How can you track an object in Final Cut Pro X – and why would you want to?
In this episode of MacBreak Studio, Steve Martin answers the second question to provide context and motivation for the first.
In a nod to Alfred Hitchcock's movie Notorious, Steve wants to bring the viewer's attention to a cupcake being carried by a young girl in a scene from a short film he wrote, directed and edited.
To do so, he wants to brighten up just the frosting on the cupcake without affecting anything else in the shot. This process, known as secondary color correction, can be accomplished in Final Cut Pro X by creating a mask on the shot. The mask can be a shape or it can be based on a color range. A shape mask can even be animated with keyframes to track a moving object, as we demonstrate in our recently released 3rd edition of our Compositing in Final Cut Pro X tutorial.
However, the shape of the mask itself is limited to rounded rectangles, ovals, and circles. While these shapes work for many objects such a face, especially when combined with some generous feathering, this sharply-defined triangular-shaped cone of frosting requires a different solution.
Enter SliceX from CoreMelt. SliceX is a planar tracker plugin that works right inside of Final Cut Pro X. It is powered by Mocha's well-respected planar tracking engine and gives you an extensive set of tools for completing more complex tracking tasks.
Watch the episode to see how Steve uses SliceX to quickly create a perfect track and then uses this track to brighten up the tracked cupcake.