@JRey

Do you really in real-time? If so, you would be hard pressed to find any plugin for Vegas that would do that. In the past I had developed some real-time tracking for security/surveillance cameras based on a Kalman filter approach, but that is for a very specialized market. If real-time functionality is not an issue, then you could do it in Vegas via the BCC plugins, the Boris Red plugin, HitFilm plugin and probably a few others. In my opinion, the best tracker by far is Mocha Pro, but it is very expensive and there is no current plugin integration. However, I feel it is one of the best tools I have ever invested in and I merely run it in standalone mode when using Vegas, or more often, I run it through After Effects where it is very tightly integrated.

How do you plan to use your tracked person? Object removal? Object replacement? Your requirement may dictate what type of tracker you might need.

Peter

Thanks Arthur. Don't have it I am afraid. I am thinking about two track with the same video and selective colour. Take a frame of two people wearing different colour clothes. Use selective colour to change one persons Tee shirt and then when the other person touches them they get the same colour.

It works with a fade but it's a bit primitive at the moment! Oh for auto tracking!

Hi Peter

Thanks for the update. Just looked at Mocha Pro, ouch, but will take a longer look later. What I need is for an infection to be passed to another person on contact.

So one person is infected they are touched by another in a hospital environment and the second person takes on the infection.

John

John, there's no reason that selective colour wouldn't work just fine. In my opinion, the key is the response from the newly infected person. Do it as a cut rather than a fade or use an effect (very short - 5 to 10 frames) such as a flash to cover the shirt colour change. Have him/her respond in whatever manner works for you after he/she gets touched. For example, be on a two shot while person A touches person B and then immediately cut to a medium shot of person B for their reaction (sadness, shock, anger, horror, etc.).
Good luck and, while it's an obviously serious matter, have some fun with it.

Mike

John,
OK, that info helps. That means that you might be able to get away with a simple (=less expensive) point tracker if you can lock onto some feature (a bright or dark point, etc.) on the contact object, which I assume is a hand. However, a planar tracker like Mocha will do a much better job if parts of the hand become obscured. If you have HitFilm, then you could use a dumbed-down version of the Mocha tracker that is included. Perhaps others in this forum might be able to suggest some other solutions/products, as I have not looked around for tracking tools for a couple of years.

Peter

To do this in vegas, you may have to key frame your own tracking. Which is all auto tracking is doing anyways. Start from A to B, then work in half increments until the track is good enough.

Blender has a good auto tracker, but he learning curve is steep.

Deleted..

NewBlueFX has a "color swap" plug-in that might do the job for you.

First can I just say thank you to everyone for the information. Really appreciate it.

I have Hit Film 2 which I have just spent about 4 hours with, I don't normally use it and now I know why ;) It's a pretty steep learning curve and I am going to try the colour swap way first.

I have NewBlue effects packages so will try and find a simple solution in that direction. As was mentioned ion this thread I think it will come down to how I edit the final piece but it's the way I shall try first.

Once again thanks for all your help

Update:

Having had a play imagine this. I have a man sitting in a chair. I can select the colour of his skin on the arm and change the colour, thus he is infected. The other hand comes into frame but is also showing skin so by default, so is infected by default. Is there a way to keep the second hand clean until the moment they touch?

I am using colour swap by New Blue

Update 2

Just found the exact effect I am looking for but how is it done?

John

You see the sharp angles in the aura - so I would guess probably a Bezier mask with a narrow "both" feather ? - and lots of key-frames to move the mask(s) :- )