Creating Sticky Labels on a Movie Clip in Blender

What You'll be Creating

In this tutorial I'll show you how to add and animate sticky labels that follows an object, or multiple objects,in a movie clip. To do this I'll be using Blender.

Preparing the Scene

Step 1

In a new file, right click on the default cube and light and press Del on the keyboard to delete them. Hold Shift and then right click to select multiple objects.

Step 2

Select the camera and press Alt-R to reset its rotation and then Alt-G to reset its location.

Step 3

Press 5 on the numpad to toggle off perspective mode. Press 3 on numpad to get into side view.

With the camera selected, press R and then type (minus) -90 to rotate it 90 degrees counter clock wise. Press Enter. Move the camera away from the center.

Use the 3D manipulator to move the object or you can use the G key.

The scene and camera setup is now ready.

Loading the Movie Clip

Step 1

Click on the window type button of the 3D view port and change it to Movie Clip Editor.

Step 2

Click on the Open button and browse for the move clip you wish to add labels onto. I used free video from Video.net

The movie clip is now visible in the editor, and is ready to be tracked.

Step 3

In the properties window, click on the camera button to bring render settings. In the Dimensions panel set the End frame of the rendering range.

Step 4

In the Movie clip editor's tool shelf, and in the Clip panel, press the Prefetch button so that the movie clip is preloaded into to the computer's RAM for faster playback.

Adding Markers and Tracking Them

Step 1

Ctrl-primary click on the movie clip to add markers where you want to add labels. Choose a high contrast pattern so that the markers are easy to track.

You can preview the pattern in the Track Panel.

Step 2

Secondary click on the marker to select it. In the tool shelf and under the Track panel, press the play button to track the marker.

Press Shift-left arrow button to go to first frame and then press the play button or press Alt-A to play the clip. You will see that the marker is tracked.

Step 3

Similarly add another marker where you want the next label to appear. Again choose high contrast pattern so that it is easy to track.

Step 4

Click on the Reconstruction menu in the toolbar and select Link Empty to Track. This will add Empty object where the markers are.

Linking Emptry to Track — Linking Empty to Track

Step 5

Click on the window type button and switch back to 3D view.

Here you can see the empties which were generated in place of markers for further use in 3D view.

3D scene with Camera and Empties — 3D scene with camera and empties

Creating Labels

Step 1

Press 0 in the numpad to enter camera view.

Step 2

Hold Shift and secondary-click on the empties to select them. Press S key and move the mouse to scale them down. Primary-click to confirm.

Step 3

In the properties panel, and under the Background Images panel, tick the checkbox beside the Background Images.

Press N to toggle on properties panel, if it is not visible. Click on the Add Image button.

Step 4

Click on the Movie Clip button. Uncheck the Camera Clip and press the Open button to browse for the movie clip.

The clip will serve as background reference which will be helpful while pacing the labels.

Step 5

Use the Opacity slider to adjust the transparency of the background movie clip / image.

Step 6

Secondary-click on the Empty to select it. Press Shift-S and select Cursor to Selected. This will snap the 3D cursor with the Empty.

Any new object which is added, appears where the 3D cursor is.

Step 7

Press Shift-A and add a Text object.

In the toolsshelf, under the Add Text panel, tick the Align to View check box, so that the Text is facing the camera.

Step 8

Right click on the Text to select it. Press S and move the mouse to scale it down.

Press G and move the text wherever you want.

Step 9

With the text object selected, press Tab to enter edit mode. Delete the default text and type in the name of the label.

Press Tab to exit edit mode.

Step 10

In the properties window, Click on the F button. In the Font panel click on the folder button and browse for the desired font.

Step 11

Press Shift-A and add a Mesh>Plane. This will be the background plane of the label.

In the toolshelf and under Add Plane panel, tick the Alight to View checkbox so that the Plane is facing the camera.

Ensure it is still in the camera view.

Step 12

Press G and move the plane to make the text come in the center.

Press Z to toggle on wireframe mode.

Step 13

Press Tab to enter edit mode. Press A to select all vertices and then S to scale them down. Primary-click to confirm.

Step 14

Adjust and tweak the points to make the plane cover the text. Secondary-click to select any vertices and G to move. You can also use the arrow manipulator to move the vertices.

Step 15

Press Ctrl-R to create an edge loop. Primary-click and then move the mouse to bring the new loop to the side. Secondary-click again to confirm the position of the new loop cut.

Step 16

Press A to deselect any selected vertices.

Press B and drag select the bottom two points.

Press E to extrude new face.

Primary-click to confirm the position.

Press Tab to exit edit mode.

Press Z to toggle off wireframe mode.

Step 17

Secondary-click on the text to select it.

Click on the material button in the properties window and press the New button to add a new material for the text.

Rename the material. In the Diffuse panel, primary-click on the color bar to select the color.

Under the Shading panel, tick the Shadeless checkbox to make the material and color shadeless.

Step 18

Secondary-click on the background of the label to select it. Again, click on the materials button in the properties window and press the New button to add a new material.

Rename the material to anything you want. In the Diffuse panel, left click on the color bar to select the color.

In the Shading panel, tick the Shadeless checkbox.

Step 19

Hold Shift and then right on the text first and then secondary-click on the label background.

Press Ctrl-P and select Object. This will set the label background object as parent for the text. This means wherever you move the label, the text will follow.

Select the label first and then the Empty. Hold Shift and then right click on the objects for multiple selection. Press Ctrl-P and select Object to make the Empty parent object. This means the label background will follow the Empty.

Step 20

Press A to deselect all objects. Secondary-click on the label background and press Tab to enter edit mode. Select the last two vertices as shown in the image.

Press Shift-S and select Cursor to Selected. This will snap the 3D cursor to the selection.

Step 21

Press Tab to exit edit mode. In the toolshelf, under the Edit panel, click on the Set Origin and choose Origin to 3D Cursor (press T to bring out the toolshelf if it is hidden).

This will snap the origin point (the orange dot) to the 3D cursor. This will be the pivot point for the rotation and scaling of the object.

Step 22

Press Shift-left arrow to go to first frame. Press Alt-A or press the play button to play the movie. You'll see that the label is now following the empty.

Step 23

Press B and drag select the text and the label background.

Press Shift-D to make a duplicate copy of them. Place it where you want the second label to be, near the second Empty.

Step 24

Select the new label background first and then its Empty. Press Ctrl-P and select Object to make the second empty parent object. Now the new label background will follow the second Empty.

Step 25

Select the text and press Tab and edit or change the text. Press Tab again to exit the edit mode.

Select the label background and press Tab to edit it. Move and tweak the vertices accordingly. Press Tab to exit edit mode.

Now go to first frame and then press the play button to preview the clip. Use the playback control buttons.

Animating the Labels

Step 1

Ensure you're in first frame. Use the playback buttons to go to the first frame. Click on the Auto-Keyframe button. This will add keyframes automatically.

Step 2

Right click on the first label and press S and then 0 (zero) to scale it down.

Step 3

Go to frame number 10 by dragging the timeline.

Step 4

With the label selected, press Alt-S to reset its scale back to normal. The keyframe for scale is automatically inserted.

Use the playback controls to go to first frame and then play the animation.

Step 5

Go to the frame from where you want the label to start disappearing.

Step 6

Right click on the label background and press S and then type 1. This will automatically insert keyframe with the same size.

Step 7

Drag the timeline to move to next few frames.

Step 8

Right click on the label background and press S and then 0 (zero) to make it disappear.

Now go to first frame and play the animation.

Step 9

Similarly do the same for the second label.

Step 10

You can also tweak the timing of the animation. Drag the corner of the 3D view to split the window.

Click on the window type button and select Dope Sheet.

Step 11

Here you can see the keyframes of both labels. You can collapse and expand them by clicking on the arrow marker.

Step 12

Right click on the keyframe to select it and then press G key to move it. You can offset the keyframes of one label so that it appears after the first one. Preview the changes by playing the animation.

Compositing and Rendering the Final Clip

Step 1

Press F12 and render a frame. You will see that the movie clip does not appear in the background. You need to use the compositor to fix that.

Step 2

Click on the Screen layout button and select Compositing.

Step 3

Tick the Use Nodes checkbox.

You will see two nodes appear as default.

Step 4

In the Node editor, press Shift-A and add a new Input node. Select Movie Clip.

Click on the dropdown list and select the move clip. You can also use the Open button if the clip does not appear in the dropdown list.

Step 5

Press Shift-A to add another node. Click on Color and select Alpha Over.

This will help mixing the labels onto the background clip.

Step 6

Connect the Image output (yellow dot) of the Alpha Over node to the Image input (yellow dot) of the Composite node.

Step 7

Similarly connect the Image output socket of the Movie Clip node to the first Image input socket of the Alpha Over node. Connect the Image output of the Render Layers Node to the second Image input socket of the Alpha Over Node.

Step 8

Connect the Alpha socket of the Render Layers node to the Fac socket of the Alpha Over node.

Step 9

In the Properties window, click on the Camera button to bring out the Render options. In the Shading panel, select Transparent for Alpha. In the Post Processing panel, tick the Compositing check box.

Step 10

In the Output panel, set the directory where you want to save the rendered movie. Select MPEG for File Format. Under the Encoding panel, Select MPEG-4 for Format and select MPEG-4(divx) for Codec.

Step 11

The movie is ready for rendering. go to any frame in-between and press F12 or the render button to render a frame. To render the complete animation, use the Animation button in the Render panel. Make sure the Dimensions are correct and matching those of the movie clip.