After Effects: How To Stabilize Awesome Footage

In this http://www.VideoFort.com After Effects Tutorial VideoFort Jon teaches how to stabilize unsteady footage using the tracking and warp stabilization features of AE CS6 so you can get awesome results. First import the shaky footage a create a new comp with it. Then select Animation, Track Motion. Make sure rotation is checked and you choose Stabilize as the track type under the Track panel. From there you will choose two points in your shot that are high contrast areas, this will help the computer follow tracking better. Then you select to analyze forward if you are at the beginning of the sequence. After the analyzing is complete, apply the track to the x and y axis and you are finished tracking and stabilizing your shot. You’ll notice that your shot might be out of frame. Do not reposition this as it will affect you stabilizing. Instead, Increase the scale on the shot and this will fix the framing issue.

An easier/faster way to stabilize your footage is by using the warp stabilizer. To use this you need to be on CS6. Select the layer that needs to be stabilized then choose Warp Stabilizer from the Effects and Presets pane. Now let the Warp Stabilizer analyze the background and stabilize your shot. This could take one minute, it could take up to an hour. It depends on how fast your computer is, how long your shot is, and how unstable the shot is.

These techniques will only work for some unstable footage. If your footage is too shaky/unwatchable then this process will not work unfortunately. This technique is great for handheld and uncalibrated steadicam footage. Test it out and see what works best for you!