# Planar tracker “gimbal lock”

**URL:** <https://forum.logik.tv/t/planar-tracker-gimbal-lock/7567>\
**Category:** Flame Questions\
**Tags:** planar-track\
**Created:** [January 25, 2023, 4:12am UTC](https://forum.logik.tv/t/planar-tracker-gimbal-lock/7567 "2023-01-25T04:12:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![hBomb42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/bbce88/32.png) [@hBomb42](https://forum.logik.tv/u/hBomb42)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 4:12am UTC](https://forum.logik.tv/t/planar-tracker-gimbal-lock/7567/1 "2023-01-25T04:12:25Z")

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I’m tracking something that’s rotating 270 degrees in Z. The planar tracker gets what appears to be a rock solid track, but when the z rot hits 90, it goes negative and the x and y scale go negative. It appears smooth visually until I enable motion blur, at which point it goes nuts. Tracking with “perspective” enabled doesn’t fix it. Hand-editing the animation channels fixes it, but seems lame. Any ideas? Is this a known issue?

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**Author:** ![GPM](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.logik.tv/gpm/32/4224_2.png) [@GPM](https://forum.logik.tv/u/GPM)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 4:15pm UTC](https://forum.logik.tv/t/planar-tracker-gimbal-lock/7567/2 "2023-01-25T16:15:09Z")

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Hmm, I haven’t seen that - but if you have Mocha Pro that’s my first try if planar acts weird.

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**Author:** ![MLandon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@MLandon](https://forum.logik.tv/u/MLandon)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2023, 10:38pm UTC](https://forum.logik.tv/t/planar-tracker-gimbal-lock/7567/3 "2023-01-25T22:38:50Z")

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I’ve seen that behavior quite often recently. You use the Gmask Tracer to do a plainer track that looks great, only to have the result go wonky because the scales go negative for a few frames. I haven’t found a workaround for it either, but I do what @GPM does and reach for Mocha if Flame doesn’t work.

Sorry I can’t be more help.  
Michael

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**Author:** ![andy\_dill](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/forum.logik.tv/andy_dill/32/47_2.png) [@andy\_dill](https://forum.logik.tv/u/andy_dill)\
**Post date:** [January 28, 2023, 2:05pm UTC](https://forum.logik.tv/t/planar-tracker-gimbal-lock/7567/5 "2023-01-28T14:05:17Z")

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I often want a “let’s be reasonable” button for things like this.

“Do you think the image flipped 360.2 degrees in a single frame? Let’s be reasonable”

“Do you think that clearly visible tracking point decided to make hard left turn? Let’s be reasonable.”