Motion Tracking in Premiere Pro: Tutorial, Review, Alternative

Looking to add a cinematic flair to videos with motion tracking Premiere Pro? It's easy! Use it to add a humorous touch, protect privacy, and provide dynamic emphasis. For example, you can add a silly cartoon mustache that follows someone's upper lip as they tell a hilarious story. Or add a pop-out text box highlighting specific features in a product demo. For these and more, let's hop in.

When do you need motion tracking

The motion track Premiere Pro feature allows the tracking of a point or an object's movement within your video footage. Once tracked, you can attach other elements to that movement, creating various effects. Here are some common uses of Adobe Premiere Pro motion tracking:

• Enhance content with graphics and text: Add call-out boxes, subtitles, or fun elements (like hats or emojis) that follow a person or object's original movement.
• Stabilize shaky footage: Counteract cameras shake by tracking a static point and using that data to smooth out the video.
• Ensure privacy: Cover or blur sensitive information in a video, such as people's faces or license plates.
• Create advanced visual effects: Use motion tracking to replace screens or integrate 3D elements into a scene, seamlessly blending them with the environment.

How to do motion tracking in Premiere Pro

Now that you know Adobe Premiere Pro tracking and its uses, let's see how it works. Here are the two ways to do motion tracking Premiere Pro:

1. Mask tracking

Mask tracking is an editing technique where a mask is transformed to follow the trajectory of an object(s) in a film. You can use keyframes to match your scenes with the mask elements or use auto motion tracking Premiere Pro.

Steps

1. Place the clip in Video Track 2 and select it in your Premiere Pro timeline. Open the Effects Control tab on the top right menu and select your preferred mask shape.
2. Draw the mask and adjust the position and scale to match your footage. In Effects Control, click the dropdown for the mask path and click Play. Wait for Adobe Premiere Pro to create the tracking keyframes while your video plays automatically. This can take a while, but if you need to change the masked screen portion, click the Invert Mask checkbox.
3. Fine-tune the mask tracking effect using controls like Feather, Expansion, and Opacity to ensure quality output.
4. If the auto-track Premiere Pro hasn't worked at some points in the timeline, you'll have to use keyframes. Simply line the playhead with the keyframes to manually control the mask's position.
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2. Center tracking

Center tracking is a motion tracking Premiere Pro technique that allows you to center an object on the screen and follow its trajectory. It uses safe margins, rulers, and guides to show you the center of the frame.

Steps

1. Drag your footage to the Adobe Premiere Pro timeline and prepare all the tools. The Safe Margins indicates the frame's center. Other tools, like Show Rulers and Guides, help identify if an object is actually centered.
2. Open the program monitor, click the Button Editor (+), and drag the above tools to the button editor. Apply the safe margins to identify the frame's center, then drag both the ruler and guide to the center.
3. Click Premiere Pro at the top menu > Preferences > Playback to fasten keyframing.
4. Change the Step Back/Forward Many and set five frames. Click the stopwatch button next to Position, Scale, and Rotation, and adjust each to ensure the moving object is centered in the current frame. Add one keyframe after every five frames to prevent the object from losing track.
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Pros and cons of motion track in Premiere Pro

The Adobe Premiere Pro motion tracking feature has its benefits and downsides, as shown below:

Overall, motion tracking in Premiere Pro is a great choice for straightforward tracking tasks and when your primary goal is to remain within the Premiere Pro environment. However, if extremely precise tracking or advanced visual effects are required, specialized software might be a better fit. Also, if you want a simplified tool with premium features free of charge, try the CapCut desktop editor.

CapCut desktop: The best alternative to Adobe Premiere Pro tracking

The CapCut desktop video editor is a universally accepted video editing software. It is available for macOS and Windows and offers a robust yet simple motion-tracking tool. This makes it the best alternative to Adobe Premiere motion tracking. Plus, it is designed for professional and intricate editing needs and has a smooth learning curve for beginners. Here are more features:

• Extensive editing features
• It allows basic editing like cropping, splitting, etc., and advanced edits like speed curves, keyframes, masking, etc. The CapCut desktop video editor also provides AI-enabled tools such as auto-captions, auto-reframe, autocut, and more. You can use these features for free!
• Abundant media resources
• There are media assets for business, marketing, education, social media, and all other fields. These range from stock videos to music, sound effects, AI stickers, voice changers, AI characters, text templates, filters, and more.
• Share to social media instantly
• Its integration with TikTok and YouTube allows quick, direct video sharing without exiting the CapCut desktop editor. You can also edit captions, add a title, set privacy, stitch, duet, and more.

How to use CapCut for motion tracking

CapCut has a user-friendly interface with easy controls. To unlock even more advanced features like motion tracking and seamless integration of visual effects, download the CapCut desktop video editor today! Follow these steps to add a motion-tracking effect to your videos:

Step
1. Import
2. Before anything, add your video to the CapCut desktop timeline. Either drag and drop footage or use the Import button to select from folders. If you don't want to start from scratch, use the stock videos in CapCut's vast library.
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Step
4. Motion track and edit
5. Right-click on your video in the timeline track and select Copy. Now, paste the video to a separate track above or beneath the original video. On the right-side panel, click Tracking > Motion tracking, and select the tracking direction as forward, backward, or both. Proceed and turn on the scale and distance functions. A yellow box will appear on the player. Adjust it to outline the targeted object and click Start to initiate motion tracking. For the full experience and the ability to export your stunning, professionally edited videos, upgrade to a subscription plan today!
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7. Leverage CapCut's rich feature set to fine-tune your videos further. You can find video editing tools to flip, split scenes, reverse, freeze, remove background, smooth slo-mo, stabilize, and more. There are also tools to improve audio. For example, you can enhance your voice, normalize loudness, reduce noise, and more. To enrich the final output, leverage CapCut's media resources. These include stock videos, filters, background music, voice changers, video effects, transitions, etc.
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Step
9. Export

Click Export to add a video title and the folder to export to. You also have video exporting settings like resolution up to 4K, bit rate, and codec. Others are format (MOV and MP4) and frame rate of up to 60fps. Once set, click Export again.



After the exporting process, the video is saved in your local storage. You can now share the output with your audience on YouTube and TikTok. Remember to set the correct aspect ratio for each platform and run a copyright verification for free. Click Share to post the video without leaving the editor.



Conclusion

Generally, you get precise motion-tracking output whether you prefer to use the CapCut desktop video editor or Adobe Premiere Pro. Both tools offer professional-grade results, but the ultimate difference lies in the ease of use, price, and learning curve. Most features in Adobe Premiere Pro are paid for and can be too advanced for newbies. On the other hand, CapCut simplifies the process with AI and offers basic and advanced features free of charge. It has incredible editing potential with a rich media resource, making it an all-round media editor. Try the CapCut desktop video editor today for precise motion tracking and a fun editing experience!

FAQs

1. How to do auto-motion tracking in Premiere Pro?
2. Auto-motion tracking in Adobe Premiere Pro is quite straightforward once you know which buttons to use. The first step is to import your video to the timeline and select Motion Tracking under Tools in the action bar. Click Select Object and resize the frame that appears by dragging the edges. Click Track Object to apply the motion tracking effect. That's it. But if you need a much simpler process, use the CapCut desktop editor motion tracking feature. It uses artificial intelligence to do most of the hard lifting for you and provides additional video editing tools for free.
3. How does Adobe Premiere motion tracking work?
4. The Adobe Premiere Pro motion track feature uses frames, scale, position, and rotation elements. It works by placing the selected spot or object in the frame and correcting the shakiness. That way, the selected object remains centered as the entire frame moves around it. The same principle is used in the CapCut desktop video editor. Thankfully, it is more straightforward as it happens with a single press of a button without too many adjustments. Download the CapCut desktop software now and see it for yourself.
5. How to improve motion tracking in Adobe Premiere?
6. You can improve motion tracking Premiere Pro by manually adding necessary keyframes to prevent it from losing track. Moreover, you can perform further video editing using Adobe's basic and advanced features to ensure studio quality. However, most of Adobe's advanced editing functions have a steep learning curve and aren't perfect for beginners. You can use the CapCut desktop editor instead. It has easy controls and online tutorials and leverages AI to simplify editing. Check it out and look no further for your motion-tracking needs.