ANR Point To Track: ANR Tools docs

Overview

Point To Track projects 3D positions through a camera on every frame and writes them into an ordinary Tracker, one track per node. It does what Reconcile3D does for one point, for as many points as you list, in one go.

List the nodes in Points (Axis, Camera, Light, Card, TransformGeo, Sphere, Cube or Cylinder; Add Selected fills it in). For an Axis, Camera or Light the position is its world position, parents included. For a Card, TransformGeo or shape it is the origin of its own transform.

Use it to get 2D tracks out of a camera solve: locators you placed in 3D become tracks for paint, roto, a CornerPin or any 2D tool that wants a track.

Inputs

Sourceoptional
The plate. It sets the format the tracks are in, and is what the node shows.
Sceneoptional
A ScanlineRender (or RayRender), or a node below it, whose camera is used when nothing is connected to Camera.
Cameraoptional
The camera to project through. It overrides the camera of the Scene input.

Output. The plate, untouched, with a cross drawn in the viewer at each point.

Quick start

Add ANR Point To Track and connect the plate to Source and your camera to Camera.
Select the 3D nodes you want as tracks in the Node Graph (the panel stays open) and press Add Selected.
Check the crosses in the viewer against the plate.
In Make Nodes, set Frame Range.
Press Copy Tracker, click in the Node Graph and press Ctrl+V.

The panel

The node's panel as Nuke shows it, with the values of a new node. Click any control to see what it does; tabs and sections work as in Nuke.

ANR_Point_To_Track1

StatusSelect 3D nodes (Axis, Light, Card...) and press Add Selected; wire a Camera. Then Copy Tracker and paste (Ctrl+V).

Points

Add Selected

Clear

Show Points

First Frame1

Last Frame100

Copy Tracker

All controls

ANR Point To Track9 controls

StatusStatusstatus

What the node is reading, and what the buttons made.

PointsTextptPoints

The 3D nodes to track, by name, separated by spaces. Add Selected fills it in.

Default: empty

Add SelectedButtonptAddSelected

Select 3D nodes in the Node Graph (this panel stays open), then press: they are added to Points.

ClearButtonptClear

Empty Points.

Show PointsCheckboxptOverlay

Draw the points in the viewer.

Default: on

Make Nodes

Frame RangeMenuptRange

The frames the Tracker is keyed on.

Default: Project RangeOptions: Project Range Source Range Custom

First FrameSliderptFirst

Custom range: first frame.

Default: 1

Last FrameSliderptLast

Custom range: last frame.

Default: 100

Copy TrackerButtonptCopyTracker

A Tracker4 with one track per point, keyed on every frame, on the clipboard: paste (Ctrl+V).

Tips

Press Add Selected again to add more nodes; nodes already in the list are skipped. Clear empties the list.
You can type node names into Points yourself, separated by spaces.
Each track is named after its 3D node, so the Tracker reads like your scene.

Good to know

Keys on frames where a point is behind the camera are switched off. Status says how many.
The Tracker is baked, not linked: after the camera or the nodes change, copy again.
The camera input accepts Camera nodes only.

Works with

ANR Card To TrackTurns a 3D Card seen through a camera into 2D: a Tracker with its four corners, a CornerPin, or a live matte of the card.

ANR Scene SolverSolves the camera and the scene from the plate with an AI model: a Nuke Camera with a real focal length, depth and position passes, a point cloud and a textured mesh.

ANR Camera BakeFlattens a camera with parents, expressions or links, or any 3D node, into a plain Camera or Axis keyed on every frame.

ANR Transform ConvertCollapses a chain of CornerPins and Transforms into one CornerPin, Tracker or Transform keyed on every frame, or its inverse.