How to Use Tracking Point Animation

Tracking point is a tool that allows you to apply movement to coordinate-based effects in VSDC, such as Lens flare, God rays, Shattered glass, Text animation, and many more (at the end of this tutorial, you’ll find the complete list of effects you can animate). With tracking points, you can easily create a custom movement trajectory and pin the desired effects to it. As a result, the effect will move along the trajectory at the speed of your choice.

Below, we’ll walk you through the steps of setting up a tracking point and show you examples of what you can achieve with it. Feel free to watch the video below to see how different effects look when bound with tracking points.

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Step 1. Import your content

To get started, import your footage to the editor using the Import content option on the start screen. Then place the playhead on the timeline, where the animation should start.

Step 2. Add a tracking point to the scene

Go to the left-side toolbar and select Tracking point. Then click on the scene to indicate the starting point for the movement trajectory.

Step 3. Сreate a movement trajectory

Double-click on the tracking point block on the timeline and go back to the left-side toolbar to select the Movement tool. Then create a movement trajectory using vectors.

If you’ve never used the Movement tool in VSDC, and you need a more in-depth walkthrough, read this tutorial. Keep in mind that you can also apply ready-made movement trajectories created via the Motion tracking module.

Step 4. Select an effect to bind with the tracking point

Now that the path for the tracking point is ready, it’s time to select the effect you want to bind with it. Go back to the main timeline tab, select your footage, then open the Video effects menu and choose one of the effects eligible for binding. Here is a list of those effects:

1. Motion Blur (Filters)
2. Shattered glass (Transitions)
3. Lens flare (Nature)
4. Bokeh glare (Nature)
5. God rays (Nature)
6. Shadow (Nature)
7. Distort (Transforms)

For our example, we’ll use Lens flare.

Step 5. Bind the effect coordinates with the tracking point

Once you’ve applied the effect to the footage, make a right mouse-click on it and select Properties. In the Properties window, find the following settings:

1. Center coordinate type -> Tracking point
2. Tracking point binding -> Select the tracking point you created earlier

Then activate the Preview mode to see what the result looks like. The effects should be moving along the trajectory you’ve created:

Notice that even after applying the effect, you can change the movement trajectory by going back to the Tracking point tab and adjusting the movement vectors. You can also speed up or slow down the movement by shifting the yellow control points on the timeline.

Binding several effects with the same tracking point

Now that you have an idea of how tracking points work, you can create unique animations by binding several effects together. There are no rules for which effects to combine, so feel free to experiment with the options listed at the end of the article.

To bind an additional effect with the tracking point, apply it to the main footage first. Then open the Properties window and find the parameter defining the type of coordinates (it might have a slightly different name for different effects). Select Tracking point and apply “binding” using the same approach we described earlier.

Here is an example of the Lens flare effect combined with the Fish eye effect:

If you have a text object in your video, such as a title, you can bind it with the tracking point or with another effect as well. All you have to do is apply the Text Shift Position effect to the text, then move to the Properties window, find Initial glyph position, and select Tracking point; then apply the binding.

As a result, the text will be appearing on the screen, letter by letter, coming from the tracking point, as illustrated below:

List of coordinate-based effects you can animate with tracking points

Only few effects in VSDC can be bound with tracking points. To help you identify these effects as well as the binding settings, we’ve put together a table. Consider checking it out before applying this animation type.

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