FCP Image Stabalizer

yes, I used it just recently to make a shot smooth enough to match a graphic in motion to it. It works best if the shot is relatively smooth to begin with, has a constant portion that is always visible which is a higher contrast shape/color combination.

You start with your playhead at the start of the clip (this is important), double click the clip to open it in the viewer. Add the IS plugin to the clip in the viewer by dragging and dropping it on top of it in the viewer. Click the effects tab at the top of the viewer. Find the IS plugin and click the little plus in a circle for the center portion in the parameters. In the canvas, click and drag to place the center of the 2 concentric squares over the object we have preiously discussed (contrasty constant shape/colors - exit signs are good). I always have bumed up the scan range as high as it'll go. The plugin will scan the larger square for the piece you selected with the smaller square. It will then shift the frame to get that piece in there.

I've found it helps to digitally zoom the footage slightly as black will show on the edges as the frame slides around if you don't. if the object being searched for ever gets covered by a foreground object (like the actor), The frame will jump back to where it was in the beginning (which is what you're probably seeing that is frustrating you). It will also do this if the object moves out of the scan area (larger square).

If you plan using this from the start, keep and object in frame the visibility of which you're very defensive about (sorry, the sentence didn't sound right without the preposition at the end...I'm from Minnesota and we do that here). If not, you may need to insert a cutaway over the offending piece of footage.

This plugin will take a relatively solid shot (tripod windy day) and make it look completely hollywood. See the technicrane stuff in the BTS for Panic Room...they used this sort of thing (probably not in FCP) constantly as the camera would bounce slightly on the end of the arm as it lengthened.

Is this the same thing as motion-tracking?

Zen, it's kind of based on the same theory and technology, but applied differently..

Here's some links:

2d3 is probably one of the best available...

Here's their stabilization package
and the motion tracking (aka, matchmoving, object tracking, camera tracking) package...

Essentially they use the same code, but the matchmoving (motion tracking) stuff does a LOT more than just smoothing things out.

So...what's the cheap/free alternative out there...I was happy to get the $30 to build my crane ( http://www.yafiunderground.com/Video/BTS_Crane.mp4 ). I'm all about the cheap/free.

http://www.yafiunderground.com/AJ/howto.html

To answer the question, the move matching takes all the movements of that object and save the path so you can use it later on to aplly to other things in the scene. That allows them to look like they were shot with the same camera moves at the same time, even if the camera jostles during the shot. The BTS from Van Helsing shows some of this from the opening scene.

p.s. [edit] Oh yeah, I'm on osx, so it's gotta be compatible w/ final cut (my one big expense in this endeavor...that and the camera).

Sorry, I don't do mac software.. (Beside the proliferation of hardware, this is yet another reason I've remained a PC guy)

actually, the software mentioned above was osx friendly (at least the tracking software)...but at $10000+recurring costs, a little out of my price range.

You might be able to find something for linux, and then you could compile it to run under OSX

Well, the shots that I am looking to stabalize are mostly tracking shots. My static shots are fine, it's the ones where we wish we could have had a dolly or a steadie cam that we are wanting to tweak. They aren't bad, just enough to be noticable and when we screen it on a 55' screen, it will be that much more noticable.

Any thoughts?

http://www.yafiunderground.com/Video/stabilize.mov

Here is what we used it for...it did a decent job. Would have been better if we had mounted a tripod to the wheelchair.

Will Image Stabilization help correct framer jittering caused by inaccurate registration? I shot super 8 knowing there was going to be some registration jitter and was hoping to correct it at least a little.

maybe, but you'll probably end up loosing some of your image in the process, because it will have to zoom in to keep the image full frame.