KeenTools 2023.1.0 (7 March 2023)

Track heads in After Effects

In this release you’ll find GeoTracker for After Effects with the new useful features: built-in generic head primitive and surface masking. Inside are also bug fixes and minor improvements for Nuke Package and FaceBuilder for Blender.

Out of the box 3D head tracking in After Effects

The new 5th primitive – generic head model – has been added to the existing 4: Plane, Sphere, Cube and Cylinder. From now on, when you track the character’s head in your shot to either replace it, dress it up or attach anything to it, you don’t need to go out searching for a random 3D model. Just pick the head primitive, adjust its width and height, align it with the character’s head and then track it! That should be enough for most cases.

If you're after precision, we suggest using FaceBuilder for Blender to create more accurate head models that can be passed directly to GeoTracker.

In addition, all primitives now can be exported from GeoTracker as .OBJ or .FBX with the same parameters as in your After Effects project.

Surface Mask

2D masks are good friends for many After Effects users and help greatly to mask out overlapping elements that go over the tracking area. But what are you going to do when the object in the video has elements that get in the way of tracking, like reflections on car windows or a fringe bouncing on the character’s forehead? Or when you want to drop off adjacent parts of the loaded 3D model. All those things can make tracking go off the rails!

For tasks like these, we’ve added a new type of mask – Surface mask – that lets you select certain polygons of the 3D model and exclude them from tracking. Watch our new video tutorial to learn more about masks in GeoTracker.

Nuke package and FaceBuilder for Blender

Though this release touches primarily on GeoTracker for After Effects, Nuke package and FaceBuilder for Blender have also undergone updates and got some bug fixes and minor improvements, so don’t forget to update them too! We also did some preliminary work for further releases. Something exciting is coming!

As always, we’re hungry for your feedback, so don’t hesitate to send your messages!