Master the Object Tracker in FCP 10.6

Final Cut users asked for built-in tracking for a long time, and with the 10.6 update we finally got it. Now you can track titles, text, effects, and images onto your footage with no third-party plugins. Let me show you how to use it, plus some issues that'll come up, because the tracking isn't perfect. But hey, beggars can't be choosers, I'm just happy we have it.

The two ways to track

The easiest way, and how you'll do it most of the time, is to drag your title, effect, or generator directly onto the viewer. If you're tracking a person, Final Cut identifies their face and locks on (it'll try for objects too). Hit Analyze, and here's a nice touch, even if you start in the middle of a clip, it tracks to the end and then automatically jumps back to track the rest, so you don't have to manually analyze backward. The other, more manual way: drag your title over the footage, hit the Transform button, then Tracker, adjust the tracking grid over what you want to follow, and hit Analyze.

Fixing rotation and scale

You'll notice your text tends to rotate with the subject. To stop that, select the tracked title, open the inspector, go to Transform, and next to the hide/show button there's a new tracking button, hit it and turn off rotation. Want your text to grow as the camera pushes in? Turn on scale in that same spot. Heads up though: turning on scale sometimes distorts or stretches whatever you're tracking. When that happens, I go back to Transform and fix the distortion manually with the transform tool. And to move your text, just use the on-screen controls, it won't mess up your tracking data.

Track first, decide later

Don't know what you want to attach yet? Select the clip, open the inspector, find the new Trackers section, hit the plus icon, shape the tracking grid (hold Shift to resize it evenly), and analyze. Later, drag your graphic on, hit the little drop-down, and switch it to that track you already made. Keep in mind the tracker works best on detailed, high-contrast areas without crazy camera movement.

When a track gets jumpy

If a track stutters or jumps, go back to that spot and re-track, or right-click the clip and hit Show Tracking Editor to analyze and delete sections by dragging. You can also change the analysis method: Automatic lets Final Cut choose, but per Apple's user guide, if you're on the Machine Learning method and seeing jitter, switch to Point Cloud, its bounding rectangles are less susceptible to quick changes. That cleared up the jitter for me.

Bonus: track a color grade

This one's really cool. Say you want your subject to stand out more. Drag a color correction onto the viewer and track it. Now, if you go to add a shape mask, you'll notice it messes with the tracking grid. The fix: hit the link button to break the link between the tracking grid and the shape mask, so you can form the mask however you want and the tracking points stay put. Then in the color board, brighten the inside of the mask (raise the highlights) and darken the outside (lower the midtones), add some feather, and you've got a tracked vignette that follows your subject through the shot. You can also make multiple tracks and double-click to rename them so you stay organized.