1-Point Stabilizing

Use 1-point stabilizing when the motion you want to remove is horizontal (side-to-side) and/or vertical (up/down).

For example, hand-held steadicam and helicopter shots nearly always have undesired horizontal or vertical motion jitter.

To perform 1-point stabilizing:

1. Play the clip to verify that you have a good reference feature. In the following example, a tracking marker was included during production to be used as a reference feature for stabilizing.



2. Select the layer you want to stabilize and choose Operators | Stabilize | Stabilize 1 Point.

The Stabilize 1 Point controls appear.

3. Click the Stabilize Point Set Position button, or use the explicit value X and Y fields to position the crosshairs over a point that describes the motion you want to eliminate.

In this example, there are a number of good reference features in addition to the tracking marker: the corner of the elevator door, the up/down lights above the elevator closest to the camera, and the elevator call panel. All of these remain visible throughout the clip, and the motion of each represents the jitter you want to eliminate.

Note: If you want to eliminate X and Y jitter, it is best to choose a reference feature that is close to the center of the frame.

4. Adjust the settings in the Stabilize controls. See Stabilize Filters.
5. To avoid inadvertently moving the crosshairs, click the Set Position button again to disable it.
6. On the Tracker panel, click the Position button.

A Tracker appears in the viewport, centered over the crosshairs of the point you picked.

7. Adjust the position of the reference and tracker boxes if necessary.
8. On the Tracker panel, set the Axis to X&Y since you want to eliminate both horizontal and vertical jitter. Select Fixed from the Reference list since the reference feature does not change appearance throughout the clip.
9. On the Tracker panel, click the Analyze Forward button   to start the analysis.

The Tracker follows the reference feature, which moves along both the X and Y axes. The shift values are written to the Stabilize channel in the Timeline, and the clip is stabilized as the analysis proceeds.

10. If necessary, pause the analysis, make adjustments, and restart the analysis.