software computes camera position by analyzing the movement of these marker points.

b. After the video footage is made, it is recommended to identify the short segment of the video that you like to track, and convert that portion to a numbered image sequence of frames. This is because blender operates more efficiently with image frame files than an animation file. For conversion, you can use any software (QuickTime Pro, Premiere, etc.) but blender can do it as well. For instance, see here for a tutorial using blender. - Converting a Video to Image Sequence in Blender https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAw6ZWO7FOY

c. For the tracking process, follow any online tutorial. For instance, here is a good one. - Master Blender Camera Tracking in 6 Minutes! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzym73lhmD4 - Motion Tracking in Blender. A short demo. https://vimeo.com/79032879 - Introduction to basic Camera Tracking in Blender 2.6 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVZJv_OqYb8