Planar stabilization in action

This is what I use the repo master for.

Tutorial is here: https://vimeo.com/356040485

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I love this method. I would also recommend checking that the action stabilize un-inverts correctly and doesnā€™t go off the image edge before doing a lengthy sequence paint or cleanup, and later realizing something funky happened, thus having to redo the paint work. Usually everything goes smoothly, but that one time it doesnā€™tā€¦

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yes markey I used to do this all the time.

usually would do the planar track in tracer. copy the axis node into action and invert the keyframe anim in action.

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Hey Andy,

Do you possible have a copy of the full article on hand?

No. I wrote the thing on the clock while i was at the Mill, so chances are they ā€œownā€ that text in some way. I donā€™t know if they still have it up. Almost all of my friends have left. If my life calms down some (iā€™m fine, just busy in too many directions) Iā€™ll write up a new one. Sort of like when a band re-records all their old songs to own them again. Haha.

the short version:

Track something with 1, 2 or planar tracker. Copy axis, hang it of plate to be stabilized, hit ā€œINVERTā€

plate is now stabilized. work on plate.

Copy Action, plug stabilized plate into it and turn ā€œINVERTā€ off.

done.

It was some thousands of words to underscore the ā€œINVERTā€ button is the single best feature in Flame.

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I dunno @andy_dill, adding elbows was a pretty big game changer for bringing sanity to batch setups! :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

Hahaha. I rarely use elbows, so: very little sanity from me. My setups are a mess. Sometimes I clean them up, and if Iā€™m sharing them I make them tidy and clear, but left to my own devices I build schematic versions of the Winchester House.

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perpective grid will give you a stabilized flat texture. sometime is very usefull.
me personally I usually go with the axis planar tracker invert option stabilizing from the frame a need.

in both ways I will need involve 2 action if I want to paint after stabilize it . but I never go more than 2 actions, because AA can ruin quality, specially in small detailes.

so here some tips to keep your quality:
becarfull with hardware and software AA, you should keep it disable most of the times.
pay attencion on the filtering mode.
I usually go scale up the action for stabilitation.
color space and exposure levels matter. you can play with both.
and most important, just comp back the result of your paint. Never the hole frame, just the patch.

this steps are a must for tech-check.

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Ooof, tidy batch is a clean conscience for me these days!

I mostly use elbows to tap into a connection so that I donā€™t have to do the big screen crawl to get to the original

dittoā€¦ to the point that I found this so easy, I ignored the Perspective Grid trackerā€¦ and then, I started Perspective Gridding and realized that it is just next level for a lot of things. So now the Persp Grid is the go to. But regardlessā€¦ The day i found the invert button was like the day i fel in love withā€¦ wellā€¦ I have no comparison. True love indeed.

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So what is the advantage of using the perspective grid tracker over the regular planar tracker?
I stopped using it a few versions ago because it seemed to move the camera and then screw up my actions when I added another one in the same action. And then the Planar Tracker as-is came along :slight_smile:

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For me the biggest advantage of PGrid-stabilize is, that the four corners are locked in place and only the center area may be shifting. So Iā€™m sure, that patchwork is on point in those corners.
Honestly didnā€™t used gmask planar stabilize that much yet. But I can think of missing ā€œlocked pointsā€ in that scenario.
But please correct me if Iā€™m wrong!

Thanks for that - Iā€™ll give it a go :slight_smile:

might be of interest:

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Well. Alan Moore is an anarchist :smile:

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ā€œstabilize-everythingā€ and ā€œstabilize-everything-even-moreā€ :rofl:
Two of the countless shining articles!

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Welcome @yukiko !