Adjust onscreen trackers in Motion

Many tracking behaviors use onscreen trackers (a crosshair in a circle, shown below) that you can position to analyze an area of pixels (a reference pattern).

The default onscreen tracker color is red. Depending on the color of your subject, you might need to change the color of the tracker to see the tracker in the canvas.

When the tracking analysis begins, a progress window opens and track points appear in the canvas, representing the post-analysis motion path (the path that looks like a string of pearls). The track point at the current playhead position is emphasized.

Note: Track points in the canvas correspond to the tracking keyframes that appear in the Keyframe Editor.

You can adjust and customize onscreen trackers.

Position the tracker

Drag the tracker in the Motion canvas.
As you drag, a magnified inset shows the tracker’s position, and an info window displays the tracker coordinates. The magnified inset is a visual aid for positioning the tracker and does not represent a search region or reference pattern.
The magnified inset also appears as a Tracker Preview area in the Behaviors Inspector.
Fine-tune the tracker position by doing one of the following:
- Drag in the Tracker Preview area.
  As you drag in the preview area, the tracker in the canvas also updates.
  If you use rotated footage, the rotation is not reflected in the Tracker Preview area in the Inspector. However, the rotation is reflected in the magnified visual aid in the canvas.
- At the bottom of the Behaviors Inspector, click the track’s disclosure triangle, then use the Position controls to numerically adjust the tracker’s position.
  Note: You can Option-drag in the Tracker Preview area to override the pattern search size. Option-drag left to reduce the size of the search pattern in the canvas, and Option-drag right to increase the pattern search size. Alternatively, you can modify the search size using the Track Size slider in the track parameters.

Move multiple trackers at the same time

Drag to select or Shift-select the trackers in the Motion canvas, then drag the selection to a new position.
A selected tracker appears yellow.
Note: Because you risk moving onscreen trackers when Shift-selecting, dragging to select may be a better option.

Turn off onscreen trackers

In Motion, do one of the following:

Control-click a tracker in the canvas, then choose Hide Selected Tracker from the shortcut menu.
In the Behaviors Inspector, deselect the relevant Track checkbox.
When a tracker is deselected, it’s not used in the analysis.

Turn on onscreen trackers

In the Behaviors Inspector in Motion, select the relevant Track checkbox.

Change the color of the onscreen tracker

Select the tracker in the Motion canvas.
In the Behaviors Inspector, move the pointer over the parameter row of the track you want to modify, then click Show.
The track’s controls are displayed.
Adjust the Color controls to change the color of the tracker.
See Use basic color controls in Motion.

Helpful?

Motion User Guide