yes, MochaImport+ writes mocha V4 project files, therefore mocha V5 will convert these projects before they are opened. After you clicked ok, mocha V5 will do the conversion and everything should work fine.
In AE 2015.3, "License error: mocha AE CC must be launched from After Effects." It won't launch. Allow Scripts enabled.
In the MochaImport+ settings you can choose which version of mocha you want to use. Did you choose "system default program" there or "mocha AE CC 13.8" ? Make sure to set it to "mocha AE CC 13.8" if you want to use the bundled version of mocha, since "system default program" will only work, if you have a standalone version of mocha that is configured as system default program for .mocha files. The bundled version of mocha cannot be launched as independent application, hence, it also does not make sense to configure it as system default program for .mocha files (when double-clicking the mocha file in Finder or Windows explorer, you will get the same error message in this case).
Apologies if this has been answered but I'm confused about how this works with the newer versions of Mocha. I have always used MochaPro v4 with your plugin for everything, but now that I want to upgrade to Mocha v5, do I get the stand alone version or the AE plugin version of Mocha?
Apologies if this has been answered but I'm confused about how this works with the newer versions of Mocha. I have always used MochaPro v4 with your plugin for everything, but now that I want to upgrade to Mocha v5, do I get the stand alone version or the AE plugin version of Mocha?
Hi Brant, MochaImport+ can work with any version of mocha. Just click on the MochaImport+ settings icon and choose the version of mocha you want to work with.
For mocha V5, note that it uses a newer mocha project file format than MochaImport+ is using (in order to be compatible with all mocha versions, MochaImport+ uses the older format). This means when MochaImport+ sends a project file to mocha, mocha will show a warning that the project has an older format and will be converted to the new format. Mocha then recommends to save the file with a new file name (since it assumes you still might want to open the original file with older mocha versions which would not be possible after the conversion). But you don't have to do that. It will work smoothly no matter whether you save as new file or not.
Hello, I wanted to know if Mocha + has the ability to make Mocha pro 's 1st frame to be FRAME 1 instead of a possible start frame of 63456. For example, in Ae, I would make my in & out points from a clip, either pre compose it, or trim clip. Either way makes AE start a frame 1. But when opening Mocha pro (via mocha +) it opens mocha pro at the clips's native frame number (possible 63456) instead of FRAME 1.
Is there a way to make mocha import plus tell mocha pro to open up and match my AE timeline NOT the native clips frame number? Thank you, Lou
Hi Lou, MochaImport+ will always create a mocha project that contains only the frames between the in and out point of your layer in AE (not the comp, so make sure to really trim the layer in AE to the desired region, not only the comp). This behavior is different to what the normal "track in mocha AE" menu command in AE which always creates projects for the entire clip and only sets the in- and out point in mocha to what you have in AE .
So when using the normal menu command, your mocha timeline contains all frames whereas with MochaImport+ It contains only the frames you need. But still the numbers are preserved (first frame will have number 63456 in your example).
If you are not sure whether this is good enough for you, I recommend that you test it with the trial of MochaImport+.
upgrades are only possible from versions of the licensed product
MochaImport+, not from the "Name Your Own Price" product MochaImport
that existed before MochaImport+ (see footnote of the "buy or upgrade" section in the product description at https://aescripts.com/mochaimport/ ).
V4 was the first MochaImport+ version. MochaImport 3 had the "name your own price" model that does not qualify for upgrades.
I believe I've found a potential bug when using the remove module for post beauty work.
When using the remove tool, after creating the clean plate and feeding it back in to mocha and performing a remove function, the clip will have an error stating that the "file is missing or corrupt".
This only happens when using MochaImport + and not using the Track in MochaAE from the animation drop down menu in After Effects. I believe the culprit could be that MochaImport+ creates a folder called "MochaTracks" for the mocha project, renders and clean plates, while the Track in MochaAE function creates a folder called "Results". The remove module might by default try to look at a "results" folder instead of a folder called "MochaTracks", thus causing the "file is missing or corrupt" error.
Has anyone else encountered this? I realize that most people are using MochaImport for stabilizing or tracking and not the remove module, but the functionality of sending through MochaImport vs. Track in MochaAE is far superior. Unfortunately this bug is keeping me from using MochaImport+ to do post beauty work.
I successfully used MochaImport+ with the remove tool in the past, but this has been a few years ago. I just did a quick test and it removed individual frames without any issues (using the "render current frame" button), but complained about "could not allocate memory for deinterlaced image" when I tried to remove several frames using the "render forward" button. Maybe your problem is related to that? Could you please write me an email to [email protected] describing your version of mocha, Ae and operating system and exactly the steps to reproduce the error? Then I will take a closer look and get in touch with the team from Imagineer Systems to figure out what is wrong.
I believe I've found a potential bug when using the remove module for post beauty work.
When using the remove tool, after creating the clean plate and feeding it back in to mocha and performing a remove function, the clip will have an error stating that the "file is missing or corrupt".
This only happens when using MochaImport + and not using the Track in MochaAE from the animation drop down menu in After Effects. I believe the culprit could be that MochaImport+ creates a folder called "MochaTracks" for the mocha project, renders and clean plates, while the Track in MochaAE function creates a folder called "Results". The remove module might by default try to look at a "results" folder instead of a folder called "MochaTracks", thus causing the "file is missing or corrupt" error.
Has anyone else encountered this? I realize that most people are using MochaImport for stabilizing or tracking and not the remove module, but the functionality of sending through MochaImport vs. Track in MochaAE is far superior. Unfortunately this bug is keeping me from using MochaImport+ to do post beauty work.
Quick question regarding MochaImport+
5.107 and using the Keep Current Frame option when performing Corner
Pin. Using it with Mocha Plus 4.1.3 in AE CS6.
When Applying, is this option in lieu of using Mocha's
Align Selected Surface option, or to be used in conjunction?
the "keep current frame” option does not care at all how you set the corner pin surface in mocha. It takes whatever corners you give it and then reconstructs the full tracking data from it. After that it is able to compute the movement of any point and not just the four corner points you gave to it. Hence, you don’t need to use the “align surface” function of mocha but it also doesn’t hurt if you do.
Quick question regarding MochaImport+
5.107 and using the Keep Current Frame option when performing Corner
Pin. Using it with Mocha Plus 4.1.3 in AE CS6.
When Applying, is this option in lieu of using Mocha's
Align Selected Surface option, or to be used in conjunction?
One other question, I might be upgrading to Mocha 5 Pro standalone. I've seen some of your tuts with MochaImport+ where you opened the settings tab and you had quite few versions for Mocha available. Might this mean that I wouldn't have to uninstall Mocha Plus v4 and that the 5 Pro would simply get added to the MochaImport+ list?
One other question, I might be upgrading to Mocha 5 Pro standalone. I've seen some of your tuts with MochaImport+ where you opened the settings tab and you had quite few versions for Mocha available. Might this mean that I wouldn't have to uninstall Mocha Plus v4 and that the 5 Pro would simply get added to the MochaImport+ list?
Made some minor adjustments to some masks but now
when I try to paste some shapes back into a new solid layer, I get this
mocha import error (see below).
Happens both via clip board or from a saved .shapesae file.
Any way to figure out where the problem
lies? Might it simply be quicker to remake those masks (which is
probably what I'll do), but for future reference what should I be on the
look out for.
Thanks.
... couple hours later:
Tried making new masks & linking them to a Head track and same issue. So, really need advice now as to where this problem lies.
... even later...
Restarted system & made a completely new project, two tracking splines and a simple spline linked to one of the tracks. Selected Export Shapes & copied to clip board. Back in AE click load from Clipboard and get same error. As a test I went back into Mocha and tried loading the tracking info into clipboard. Back in AE loaded from clipboard and Importer + presented it's menu. So, the issue seems to be only with shape exporting.
... later still
Never mind.
Was confusing pasting shapes with Corner Pin export and those are done through the AE Edit menu or Ctrl-V and not Mocha Import +.
Hi Mark, yes, that's correct. MochaImport+ only imports corner pin and transform data. Shape data can only be imported by Ae directly ("Edit->paste" or "Edit->paste mocha mask")
Thanks Mathias. Glad I sorted it out before you ended up wasting time.
Might that be a function that could get added to MochaImport? If
not, perhaps an error trapping routine that's more descriptive for those of us with defective memories?
yes, a more meaningful error message would definitely make sense. Adding support for importing shapes would be only something useful, if this import could do more than the already available import provided by Ae itself.
Well, something to keep in mind for the next update perhaps.
Something I wasn't aware of until I happened to see a webinar that Mary P. did, (Webinar_ Digital Makeup & Retouching with Mocha and Adobe After Effects), was that when using shapes, there are two different ways of pasting.
Oddly,
with the Paste mocha mask option (under the Edit menu) you just get a
simple mask added to the selected layer. With the standard Ctrl-V
used to paste though, you get a much more complex pasting of data
that uses the mocha shape effect.
The
one advantage to that is that it preserves any assymetrical edge feathering, but on the other hand it really bogs AE down when trying to preview the
timeline.
I've been working on a particularly tricky shot in an the process have been saving multiple .mocha files. When I resume work on the shot & reopen Mocha from the Import+ menu, it presents this panel (see attached). (Message board no accepting small image file for some reason).
It defaults to selecting the last in the list whereas the most recent is actually the 2nd from the top. I found out by checking each. Might there be a way of making this more meaningful such as including the file date or such? Having the frame range as it is now is quite helpful, though having multiple choices with only that info isn't.
when you hover with your mouse over any of the choices in the dialog, the full mocha project file name and path should be shown as a help tip (you might pause the mouse for a moment to make the help tip appear). I hope this is good enough to find the right project.
Might there be a way of making this more meaningful such as including the file date or such? Having the frame range as it is now is quite helpful, though having multiple choices with only that info isn't.
I just purchased the Mocha Pro AE plugin where you apply Mocha as an effect, instead of going out to the separate app. Will there be future functionality to hit the "Track in Mocha" button in your panel, and have it apply the effect to the selected clip, and maybe even then launch the plugin version of Mocha Pro? I think this would be a nice timesaver.
Thank you for this suggestion, Tim! Actually, I was in contact with the mocha devs to see whether this is possible. But unfortunately, there is no way for a script to click a button in a plugin and therefore, there is no way for MochaImport+ to open the plugin version of mocha. However, creating the effect is definitely feasible. I like the idea and will put it on my list of feature requests.
I don't recall seeing anywhere how this
particular issue is handled.
I've done a replace shot in MochaPro &
for reasons I won't go deeply into, my original source needed to be
converted to a sequence from a Prorez file in order track &
remove correctly. I did the conversion in Ae (CS6) and went with DPX
format mostly for bit depth needed & file size. The remove
process went fine but unfortunately, the DPX files it creates aren't
compatible with Ae. Martin at Imagineer Systems is aware of the
issue so it's being investigated.
Anyway, Tif's work fine with the DPX's it seems but now I
can't simply do a file replacement in the DPX sequence. In an Ae comp, I simply
put the TIF's seq layer over the DPX's and it looks great. However
now I need to stabilize the entire shot but I've two layers & I
can't just precomp to use MochaImport+.
I suppose I could just do a conversion
to DPX rendering on the replacement frames, but wondering if there
might be a more elegant way.
Hi Mark, I think I don't fully understand your setup and why you need two different layers. Is this because you just needed the remove on some frames, so you have tiffs for those and dpx for the others? As a workaround, if you want to apply the stabilize function of MochaImport+ and have two layers, you could apply the stabilize two both layers which should make them move in exactly the same way.
Well, not so simple after all or at
least how I went about it anyway. I couldn't figure out how to get
the replacement seq layer to link & work with the main layers
Stabilization Controls.
As such, I applied the track data via
MochaImport+'s Stabilize option to the Replacement frames layer which
made a 2nd Stabilization Controls layer of course and just manually
matched that to the first. There were a couple scale &
translation keys to match & then it all fell into place.
You could stabilize the DPX, then right click on the DPX in project window and choose "replace with precomp". Then you can insert the tiffs in the precomp.
Well, not so simple after all or at
least how I went about it anyway. I couldn't figure out how to get
the replacement seq layer to link & work with the main layers
Stabilization Controls.
As such, I applied the track data via
MochaImport+'s Stabilize option to the Replacement frames layer which
made a 2nd Stabilization Controls layer of course and just manually
matched that to the first. There were a couple scale &
translation keys to match & then it all fell into place.
Of course. Well, next time that situation comes up I'll give that a shot.
Another thought though, you wouldn't be able to use your technique of duplicating the layer & time slipping instead of scaling to lose the edge borders would you?
When making keyframes (via "Add keyframe...at current time" in the Comp panel) to the CC Power Pin effect after applying tracking data with "live expression instead of keyframes" enabled, the pins move to arbituarry locations instead of remaining in place as expected. To clarify, it is not my intention to adjust the pin locations at the point in time I'm creating the keyframes for them... This forces me to do a lot of extra work by manually relocating the pins to their proper location. Am I missing something?
As you probably already know, Imagineer Systems was bought by Boris FX and the forum has moved to their site. There's a thread over at Boris FX's forum https://forum.borisfx.com/ specifically thies topic:
... where MaryP did a really nice (but a bit accelerated) tutorial on solving this drone shot for car removal: https://vimeo.com/247566968
The project requires multiple passes in Mocha. However, she uses the plug-in version of Mocha Pro. If you read the thread (not very long), I posed the question regarding the use of MochaImport+, as in her workflow she duplicates the clip to a second layer & applies Mocha to that.
With MochaImport+ and using the Stand alone version though, since it's tied to the actual clip & not the AE layer, you get the message box of opening the existing project or overwriting it.
How do you go about accomplishing this w/o messing up what's already in the cache? Do you simply open the existing but save it as a new project in Mocha? Even so, if you later go back to AE and repeat this, it asks you the same question about this clip. It doesn't know about the "new" project with a different name for the same clip.
in general MochaImport+ works with the assumption that you only have one mocha project per frame range. There are lots of situation where you have several mocha projects for different parts of a clip, but having the need for several mocha projects for exactly the same range is a rather rare, special case.
The "Track in mocha" button of MochaImport+ is just a convenient way to open existing or create new mocha projects. You don't have to use it to create/open your projects when using MochaImport+ (with the extra bonus of being able to send masks from Ae to mocha). You can still open and create mocha projects directly in mocha Pro and then import the tracking data from those projects with MochaImport+. So when you need more than one mocha Project for the same frame range of the same clip, I recommend to create the second one manually. AS you suggest, you could also let MochaImport+ open the existing project, then save it with a new name.
It is correct that MochaImport+ then does not "know" about the new project in the sense that MochaImport+ cannot open this project when you click the "Track in mocha" button. But it is still able to import the tracking data from this project and you can still open the project directly in mocha Pro.
MochaImport+ V5 consistently crashes Mocha AE whenever I use the "Track in Mocha" button. Mocha opens then quits unexpectedly right away. I've tried this on AE CC v14 under Mac OS 10.10.5 and on CC v15 under OSX 10.11.6. I also tried opening Mocha AE manually by asking AE to "track in mocha ae" then once Mocha opens correctly, going to Open Project and choosing the .mocha file generated by MochaImport+, but then Mocha immediately crashes. Other Mocha projects open fine; this seems to be an issue with MochaImport generated .mocha files.
Hi Michael, in general, MochaImport+ is compatible with these Ae and mocha versions, so not sure why it is crashing.
Two things to check 1) Does it work if you create a mocha project manually for the same footage (maybe the footage file is the issue) 2) in the settings of MochaImport+ there are some "advanced mocha project settings" Does it make a difference if you enable the "old mocha V3 format" checkbox of if you force a particular bit rate?
If this does not help, can you please open a support ticket at https://aescripts.com/contact/ and attach the mocha project and if possible also the footage file (or a link where I can download it).
using Mochaimport+ in the newest version, AE CC 2018, OSX 10.13.3. Mocha + Ae hangs up after clicking on track in Mocha button. Any suggestions / updates? (Mocha Pro 5.6) BTW: Option Mocha Bundled CC works fine…
Hi, please open a support ticket at https://aescripts.com/contact/ including as much information as possible. In particular, in the MochaImport+ settings: - what did you choose as mocha version to use? ("System Default Program" or "mocha Pro 5"?) - what are your settings in "Advanced mocha project settings" Does this only happen when mocha is already running? If mocha is not already running, does it launch before Ae hangs or not? Does it open the project before it hangs? Best include some screenshots of the settings and what it looks like when it freezes. The more details I know the quicker and better I am able to help.
using Mochaimport+ in the newest version, AE CC 2018, OSX 10.13.3. Mocha + Ae hangs up after clicking on track in Mocha button. Any suggestions / updates? (Mocha Pro 5.6) BTW: Option Mocha Bundled CC works fine…
thanx for the quick reply. Suddenly it works now, after restarts AND changing the option to "system default program". So it manages to go to Mocha Pro but: I got this message now, although I set as a new project. It is a little bit irritating why:
"The project was created in an earlier version and has been converted to the latest file format.
mocha Pro 5 project files are not supported in earlier versions.
Would you like to save the project immediately with a new name?"
Hi, please open a support ticket at https://aescripts.com/contact/ including as much information as possible. In particular, in the MochaImport+ settings: - what did you choose as mocha version to use? ("System Default Program" or "mocha Pro 5"?) - what are your settings in "Advanced mocha project settings" Does this only happen when mocha is already running? If mocha is not already running, does it launch before Ae hangs or not? Does it open the project before it hangs? Best include some screenshots of the settings and what it looks like when it freezes. The more details I know the quicker and better I am able to help.
using Mochaimport+ in the newest version, AE CC 2018, OSX 10.13.3. Mocha + Ae hangs up after clicking on track in Mocha button. Any suggestions / updates? (Mocha Pro 5.6) BTW: Option Mocha Bundled CC works fine…
yes, when using "System Default Program" this message is expected. MochaImport+ creates a mocha 4 project file (or mocha 3 project if this is specified in MochaImport+ advanced settings) and "System Default Program" just tells the operating system to open this file with whatever app is registered in the operating system as default program for .mocha files (like double-clicking the file in Mac OS Finder or Win Explorer). Then choosing mocha Pro 5 explicitly, MochaImport+ tells mocha to convert to V5 project format without asking. So in general, this is better than using "System Default Program".
If you still have issues, again, please let us continue the discussion in a support ticket.
Having a problem with the last
MochaImportPlus+, the 5_110 version.
Gladly make a ticket but thoguht I present the hilights here.
Upon launching the script, I'm, presented with a MochaImport+ warning message that C:\Program Files\Imagineer Systems
Ltd\mocha AE V2\bin doesn't exist.That is true. May have years ago as I have the remnent of the folder still, just no subs below it.
I do have a folder for C:\Program
Files\Imagineer Systems Ltd\mocha Plus V4 with a BIN folder though, but I currently use the stand alone of
Mocha Pro 5 on a Win7 64-bit system & using CS6.
I'm able to get the UI but can't bring
up the Settings, but it just blinks when clicking. Same thing with
the logo, highlights as if it wants to do something but can't.
If I setup a test comp and click Track
in Mocha, the Pro version does launch but gives a message that this project was creasted in MochaImport+ 5.110 & converted to the latest, yada, ... Save Immediately, Yes or No, and continues on either way.
I didn't do any tracking test at this
point. Enough issues to get into that.
If I close the panel & exit AE, I
don't get any error upon restart.
TLTR: deleting your corrupted mocha AE V2 installation will most likely fix all issues you describe.
DETAILED EXPLANATION thanks for the detailed description! Some background: In older versions, MochaImport+ has detected the installed mocha versions using the Windows Registry. Since newer mocha Pro versions don't put this info in the registry anymore, 5.110 now directly looks at the file system instead. It looks essentially for "C:\Program Files\Imagineer Systems
Ltd\mocha*" and in all these folders expects a mocha binary in a bin folder. Since this approach is new, you didn't get the warning about the corrupted/incomplete mocha AE V2 installation before.
When opening the settings, MochaImport+ retrieves the infos about all mocha versions it detected at startup (to list them in the settings window). It also retrieves the path to the actual binary (this this is shown in the UI as an overlay when hovering over the respective version). I guess that this leads to an error in your case (since the mocha AE V2 installation that MochaImport+ complained about actually has no such binary file, so it will fail to retrieve the path). Since the error happens before the settings dialog is shown, the program does not arrive at the point where it actually shows the settings dialog.
I will check again what happens exactly in the unlikely case that a mocha program exists, but has no binary, to make sure it will be able to show the settings dialog in this case, too.
... and that indeed resolved the issue. Didn't have any remnants in Control panel for the AE V2, but did for Mocha Plus V4 so removed it. Even so, there was still a \Program Files\Imagineer Systems Ltd folders vestige for both just no subs so axed those. Started AE, then the Mocha Import UI and all went swimmingly.
yes, MochaImport+ writes mocha V4 project files, therefore mocha V5 will convert these projects before they are opened. After you clicked ok, mocha V5 will do the conversion and everything should work fine.
Cheers,
Mathias
Cheers,
Mathias
MochaImport+ can work with any version of mocha. Just click on the MochaImport+ settings icon and choose the version of mocha you want to work with.
For mocha V5, note that it uses a newer mocha project file format than MochaImport+ is using (in order to be compatible with all mocha versions, MochaImport+ uses the older format). This means when MochaImport+ sends a project file to mocha, mocha will show a warning that the project has an older format and will be converted to the new format. Mocha then recommends to save the file with a new file name (since it assumes you still might want to open the original file with older mocha versions which would not be possible after the conversion). But you don't have to do that. It will work smoothly no matter whether you save as new file or not.
Cheers,
Mathias
I wanted to know if Mocha + has the ability to make Mocha pro 's 1st frame to be FRAME 1 instead of a possible start frame of 63456.
For example, in Ae, I would make my in & out points from a clip, either pre compose it, or trim clip.
Either way makes AE start a frame 1. But when opening Mocha pro (via mocha +) it opens mocha pro at the clips's native frame number (possible 63456) instead of FRAME 1.
Thank you,
Lou
MochaImport+ will always create a mocha project that contains only the frames between the in and out point of your layer in AE (not the comp, so make sure to really trim the layer in AE to the desired region, not only the comp). This behavior is different to what the normal "track in mocha AE" menu command in AE which always creates projects for the entire clip and only sets the in- and out point in mocha to what you have in AE .
So when using the normal menu command, your mocha timeline contains all frames whereas with MochaImport+ It contains only the frames you need. But still the numbers are preserved (first frame will have number 63456 in your example).
If you are not sure whether this is good enough for you, I recommend that you test it with the trial of MochaImport+.
Cheers,
Mathias
upgrades are only possible from versions of the licensed product MochaImport+, not from the "Name Your Own Price" product MochaImport that existed before MochaImport+ (see footnote of the "buy or upgrade" section in the product description at https://aescripts.com/mochaimport/ ).
V4 was the first MochaImport+ version. MochaImport 3 had the "name your own price" model that does not qualify for upgrades.
Cheers,
Mathias
I successfully used MochaImport+ with the remove tool in the past, but this has been a few years ago. I just did a quick test and it removed individual frames without any issues (using the "render current frame" button), but complained about "could not allocate memory for deinterlaced image" when I tried to remove several frames using the "render forward" button. Maybe your problem is related to that? Could you please write me an email to [email protected] describing your version of mocha, Ae and operating system and exactly the steps to reproduce the error? Then I will take a closer look and get in touch with the team from Imagineer Systems to figure out what is wrong.
Cheers,
Mathias
Quick question regarding MochaImport+ 5.107 and using the Keep Current Frame option when performing Corner Pin. Using it with Mocha Plus 4.1.3 in AE CS6.
When Applying, is this option in lieu of using Mocha's Align Selected Surface option, or to be used in conjunction?
Hi Mark,
the "keep current frame” option does not care at all how you set the corner pin surface in mocha. It takes whatever corners you give it and then reconstructs the full tracking data from it. After that it is able to compute the movement of any point and not just the four corner points you gave to it. Hence, you don’t need to use the “align surface” function of mocha but it also doesn’t hurt if you do.
Cheers,
Mathias
One other question, I might be upgrading to Mocha 5 Pro standalone. I've seen some of your tuts with MochaImport+ where you opened the settings tab and you had quite few versions for Mocha available. Might this mean that I wouldn't have to uninstall Mocha Plus v4 and that the 5 Pro would simply get added to the MochaImport+ list?
Yes, MochaImport+ detects all versions of mocha that you have installed and in the settings you can choose which version you want to work with.
Made some minor adjustments to some masks but now when I try to paste some shapes back into a new solid layer, I get this mocha import error (see below).
Happens both via clip board or from a saved .shapesae file.
Any way to figure out where the problem lies? Might it simply be quicker to remake those masks (which is probably what I'll do), but for future reference what should I be on the look out for.
Thanks.
... couple hours later:
Tried making new masks & linking them to a Head track and same issue. So, really need advice now as to where this problem lies.
... even later...
Restarted system & made a completely new project, two tracking splines and a simple spline linked to one of the tracks. Selected Export Shapes & copied to clip board. Back in AE click load from Clipboard and get same error. As a test I went back into Mocha and tried loading the tracking info into clipboard. Back in AE loaded from clipboard and Importer + presented it's menu. So, the issue seems to be only with shape exporting.
... later still
Never mind.
Was confusing pasting shapes with Corner Pin export and those are done through the AE Edit menu or Ctrl-V and not Mocha Import +.
yes, that's correct. MochaImport+ only imports corner pin and transform data. Shape data can only be imported by Ae directly ("Edit->paste" or "Edit->paste mocha mask")
Might that be a function that could get added to MochaImport? If not, perhaps an error trapping routine that's more descriptive for those of us with defective memories?
Well, something to keep in mind for the next update perhaps.
Something I wasn't aware of until I happened to see a webinar that Mary P. did, (Webinar_ Digital Makeup & Retouching with Mocha and Adobe After Effects), was that when using shapes, there are two different ways of pasting.
Oddly, with the Paste mocha mask option (under the Edit menu) you just get a simple mask added to the selected layer. With the standard Ctrl-V used to paste though, you get a much more complex pasting of data that uses the mocha shape effect.
The one advantage to that is that it preserves any assymetrical edge feathering, but on the other hand it really bogs AE down when trying to preview the timeline.
I mention this in case others might like to know.
It defaults to selecting the last in the list whereas the most recent is actually the 2nd from the top. I found out by checking each. Might there be a way of making this more meaningful such as including the file date or such? Having the frame range as it is now is quite helpful, though having multiple choices with only that info isn't.
when you hover with your mouse over any of the choices in the dialog, the full mocha project file name and path should be shown as a help tip (you might pause the mouse for a moment to make the help tip appear). I hope this is good enough to find the right project.
Cheers,
Mathias
Actually, I was in contact with the mocha devs to see whether this is possible. But unfortunately, there is no way for a script to click a button in a plugin and therefore, there is no way for MochaImport+ to open the plugin version of mocha. However, creating the effect is definitely feasible. I like the idea and will put it on my list of feature requests.
I've done a replace shot in MochaPro & for reasons I won't go deeply into, my original source needed to be converted to a sequence from a Prorez file in order track & remove correctly. I did the conversion in Ae (CS6) and went with DPX format mostly for bit depth needed & file size. The remove process went fine but unfortunately, the DPX files it creates aren't compatible with Ae. Martin at Imagineer Systems is aware of the issue so it's being investigated.
Anyway, Tif's work fine with the DPX's it seems but now I can't simply do a file replacement in the DPX sequence. In an Ae comp, I simply put the TIF's seq layer over the DPX's and it looks great. However now I need to stabilize the entire shot but I've two layers & I can't just precomp to use MochaImport+.
I suppose I could just do a conversion to DPX rendering on the replacement frames, but wondering if there might be a more elegant way.
Thanks
I think I don't fully understand your setup and why you need two different layers. Is this because you just needed the remove on some frames, so you have tiffs for those and dpx for the others?
As a workaround, if you want to apply the stabilize function of MochaImport+ and have two layers, you could apply the stabilize two both layers which should make them move in exactly the same way.
Cheers,
Mathias
So it sounds as if I could simply stabilize the entire DPX sequence then apply (or copy & paste keys) to the tif layer. That correct?
I'll give that a try. Thanks.
Well, not so simple after all or at least how I went about it anyway. I couldn't figure out how to get the replacement seq layer to link & work with the main layers Stabilization Controls.
As such, I applied the track data via MochaImport+'s Stabilize option to the Replacement frames layer which made a 2nd Stabilization Controls layer of course and just manually matched that to the first. There were a couple scale & translation keys to match & then it all fell into place.
I'm sure you've a simple method though, right?
Another thought though, you wouldn't be able to use your technique of duplicating the layer & time slipping instead of scaling to lose the edge borders would you?
please use the keyframe button of MochaImport+ to create the keyframes.
See this tutorial at 2:00 for a detailed explanation:
https://mamoworld.com/tutorials/fixing-inaccurate-tracks-mochaimport-v51
Cheers,
Mathias
https://forum.borisfx.com/t/remove-drone-shot-with-multiplanar-parallax/3138
... where MaryP did a really nice (but a bit accelerated) tutorial on solving this drone shot for car removal: https://vimeo.com/247566968
The project requires multiple passes in Mocha. However, she uses the plug-in version of Mocha Pro. If you read the thread (not very long), I posed the question regarding the use of MochaImport+, as in her workflow she duplicates the clip to a second layer & applies Mocha to that.
With MochaImport+ and using the Stand alone version though, since it's tied to the actual clip & not the AE layer, you get the message box of opening the existing project or overwriting it.
How do you go about accomplishing this w/o messing up what's already in the cache? Do you simply open the existing but save it as a new project in Mocha? Even so, if you later go back to AE and repeat this, it asks you the same question about this clip. It doesn't know about the "new" project with a different name for the same clip.
Suggestions?
in general MochaImport+ works with the assumption that you only have one mocha project per frame range. There are lots of situation where you have several mocha projects for different parts of a clip, but having the need for several mocha projects for exactly the same range is a rather rare, special case.
The "Track in mocha" button of MochaImport+ is just a convenient way to open existing or create new mocha projects. You don't have to use it to create/open your projects when using MochaImport+ (with the extra bonus of being able to send masks from Ae to mocha). You can still open and create mocha projects directly in mocha Pro and then import the tracking data from those projects with MochaImport+. So when you need more than one mocha Project for the same frame range of the same clip, I recommend to create the second one manually. AS you suggest, you could also let MochaImport+ open the existing project, then save it with a new name.
It is correct that MochaImport+ then does not "know" about the new project in the sense that MochaImport+ cannot open this project when you click the "Track in mocha" button. But it is still able to import the tracking data from this project and you can still open the project directly in mocha Pro.
in general, MochaImport+ is compatible with these Ae and mocha versions, so not sure why it is crashing.
Two things to check
1) Does it work if you create a mocha project manually for the same footage (maybe the footage file is the issue)
2) in the settings of MochaImport+ there are some "advanced mocha project settings" Does it make a difference if you enable the "old mocha V3 format" checkbox of if you force a particular bit rate?
If this does not help, can you please open a support ticket at
https://aescripts.com/contact/
and attach the mocha project and if possible also the footage file (or a link where I can download it).
Cheers,
Mathias
please open a support ticket at
https://aescripts.com/contact/
including as much information as possible. In particular, in the MochaImport+ settings:
- what did you choose as mocha version to use? ("System Default Program" or "mocha Pro 5"?)
- what are your settings in "Advanced mocha project settings"
Does this only happen when mocha is already running? If mocha is not already running, does it launch before Ae hangs or not? Does it open the project before it hangs?
Best include some screenshots of the settings and what it looks like when it freezes.
The more details I know the quicker and better I am able to help.
Cheers,
Mathias
yes, when using "System Default Program" this message is expected. MochaImport+ creates a mocha 4 project file (or mocha 3 project if this is specified in MochaImport+ advanced settings) and "System Default Program" just tells the operating system to open this file with whatever app is registered in the operating system as default program for .mocha files (like double-clicking the file in Mac OS Finder or Win Explorer).
Then choosing mocha Pro 5 explicitly, MochaImport+ tells mocha to convert to V5 project format without asking. So in general, this is better than using "System Default Program".
If you still have issues, again, please let us continue the discussion in a support ticket.
Gladly make a ticket but thoguht I present the hilights here.
Upon launching the script, I'm, presented with a MochaImport+ warning message that C:\Program Files\Imagineer Systems Ltd\mocha AE V2\bin doesn't exist.That is true. May have years ago as I have the remnent of the folder still, just no subs below it.
I do have a folder for C:\Program Files\Imagineer Systems Ltd\mocha Plus V4 with a BIN folder though, but I currently use the stand alone of Mocha Pro 5 on a Win7 64-bit system & using CS6.
I'm able to get the UI but can't bring up the Settings, but it just blinks when clicking. Same thing with the logo, highlights as if it wants to do something but can't.
If I setup a test comp and click Track in Mocha, the Pro version does launch but gives a message that this project was creasted in MochaImport+ 5.110 & converted to the latest, yada, ... Save Immediately, Yes or No, and continues on either way.
I didn't do any tracking test at this point. Enough issues to get into that.
If I close the panel & exit AE, I don't get any error upon restart.
So, .... ?
TLTR:
deleting your corrupted mocha AE V2 installation will most likely fix all issues you describe.
DETAILED EXPLANATION
thanks for the detailed description!
Some background: In older versions, MochaImport+ has detected the installed mocha versions using the Windows Registry. Since newer mocha Pro versions don't put this info in the registry anymore, 5.110 now directly looks at the file system instead. It looks essentially for "C:\Program Files\Imagineer Systems Ltd\mocha*" and in all these folders expects a mocha binary in a bin folder. Since this approach is new, you didn't get the warning about the corrupted/incomplete mocha AE V2 installation before.
When opening the settings, MochaImport+ retrieves the infos about all mocha versions it detected at startup (to list them in the settings window). It also retrieves the path to the actual binary (this this is shown in the UI as an overlay when hovering over the respective version). I guess that this leads to an error in your case (since the mocha AE V2 installation that MochaImport+ complained about actually has no such binary file, so it will fail to retrieve the path). Since the error happens before the settings dialog is shown, the program does not arrive at the point where it actually shows the settings dialog.
I will check again what happens exactly in the unlikely case that a mocha program exists, but has no binary, to make sure it will be able to show the settings dialog in this case, too.
deleting your corrupted mocha AE V2 installation will most likely fix all issues you describe.
Thanks M., I'll give that a shot.
Didn't have any remnants in Control panel for the AE V2, but did for Mocha Plus V4 so removed it. Even so, there was still a \Program Files\Imagineer Systems Ltd folders vestige for both just no subs so axed those. Started AE, then the Mocha Import UI and all went swimmingly.