Hellraiser in my kitchen

This is a test of motion tracking. I composited the lament configuration (warning: gore) from the Hellraiser horror movie franchise into footage of my kitchen table.

My primary lesson learned is that motion tracking shaky footage is a fool’s errand. I recorded with my phone, and the footage blurs when I take steps. This results in the cubes’ jitter as the trackers jump around. After a bunch of manual tweaking, the jitter isn’t terrible, but it precludes me from calling this a portfolio piece. I might invest in a steadicam next year.

I’m happy with the compositing. Notice that the table surface captures the cubes’ shadow and reflection.

Tripod Shot

I recorded the footage for another test using the same phone, but I also used a tripod to avoid camera shake. The shot is less interesting, but there’s no unexpected movement.

Bonus: Plane Tracking

Motion tracking, as executed above, involves recreating the movement of the camera in three dimensions. Plane tracking is a simpler algorithm in which we can track four points assumed to be in the same plane. You can use this to replace billboards and other flat surface features.

The pumpkin drawing is a copy of the original by Brae Oktober. The replacement image is her photograph of Basil kitty, who departed in 2009.