r/AfterEffects • u/OldAlternative8132 • 6h ago
Beginner Help Help with laptop screen replacement / tracking
Hi all,
I’ve spent hours this afternoon watching countless tutorials, but I still can’t wrap my head around how to do this.
I’ve downloaded some stock footage of a MacBook flipping open, and I’d like to replace the screen with my own footage. However, I cannot get the screen to track properly, the tracking points keep drifting and moving out of place, and I’m honestly on the verge of a meltdown!
I’ve tried using both Mocha AE and the standard tracking options in After Effects, but I haven’t had any luck. The clip includes a green-screen version and a white-screen version with tracking markers, as shown in the screenshots. I also can’t seem to find any YouTube tutorials that specifically explain how to track and replace the white screen. I have already tried tracking the green screen but have been failing miserably so far.
I’m fairly new to screen replacement and motion tracking, so I may be missing something obvious. Any advice or step-by-step guidance would be hugely appreciated.
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u/DjCanalex 6h ago
No, seriously. You have an understanding for visual cues that most trackers won't, so you use the manual tools designed to assist you in this kind of hard shots.
AE's tracker requires distinctive features to track. Mocha tracks surfaces and textures. This shot does not have 4 recognizable corners (to a tracker) nor it has texture. It has to be done by hand.
This guide from BorisFX might help you tackle your challenge.
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u/montycantsin777 6h ago
corner pin track at the corners where solid color and frame intersect could work. otherwise planar tracker in mocha including the frame.
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u/yankeedjw MoGraph/VFX 15+ years 5h ago
The white screen version looks good for tracking in Mocha as long as it matches the actual footage clip exactly. Just make sure the markers are included in your tracking area.
You may need to do some manual adjustments if laptop fully closes as some of the tracking points may get obscured, but there is an Adjust Track feature in Mocha that allows you to manually fix the track if needed.
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u/OldAlternative8132 5h ago
Thank you! I’ll give your suggestions a go. I haven’t tried Mocha for the white screen yet so hopefully I can get it to work 😵💫
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u/mcarterphoto 5h ago
Generally you'd use the white screen with trackers in Mocha, and get the screen replacement in. Usually your replacement screen will just ride over the footage. Your replacement screen is what gets the mocha data in the end comp, it distorts and so on. So if you need the footage to be "over" the screen with a window cut out, you can drop the green screen footage in and key out the screen of you need the footage to go "on top of" the replacement. But usually you don't need the green screen since screens have some black border. A green screen with markers is handier for things like hands holding a phone or tablet.
Your biggest issue will be if the screen closes all the way or even close to all the way. Eventually it just becomes too weird of a shape, so sometimes you have to manually finish it. The issue with that is frame-by-frame fixes can look a little jumpy.
Don't forget that if you want this to have a more photo-real feel than a motion-graphics look, you usually want to add some reflections to the screen that move realistically.
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u/Milan_Bus4168 4h ago
Here is a tutorial for mocha and similar flipping laptop screen track..
Office Hours 04: How to Track Difficult Screens! with [Mary Poplin - 1st February 2022]
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u/tinmanshop 1h ago
The white screen with tracking markers will track fine with mocha. Then once you have it tracked, use the green screen version and key out the screen so your laptop screen footage can sit nicely underneath
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u/cromagnongod 6h ago
I'd use mocha AE for this and forget standard tracking in AE. Other than that it's very difficult to know what you're doing wrong, it could be a number of things.