Match Moving - 2D Vs. 3D

2D Vs. 3D

Match moving has two forms. Compositing programs, such as Shake, Adobe After Effects and Discreet Combustion, have two-dimensional motion tracking capabilities. This feature translates images in two-dimensional space and can add effects such as motion blur in an attempt to eliminate relative motion between two features of two moving images. This technique is sufficient to create verisimilitude when the two images do not include major changes in camera perspective. For example a billboard deep in the background of a shot can often be replaced using two-dimensional tracking.

Three-dimensional match moving tools make it possible to extrapolate three-dimensional information from two-dimensional photography. Programs capable of 3D match moving include:

• Blender (open source; uses libmv)
• Voodoo (freeware)
• ACTS
• VISCODA VooCAT
• Icarus (University of Manchester research project, now discontinued but still popular)
• Maya MatchMover 2010
• The Pixel Farm PFTrack, PFMatchit, PFHoe (based on PFTrack algorithms)
• REALVIZ MatchMover (Autodesk bought and re-released as part of Maya 2010 bundle)
• Science.D.Visions 3DEqualizer (which won an Academy Award for Technical Achievement)
• Andersson Technologies LLC's SynthEyes
• Boujou (which won an Emmy award in 2002)
• NukeX from The Foundry
• CameraTracker (a plug-in for Adobe After Effects) from The Foundry.
• VideoTrace from Punchcard (software for generating 3D models from video and images)
• IXIR 2D Track Editor It is capable of 2D tracks and Mask files of software like 3D Equalizer, PFTrack, Boujou, SynthEyes, Matchmover, Movimento, Nuke, Shake, Fusion, After Effects, Combustion, Mocha, Silhouette
• mocha Pro from Imagineer Systems, Planar Tracker-based utility for post production

These programs allow users to derive camera movement and other relative motion from arbitrary footage. The tracking information can be transferred to computer graphics software such as Blender, 3ds Max, Maya or LightWave and used to animate virtual cameras and CGI objects.