Master Screen Tracking in After Effects: Create Epic Smartphone Screen Effects

00:10:26
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbbjIBGy3jQ

Summary

TLDRIn this tutorial, the host guides viewers through the process of using Adobe After Effects to track a screen recording or screenshot to a mobile device, creating a dynamic and futuristic visual effect. The tutorial begins by importing footage and creating a new project, then covers creating a 'null object' for tracking motion related to rotation, scale, and position using high-contrast tracking points. The tutorial goes on to explain using this data to animate layers by parenting them to the tracker and making adjustments in 3D space. Techniques for enhancing with glow effects and setting animations with motion blur are also demonstrated, along with advice on managing keyframes and anchor points to achieve smoother transitions. The tutorial emphasizes the need for proper organizing, provides tips for potential adjustments, and encourages viewers to experiment with the effect, offering a chance to upload their creations for feedback. The video concludes with an encouragement to subscribe and engage for more tutorials.

Takeaways

  • 🎥 Learn to track screen recordings to phones in videos using Adobe After Effects.
  • 📏 Use high-contrast points for accurate motion tracking.
  • 🔄 Options to track position, rotation, and scale for customized effects.
  • 📺 Convert layers to 3D for realistic placement.
  • ✨ Enhance visuals with glow effects for a modern touch.
  • ⚙️ Manage keyframes for smooth animation transitions.
  • 🔀 Organize project settings for efficient workflow.
  • 📹 Use motion blur to make animations smoother.
  • 🎞️ Efficiently handle compositions to simplify adjustments.
  • 🔧 Experiment with different tracker settings for desired outcomes.

Timeline

  • 00:00:00 - 00:05:00

    The tutorial begins by introducing a screen tracking effect using Adobe After Effects, highlighting its futuristic and modern look suitable for video editing. The instructor initiates After Effects, demonstrating how to import footage and create a sequence. A null object is created for tracking, and the clip is selected to track motion—specifically rotation and scale for precision. The tracker panel settings are tailored to ensure accuracy. Two contrasting tracking points are chosen for efficient tracking, with explanations on adjusting tracking settings, including ensuring each point is visible throughout the clip for accurate tracking.

  • 00:05:00 - 00:10:26

    The tutorial progresses as the instructor shows how to apply the tracking data to a null object necessary for stability in editing. A verification is run by adding a solid red indicator. The content demonstrates parenting the screen recording to the tracker for seamless path following. Transforming the layer into a 3D layer is discussed for realism. The video then illustrates refining the blend modes and using glow effects for enhanced aesthetics. Techniques for scaling and motion blur adjustments are shared to improve animation smoothness who end-to-end while emphasizing the importance of saving projects. The tutorial wraps up by encouraging viewers to share creations and feedback.

Mind Map

Video Q&A

  • What software is used in the tutorial?

    The tutorial uses Adobe After Effects.

  • What is the primary effect taught in the tutorial?

    The primary effect is tracking a screen recording or screenshot to a phone in a video.

  • Can I track only the position of an object in After Effects?

    Yes, you can choose to track only the position without affecting scale or rotation.

  • What should be the characteristics of tracking points?

    Tracking points should be high contrast and remain visible throughout the clip.

  • Why is motion blur added to the layers?

    Motion blur is added to make the animation appear smoother and more natural.

  • What is the purpose of making a layer 3D?

    Making a layer 3D allows for realistic placement in 3D space, enhancing the effect.

  • How can the tutorial's effect be customized?

    You can choose to track different parameters (position, rotation, scale) based on the desired outcome.

  • What format should be used to save the project in After Effects?

    Projects should be saved in an organized manner using 'Command + S' and naming the file appropriately.

  • How can I make changes to the screen recording without redoing the scale and rotation?

    By creating a new composition for the screen recording, changes can be made easily without redoing scale and rotation adjustments.

  • What does setting the Anchor Point achieve?

    Setting the Anchor Point helps in accurate scaling and positioning of the animated effect.

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Subtitles
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  • 00:00:00
    what is up guys and welcome to another
  • 00:00:01
    exciting tutorial today I'm going to
  • 00:00:04
    show you how to track a screen recording
  • 00:00:06
    or screenshot to your phone I use this
  • 00:00:07
    effect a lot to Showcase what is
  • 00:00:09
    happening on our talent screen I think
  • 00:00:11
    this effect looks super cool as a
  • 00:00:13
    futuristic modern looking style effect
  • 00:00:15
    which you should have in your editing
  • 00:00:17
    toolbox so let's Dive Right In
  • 00:00:20
    [Music]
  • 00:00:23
    okay we fire up after effects and create
  • 00:00:25
    a new project and first of all we want
  • 00:00:28
    to drag our footage inside so go into
  • 00:00:29
    your folder drag your clip into After
  • 00:00:32
    Effects yes let's create a sequence and
  • 00:00:34
    I'll show you what we are working with
  • 00:00:36
    so we have our talent and a nice Moody
  • 00:00:39
    bus station which is looking super
  • 00:00:41
    cinematic we like this shot and the
  • 00:00:43
    first thing we are going to do is create
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    a null object so tap in here new null
  • 00:00:48
    object boom next up we select our clip
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    and go to the tracker panel if you don't
  • 00:00:53
    see the tracker panel go up to Windows
  • 00:00:55
    and make sure you check the tracker here
  • 00:00:58
    yes in here make sure the clip is
  • 00:01:00
    selected go to track motion and we want
  • 00:01:02
    to track the motion for rotation and
  • 00:01:04
    scale but you can also track the motion
  • 00:01:07
    just for the position so you would only
  • 00:01:09
    have one of these tracker like that in
  • 00:01:13
    the beginning so it will just track your
  • 00:01:15
    position it won't change anything in
  • 00:01:17
    scale or rotation but since we have some
  • 00:01:19
    nice two tracking points here we can
  • 00:01:21
    also track the rotation and the scale
  • 00:01:23
    for a better looking outcome so make
  • 00:01:26
    sure you check them both and now click
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    on edit Target and for the Target we
  • 00:01:30
    choose our null object we just created
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    next up we are going to options and
  • 00:01:34
    choose in here stop tracking and the
  • 00:01:37
    confidence we will set to 90 so that's
  • 00:01:40
    the settings we want make sure you drag
  • 00:01:42
    the slider all the way to beginning if
  • 00:01:44
    you have defined your tracking points
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    your tracking points should be really
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    contrasty in my case I'm going to use uh
  • 00:01:50
    this dot here on top of the phone and
  • 00:01:52
    for my second tracker I will use the
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    other one
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    right here this this totally works for
  • 00:01:59
    me and yeah these two tracking points
  • 00:02:01
    should be visible throughout the clip so
  • 00:02:03
    make sure there's nothing covering this
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    point so you can get a clean track
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    awesome so let's go to the first frame
  • 00:02:08
    and make sure our trackers are in place
  • 00:02:11
    another thing go back into your
  • 00:02:13
    composition window you can change
  • 00:02:15
    Windows up here and make sure you set
  • 00:02:17
    the resolution to full resolution to get
  • 00:02:19
    the best outcome nice so we got
  • 00:02:21
    everything set I'm happy and it's time
  • 00:02:24
    to start the track and to start the
  • 00:02:25
    track we just need to click here and the
  • 00:02:27
    clip will be analyzed so and we have our
  • 00:02:30
    first situation where the tracker is not
  • 00:02:32
    sure about the tracking but it looks
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    good I also want to check my keyframes
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    so I press U while my clip is selected
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    that brings up all the keyframes of the
  • 00:02:41
    tracker yeah this is looking good so I
  • 00:02:43
    tell the tracker to keep tracking
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    forward yes and you just repeat this
  • 00:02:47
    process till you get to the end of your
  • 00:02:49
    clip and if the tracker gets something
  • 00:02:51
    wrong you can just correct it by moving
  • 00:02:53
    The Trackers around but this one is
  • 00:02:55
    doing a good job we have good contrasty
  • 00:02:57
    tracking points which is easy to track
  • 00:03:00
    and Ebola we have our track now we can
  • 00:03:03
    scrub through the clip and check this is
  • 00:03:05
    looking good to me nice and we have
  • 00:03:08
    everything set up before so we just need
  • 00:03:10
    to apply the tracking data onto our null
  • 00:03:13
    object so click apply apply for X and Y
  • 00:03:15
    enter boom and we have our information
  • 00:03:18
    the tracking data on the null object
  • 00:03:20
    that's awesome so we can rename the null
  • 00:03:23
    object to tracker that's perfect and to
  • 00:03:26
    check our track we can just create a
  • 00:03:28
    solid so go to new solid or maybe are we
  • 00:03:31
    going for a red one so we see what we
  • 00:03:34
    are doing we can just quickly rescale
  • 00:03:36
    yes and all the magic just happens with
  • 00:03:39
    one click now so you just need to parent
  • 00:03:40
    the solid a screenshot or a screen
  • 00:03:42
    recording or whatever you have to your
  • 00:03:44
    tracker so that's the null object with
  • 00:03:46
    all the data and it will follow the path
  • 00:03:49
    this is nice now let's make our layer a
  • 00:03:52
    3D layer so we can place it like
  • 00:03:54
    realistic in 3D space and see how this
  • 00:03:56
    going to look so this one is looking
  • 00:03:58
    better to me and if there's too much
  • 00:04:01
    going on with rotation scale and all the
  • 00:04:03
    tracks um you just have to create
  • 00:04:04
    another null object we just call this a
  • 00:04:07
    Tracker position that fits for us so we
  • 00:04:10
    choose the tracker position choose our
  • 00:04:11
    clip track motion then we go into
  • 00:04:14
    options and we can just do the same
  • 00:04:16
    process again and tracking only the
  • 00:04:18
    position
  • 00:04:21
    all right done we have just tracked a
  • 00:04:24
    second tracker let's parent the solid to
  • 00:04:27
    the only position tracker and see how
  • 00:04:29
    that looks yeah that that looks a little
  • 00:04:31
    bit more chilled so we don't have the
  • 00:04:33
    rotation and the and the scale going on
  • 00:04:36
    so yeah it always depends on what you
  • 00:04:39
    want to have for the outcome and what
  • 00:04:41
    you're actually looking for so we have
  • 00:04:42
    both options right here and you can
  • 00:04:44
    track whatever works for you so we get
  • 00:04:46
    everything set up for now in After
  • 00:04:47
    Effects so now ready to do our screen
  • 00:04:49
    recording so I'm just going to go to
  • 00:04:51
    Instagram and scroll a little bit this
  • 00:04:53
    always looks cool if you have someone
  • 00:04:55
    scrolling around yeah it's it's pretty
  • 00:04:57
    nice sheet type something on the screen
  • 00:04:59
    uh we maybe should go maybe into our
  • 00:05:02
    nodes
  • 00:05:04
    I create a new node and they hey guys
  • 00:05:07
    and now what we want to do is create a
  • 00:05:09
    new comp so just drag it on here and the
  • 00:05:11
    new comp we can just drag into our main
  • 00:05:14
    comp that's because if we want to change
  • 00:05:16
    something in the screen recording we're
  • 00:05:18
    just going to do it in the comp so we
  • 00:05:19
    don't have to do scaling and rotation
  • 00:05:21
    again we are now editing the whole
  • 00:05:23
    composition nice so let's rescale it to
  • 00:05:26
    something that fits for us maybe here
  • 00:05:30
    you can disable the red solid that makes
  • 00:05:32
    definitely sense so we have more space
  • 00:05:34
    to place our screen recording and now we
  • 00:05:37
    just have to do the same as we did with
  • 00:05:38
    the solid and to use the tracker data we
  • 00:05:40
    just need to parent it to whatever
  • 00:05:43
    tracker we want I'm not tracking it to
  • 00:05:45
    the tracker with the rotation and
  • 00:05:47
    everything
  • 00:05:48
    this is looking good
  • 00:05:50
    so now we're going in and creating a 3D
  • 00:05:53
    layer out of that so we can place it
  • 00:05:55
    realistically in 3D space now we can
  • 00:05:58
    also change the blending mode maybe to
  • 00:06:01
    screen this can look pretty cool and
  • 00:06:04
    more futuristic and in here let's draw a
  • 00:06:07
    rough mask around this area so we just
  • 00:06:11
    see actually the nodes let's correct
  • 00:06:14
    that a little all right looking good and
  • 00:06:17
    if we go back in the comp boom
  • 00:06:20
    so it's moving with it perfect so you
  • 00:06:23
    got everything set up I really like this
  • 00:06:25
    design yeah it's pretty dope so we can
  • 00:06:27
    place it wherever it fits for you we can
  • 00:06:29
    also add some glow to it we just just go
  • 00:06:31
    to the effects and search for glow
  • 00:06:34
    and let's add some glow that definitely
  • 00:06:35
    makes a a difference it looks way cooler
  • 00:06:39
    with that
  • 00:06:40
    nice and yeah now we can do some really
  • 00:06:44
    cool stuff to actually make it pop out
  • 00:06:46
    and for that we are
  • 00:06:49
    defining the Anchor Point
  • 00:06:52
    to where the phone is so let's say the
  • 00:06:55
    Anchor Point is around here and then we
  • 00:06:57
    bring up scale by pressing s making a
  • 00:06:59
    keyframe so that's our final scale going
  • 00:07:01
    back in time and setting the scale to
  • 00:07:04
    zero so it's actually coming all the way
  • 00:07:07
    from zero up boom and now we can smooth
  • 00:07:10
    the keyframes
  • 00:07:12
    so that was a keyframe before really
  • 00:07:15
    really hard
  • 00:07:16
    you can just go in here
  • 00:07:19
    and yeah make it really really smooth
  • 00:07:21
    and pop out now let's activate motion
  • 00:07:23
    blur as always in the composition on
  • 00:07:25
    your layer you can make the animation
  • 00:07:27
    pop in a little bit slower we can also
  • 00:07:31
    work with the Anchor Point maybe put it
  • 00:07:33
    here so the anchor part is exactly at
  • 00:07:35
    the phone yeah that works cool so this
  • 00:07:38
    is our first layer we have and yeah
  • 00:07:40
    remember always to save so you do
  • 00:07:42
    command s you choose the location where
  • 00:07:45
    you want to save your project call it
  • 00:07:48
    smart
  • 00:07:49
    phone tracker boom go back into your
  • 00:07:53
    project and now we're creating a new
  • 00:07:54
    comp with the same screen recording so
  • 00:07:56
    we just had the the scroll here I think
  • 00:07:59
    it's pretty nice we defined the in and
  • 00:08:01
    out points
  • 00:08:02
    and create a new sequence
  • 00:08:05
    this one we can call feet
  • 00:08:08
    and the feed we just have to now drag
  • 00:08:11
    into our main comp again boom same
  • 00:08:14
    workflow as before we parenting to our
  • 00:08:19
    null object and if their names change
  • 00:08:21
    for some reason it's because you have
  • 00:08:23
    clicked here on Source name and if you
  • 00:08:24
    click it again you see the landing so
  • 00:08:26
    easy don't get confused or freak out if
  • 00:08:29
    you don't see the names you can just
  • 00:08:30
    change it here so same we can do is here
  • 00:08:32
    to change the blending mode again to
  • 00:08:34
    screen maybe go a little bit down in
  • 00:08:37
    scale parent it to the same tracker to
  • 00:08:41
    the null object yes
  • 00:08:42
    go into the modes again and
  • 00:08:46
    here we do we create a 3D layer
  • 00:08:49
    and now position it in 3D space whatever
  • 00:08:53
    looks cool for us I think here's the
  • 00:08:54
    same we go into our feed comp and draw a
  • 00:08:57
    rough mask
  • 00:08:58
    so we just see the feed right
  • 00:09:01
    maybe something like that that's pretty
  • 00:09:04
    cool go back in our main comp yes
  • 00:09:06
    looking good you here see the difference
  • 00:09:09
    um this one is not proper tracked to the
  • 00:09:12
    same tracker so we are parented to just
  • 00:09:15
    the position tracker we go back in here
  • 00:09:17
    go to Parenting and use the other
  • 00:09:19
    tracker and now they are tracked with
  • 00:09:21
    the same tracker so they move kinda in
  • 00:09:23
    the same way and here I would recommend
  • 00:09:25
    doing actually the same so we're
  • 00:09:27
    bringing up the scale with s making sure
  • 00:09:30
    Center The Anchor Point actually at the
  • 00:09:33
    phone making a screenshot for scale for
  • 00:09:35
    the ending position going forward in
  • 00:09:37
    time
  • 00:09:38
    scale to zero activating motion blur on
  • 00:09:41
    the layer
  • 00:09:42
    bringing up the keyframes smoothing the
  • 00:09:45
    keyframes boom and we have the second
  • 00:09:47
    one dropping out as well boom that's it
  • 00:09:50
    guys I'm super excited what you guys
  • 00:09:52
    gonna create with this technique so
  • 00:09:54
    please make sure to tag me if you create
  • 00:09:56
    something and post it on the social so I
  • 00:09:59
    can give you feedback and look up the
  • 00:10:01
    work you create with this detailed
  • 00:10:02
    tutorials I hope you learned something
  • 00:10:04
    amazing today and please subscribe to
  • 00:10:06
    the channel so I can keep creating this
  • 00:10:08
    long form tutorial format and let me
  • 00:10:10
    know about your opinions what do you
  • 00:10:11
    think about the tutorials which
  • 00:10:13
    tutorials you want to see in the future
  • 00:10:15
    write it all down in the comments I'm
  • 00:10:16
    gonna read all of them so guys that's it
  • 00:10:18
    for today's tutorial I'll wish you an
  • 00:10:20
    amazing day
  • 00:10:22
    [Music]
Tags
  • Adobe After Effects
  • video editing
  • tracking
  • screen recording
  • animation
  • motion blur
  • 3D animation
  • keyframing
  • null object
  • tutorial