Docs / 03

Every control

All 73 rows of the panel, top to bottom, in the order the Inspector shows them.

Written for Ball Tracer 0.2.2 What changed

On this page

Reading this page
Status
Licence
1. Range
2. Camera & Boxes
3. Trace Ball
4. Path
5. Look
Memory
AutoZoom
Holdout
Support

Reading this page

Labels are exactly as the panel shows them. Defaults are what a new copy of the effect starts with. Numbers without a unit are percentages or frame counts, as the description says.

Two labels appear twice. Landing is a marker you drag in the viewer and also a button beside Reveal and Middle. Reveal is that button and also a slider in 4. Path. The tables name both.

For the order to use them in, read Your first trace.

Status

The first row, above every group. Every button reports back here.

Label	Kind	Default	What it does
Status	Kind Text, read only	Default “No tracking yet.”	What the last button press did. When something needs your attention, a message box gives the longer explanation.

Licence

Open when the panel opens.

Label	Kind	Default	What it does
Licence Status	Kind Text, read only	Default “Trial unless activated.”	What the licence is doing. The troubleshooting page lists every message it can show.
Licence Key	Kind Text	Default Empty	Paste your key here and press Enter, then press Activate. The key is never saved in the project, and the field is cleared after every press.
Activate	Kind Button	Default None	Activates Ball Tracer on this computer and removes the TRIAL mark from new frames. Needs an internet connection once.
Deactivate	Kind Button	Default None	Releases this computer's activation so the key can be used on another computer. The TRIAL mark comes back on this one.
Buy Ball Tracer	Kind Button	Default None	Meant to open the store in your web browser. In 0.2.2 it shows “Store not open yet.” instead: buy from the website's Pricing page.

1. Range

Which frames get tracked. Resolve does not tell a plug-in where a clip is cut, so you set the range with the playhead.

Label	Kind	Default	What it does
Start Frame	Kind Number	Default Set when you add the effect	The first frame of the range that gets tracked.
End Frame	Kind Number	Default Set when you add the effect	The last frame of the range, included in it.
Set Start to Playhead	Kind Button	Default None	Uses the frame you are parked on as the start of the range.
Set End to Playhead	Kind Button	Default None	Uses the frame you are parked on as the end of the range.

2. Camera & Boxes

How the trail sticks to a moving shot. Track Camera needs no boxes; the two boxes are the manual way.

Label	Kind	Default	What it does
Tracker A	Kind Position	Default Placed on the frame when you add the effect	The first tracker box. Put it on something near the ground that stays in frame for the whole shot. Drag it in the viewer; drag a corner of its box to resize it.
A Size	Kind Number	Default 48 pxRange 8 to 400	Half the width of tracker A's search box. Bigger is more reliable on soft texture, and slower.
Tracker B	Kind Position	Default Placed on the frame when you add the effect	The second tracker box. Put it on the background, well away from tracker A. The further apart they are, the better rotation and scale are measured.
B Size	Kind Number	Default 48 pxRange 8 to 400	Half the width of tracker B's search box.
Track	Kind Menu	Default Both boxes	Which box the three track buttons move: Both boxes, Box A only or Box B only. The other box keeps its track, so you can repair one without touching the other.
Track Camera	Kind Button	Default None	Follows the whole scene automatically, with no boxes to place. When it finishes, the tracked points appear on the picture and the trail rides the solved camera.
Use as Close	Kind Button	Default None	Makes the highlighted track point the anchor for the trail's Close end. Click one of the track points in the viewer first. Needs Track Camera.
Use as Far	Kind Button	Default None	Makes the highlighted track point the anchor for the trail's Far end. Click one of the track points in the viewer first. Needs Track Camera.
<< Track Backward	Kind Button	Default None	Tracks the boxes chosen in Track from the current frame back to the start of the range.
<> Track Both Ways	Kind Button	Default None	Tracks the boxes chosen in Track outward from the current frame, both ways, in one pass. The one to use first.
Track Forward >>	Kind Button	Default None	Tracks the boxes chosen in Track from the current frame to the end of the range.
Show Tracker Boxes	Kind Checkbox	Default On	Draws the two boxes on the picture. Untick it to clear them out of the way. Once Track Camera has solved, the boxes no longer carry the trail.
Place Boxes in Frame	Kind Button	Default None	Brings both boxes back into the picture when one has ended up off screen.
Reset Tracking	Kind Button	Default None	Throws the stored track away. The boxes stay where they are and the path stops moving with the shot. It asks for a second press first.

3. Trace Ball

Finds the real ball and fits its flight, then times how the trail draws on.

Label	Kind	Default	What it does
Show Track Points	Kind Checkbox	Default On	Draws the automatic camera track's points on the picture. They exist only after Track Camera has run.
Camera Is Locked Off	Kind Checkbox	Default Off	Tick it for a locked-off tripod shot, or one you have already stabilised. Trace Ball then skips the camera step and needs no tracking. Leave it off for any shot that pans, tilts or zooms.
Trace Ball	Kind Button	Default None	Finds the ball and draws its flight. Press it while parked on the frame the club meets the ball. If nothing is tracked yet, it tracks the camera first and then carries on.
Impact Frame	Kind Number	Default Taken from the playhead when you press Trace Ball	The frame the ball was struck on. Correct it here instead of parking again.
Ball At Impact	Kind Position	Default 0, 0 (not set)	Where the ball sits on the impact frame. Drag the amber ring onto the ball; unset, it waits hollow at the centre of the frame. Optional, and the most useful thing to set: a flight that does not come back to this point is thrown out.
Landing	Kind Position	Default 0, 0 (not set)	Where the ball comes down: the amber ring with a bar. Set it when the ball leaves the picture, or gets too small to follow, before it starts to fall. Left at 0, 0 the landing is estimated from the flight.
Sensitivity	Kind Number	Default 0Range -100 to 100	How faint a moving thing may be and still count. Raise it when no ball was found. It finds more noise too, which the fit is built to survive.
Show Detections	Kind Checkbox	Default Off	Draws the moving blobs the ball finder found, in the viewer only, so you can tell the ball from a bird.
Show Markers	Kind Checkbox	Default On	Draws the Ball At Impact and Landing markers. They sit on top of the path's first and last handles and take the click, so untick this to grab the handle underneath. Their values are kept.
Reveal Curve	Kind Menu	Default Ball Flight	How the draw-on is paced. Ball Flight follows the traced flight. Hang and Settle, Ease Out, Linear, Burst and Fade, and Snap and Drop are fixed shapes. Manual hands the trail back to the Reveal slider. Needs Follow Ball on.
Reveal Start Frame	Kind Number	Default 0 (automatic)	The frame the draw-on begins. 0 uses the flight's own first frame. Needs Follow Ball on.
Reveal Duration	Kind Number	Default 0 (automatic)	How many frames the draw-on takes. 0 uses the flight's own length, so the head of the trail stays on the ball. Needs Follow Ball on.
Reveal Mid Frame	Kind Number	Default 0 (automatic)	The frame the trail reaches the middle of the path: point 2, the apex, on a three-point path. 0 lets Reveal Curve pace the whole draw-on. Needs Follow Ball on.
Reveal	Kind Button	Default None	Sets Reveal Start Frame to the playhead. Needs Follow Ball on and a curve other than Manual.
Middle	Kind Button	Default None	Sets Reveal Mid Frame to the playhead: park where the ball is at the middle of the path and press it. Needs Follow Ball on and a curve other than Manual.
Landing	Kind Button	Default None	Park on the frame the draw-on should finish, the landing, and press it. Reveal Duration is worked out from the start. Needs Follow Ball on and a curve other than Manual.
Follow Ball	Kind Checkbox	Default On	Draws the trail on as the ball flies, worked out from the flight. Turn it off to show the whole trail at once, or to keyframe Reveal by hand.
Horizon	Kind Position, height only	Default The middle of the frame	The row that marks the camera's eye line. Move it for a tilted, high or low camera. It changes only where the landing is found.

4. Path

The shape of the flight, and how much of it is drawn.

Label	Kind	Default	What it does
Points	Kind Number	Default 3Range 2 to 6	How many handles shape the path. Three reads as close, apex and far, which is what a struck ball looks like.
Close, Mid 1 … Far	Kind Position	Default Laid out on the frame when you add the effect	The path's handles. The first is always Close and the last in use is always Far; handles beyond Points show as “(unused n)”. Drag them in the viewer. Click one and the arrow keys nudge it one screen pixel; click empty picture to give the arrows back to Resolve.
Smoothness	Kind Number	Default 100Range 0 to 100	0 joins the handles with straight lines. 100 rounds the path off completely.
Reveal From	Kind Number	Default 0Range 0 to 100	Where the drawn trail starts, along its length. 0 draws from the tee. Raise it to trim the trail from behind, and keyframe it with Reveal to run a span along the flight. The ground shadow is trimmed with it.
Reveal	Kind Number	Default 100Range 0 to 100	How much of the trail is drawn, along its length. Follow Ball drives it, so keyframes here are ignored while Follow Ball is on. To animate it by hand, turn Follow Ball off or set Reveal Curve to Manual.
Link Path to Trackers	Kind Checkbox	Default On	Lets the tracked motion carry the path, from Track Camera or from the boxes. With the boxes, the first handle rides tracker A and the rest ride tracker B.

5. Look

What the trail looks like. The defaults draw one flat red line.

Label	Kind	Default	What it does
Colour	Kind Colour	Default Red	The trail's colour at the close end.
Colour Far	Kind Colour	Default White	The trail's colour at the far end, used by Gradient.
Gradient	Kind Number	Default 0Range 0 to 100	How far the trail shifts toward Colour Far along its length. 0 is one flat colour.
Width	Kind Number	Default 50 pxRange 0.1 to 500	The trail's thickness at the close end, in pixels.
Opacity	Kind Number	Default 100Range 0 to 100	How solid the trail is, shadow included. Animate it to fade the whole trail away.
Taper	Kind Number	Default 90Range 0 to 100	How much the trail thins toward the far end. It is what gives a trail depth.
Head Size	Kind Number	Default 0 (off)Range 0 to 400	The diameter of a dot at the leading end of the drawn trail, in pixels. It makes a growing trail read as a ball with a trail behind it.
Shadow Opacity	Kind Number	Default 50Range 0 to 100	How solid the ground shadow is, as a share of Opacity. The shadow is a straight streak running beneath the flight.
Shadow Length	Kind Number	Default 50Range 0 to 100	How far the shadow runs, as a share of the straight line from the trail's start to its end.
Shadow Taper	Kind Number	Default 100Range 0 to 100	How much the shadow thins toward its far end.
Shadow Fade	Kind Number	Default 100Range 0 to 100	How much the shadow fades out toward its far end. This is opacity; Shadow Taper handles width.
Transparent	Kind Checkbox	Default Off	Outputs the trail over transparency instead of over the shot, so it can be composited on its own layer.

Memory

Where tracking and tracing keep their frames. A setting for the whole computer, not the project.

Label	Kind	Default	What it does
Track On System Memory	Kind Button	Default None	Runs tracking and tracing from system memory instead of the graphics card. Use it if passes keep stopping for lack of graphics memory. Playback gets slower: about 58 ms a frame at UHD instead of 1 to 6 ms. Takes effect when Resolve restarts.
Track On Graphics Card	Kind Button	Default None	Goes back to the graphics card, the normal and fast setting. Takes effect when Resolve restarts.

AutoZoom

Zooms the picture in on the ball as it lands. It aims at the Far handle and finishes at the traced landing, or at End Frame on a path that was never traced.

Label	Kind	Default	What it does
AutoZoom On	Kind Checkbox	Default On	Turns the whole move off without losing your settings. Nothing zooms until AutoZoom Amount is above 0.
AutoZoom Amount	Kind Number	Default 0 (off)Range 0 to 900	How much closer the picture gets as the ball lands. 30 is about a third bigger, 100 doubles it, 300 is four times. Past about 150 the picture starts to look soft. The trail zooms with it.
Zoom In Over	Kind Number	Default 12 framesRange 1 to 600	How many frames the move takes. 6 is a hard snap, 24 a slow push in. Changing it moves only where the move starts.
Arrive	Kind Number	Default 0Range -600 to 600	Where the move finishes, in frames from the landing. 0 is fully in as the ball lands; 6 is six frames after; -6 is already in when it lands.
Arrive on Playhead	Kind Button	Default None	Park on the frame the picture should be fully in and press it. It fills in Arrive for you.

Holdout

Hides the trail where something in front of it should be. Works on the Fusion page only, where the Ball Tracer node has a second input called Holdout: wire a mask into it, such as a Polygon or a keyer.

Label	Kind	Default	What it does
Holdout Amount	Kind Number	Default 100Range 0 to 100	How much of the trail the Holdout input hides. 100 removes it completely where the mask is white; lower values leave it faintly visible, which reads well through thin branches.
Invert Holdout	Kind Checkbox	Default Off	Hides the trail outside the mask instead of inside it.

Support

The last group, open when the panel opens. It packages what the plug-in recorded so you can send it without a file manager.

Label	Kind	Default	What it does
Support Status	Kind Text, read only	Default “Nothing prepared yet.”	What the Support rows are doing, and the reference code after a bundle has been sent.
Prepare Debug Log	Kind Button	Default None	Writes a support bundle from this session to your computer. Nothing is sent yet. Press it straight after something goes wrong; there is nothing to turn on first and no restart.
Open Bundle	Kind Button	Default None	Opens the prepared bundle so you can read every line before any of it is sent. It is plain text.
Send to Support	Kind Button	Default None	Uploads the prepared bundle and shows a reference code, such as BT-7K3Q-2M. Your licence key is never included.