Manual Tracking in DaVinci Resolve
Master Manual Point Tracking in DaVinci Resolve Fusion
Have you ever hit a wall trying to use the point tracker inside DaVinci Resolve Fusion and gotten bad results? This often happens with difficult shots, like those with light flaring or patterns that don't maintain over time. The great news is you can solve almost any shot by creating manual displacement tracking data. This post will walk you through the process, even demonstrating how to track in both directions and apply the data to a match move!
Setting Up the Tracker
First, you need to add a tracker tool to your Fusion composition.
Use Shift + Space and type TRA to add the standard point tracker. The manual technique works with both the regular point tracker (available in the free version) and the Studio version's IntelliTrack which works with AI.
Load the tracker into the viewer.
Park the playhead on a frame that has good contrast for the tracker to memorize. This gives the tracker the best fighting chance.
To place the tracker, click the small square in the upper-left of the green tracking box and drag it to a high-contrast feature on your footage, such as a corner.
Manual Tracking Frame by Frame
To begin your manual track, start by tracking a single frame forward:
In the inspector, click the "track forward one" button. You'll likely see it didn't do a great job.
To correct the path, select the next-to-last point on the tracker path. This will turn the path red, meaning you can now manipulate it like a polygon mask in Fusion.
Zoom in (CMD/CTRL + mouse wheel or middle-click on a Wacom).
Take the incorrect last point, pick it up, and move it to where it truly belongs.
Using Click Append Mode
Now, to track the rest of the frames manually, you'll use Click Append mode:
The Click Append mode allows you to manually place keyframes onto the image to match move something later on.
Activate the mode by clicking the far left polygon tool icon (it will appear red) or by using the shortcut Shift + C.
Advance to the next frame using the bracket key.
Simply click on the image at the new position where you want the tracking path to exist for that frame.
Continue going frame by frame. If the tracker is slightly off, you can simply pick up the point and move it. Manual tracking ensures you get accurate data.
Tracking in the Opposite Direction
You'll often need to track backward to cover the whole shot. Here’s the trick to picking up the track in the other direction:
Toggle on "Show Key Points" (Shift + K) in your tools menu. This will show all previous keyframes as boxes.
Click the point on the timeline (in the viewer) that is the next-to-last of the opposite direction you want to go.
Then, click the point you want to pick up from to tell the tracker where to begin the new direction.
With Click Append (Shift + C) still active, advance frames backward (using the bracket key) and click to set the manual motion path for the rest of the frames.
Applying the Track Data
Once you have your complete manual motion path, you can use it for match moving, such as attaching a logo to the tracked point.
Add your foreground element (like a logo) to the green foreground input of the tracker tool.
In the tracker inspector, change the Operation Mode to Match Move with FG over BG.
Adjusting the Offset
If your foreground element isn't in the correct position, you need to adjust the offset.
The offset uses the same motion data but allows you to reposition the foreground element.
In the tracker tab, you can adjust the X and Y offsets manually.
Alternatively, click the on-screen control in the upper-left (it turns blue). This displays a red dotted line in the viewer, which is your offset path. Pick up and drag this line to reposition your graphic anywhere.
Bonus Tips for Polishing the Shot
Continuing Motion Off-Screen with Gradient Extrapolation
If the tracked object moves off the frame, you need to make sure the match-moved element follows its momentum, which can be done using gradient extrapolation:
Go to the Spline Editor (up in the workspace menu).
Click the "Displacement" option to see your manual tracking data (the flat lines at the beginning and end show where the motion stops).
Right-click anywhere in the editor and choose Gradient Extrapolation.
This continues the momentum on both ends of the path so that anything you match move moves smoothly off-screen.
Adding Motion Blur for Integration
To help your match-moved element integrate better with the footage, add motion blur:
Select the Tracker tool and go to the Settings tab.
Adjust the Motion Blur Quality and potentially the Shutter Angle to match the feel of your shot.
By following these steps, you can conquer challenging shots and get perfectly accurate tracking data!
