AFX7 / Advanced Stabilization of shaky footage
 

Ooohkay, I've got a problem with tracking footage in After Effects 7. The shot is something like 5 minutes long, and I walk around throughout it.

I can't seem to figure out how to use multiple trackers, for example use one point, until a certain frame of video, then use another point, because someone stepped in front of the one I was using.

The footage is rather dark, which doesn't really help. It's also on a mostly blacked out background, so I can't easily just pick a point that's in frame the whole time. Any ideas? Or suggestions of an easier way to go about this?

the footage is rather shaky, I was moving around a lot to get better angles. I'd hoped to be a bit smoother with my work, but alas....

Oh, and the footage preferably needs to be smoothed in X,Y, and rotation. Any help would be appreciated. All the tutorials I could find just show how to use a basic tracker on some nice, well lit footage with great tracking points. No such luck here. :D

Semi-gratuitous bump.....

Here's what I have at my disposal, if you guys can think up a better workflow:

At Work:
Final Cut Studio 2
Adobe Master Collection CS3

At Home:
Premiere Pro 2.0/Cineform AspectHD
After Effects 7.0
(and on the laptop - the parts of FCS2 that will run on PPC-based macs.)

I'd prefer to work this project from home, as it does involve some scantily-clad women. It's technically safe-for-work but barely. =D So I'd like to keep it out of the office if I can!

This is promo material for the new show that is in less than 2 weeks. I would GREATLY appreciate ANY help you guys can give as far as working this out. I'd be willing to learn new software if it comes down to it. Beats missing a deadline.

How about using Final Cut's SmoothCam plug-in. It'll take awhile to calculate but you don't need tracking points or anything like that. It just does it.

Make sure you're original clip is only the part you need to smooth out. Otherwise FCP will calculate the entire source clip. Make a subclip, export it and reimport it if you've already captured it.

Wonderful, I will give it a shot and see how it goes. I wasn't familiar with that plugin, I tried the 2d3 plugin for Premiere, and it would glitch horribly any time that I walked with the camera. Thanks, I will let you know if it works!