Trace Ball
One press on the frame the club meets the ball: it finds the ball and draws its flight. A shot whose camera has not been tracked yet gets that done first.
In the panel: Trace Ball · Impact Frame
//
Features
Features
Every part of Ball Tracer, in the order you use it.
01
Track and trace
Track Camera
Follows the whole scene by itself, so the trail stays glued to a shot that pans, tilts or zooms. Nothing to place by hand.
In the panel: Track Camera · Link Path to Camera · Use as Close · Use as Far · Camera Is Locked Off
AI Ball Finder
Looks for the ball on every frame, on the graphics card, so hard shots get their trail too. Experimental.
In the panel: AI Ball Finder (experimental)
Bounces and roll
When the ball comes down in the picture, the trail follows it through the bounces and the roll.
In the panel: Landing In Shot
Impact and landing
Drag a ring onto the ball at impact, and mark where it lands when it leaves the picture. The trace holds to both.
In the panel: Ball At Impact · Landing · Use Recorded Impact · Use Landing Marker
Flight time
Every trace fills in how long the ball was in the air. Change it and the flight is retimed at once, keeping its shape.
In the panel: Flight Time (s)
02
Fix it by hand
Fix With Ball Marks
Click the ball on a few frames where the tracer cannot see it. The trace follows your marks and carries the flight on to its landing.
In the panel: Mark Ball Mode · Trace With Marks As Help · Mark Is Impact · Mark Is Landing
Draw Path From Marks
No automatic trace at all: the path is drawn through your marks, smoothed, like tracing it frame by frame by hand.
In the panel: Draw Path From Marks · Delete Mark On This Frame · Clear All Marks
Path handles
Three to five handles shape the path. Drag them in the viewer, nudge one a pixel with the arrow keys, and round the path off.
In the panel: Points · Close, Mid 1 … Far · Smoothness
03
Looks
Four looks
Simple, Paper Ribbon, Broadcast Tube and Flow Dash. Each starts in its own colours; change them freely.
In the panel: Look
Simple
A flat line, in your colour and width.
In the panel: Look
Paper Ribbon
A narrow paper strip folded down the middle that turns slowly as it flies, with a lit edge and a shaded edge.
In the panel: Paper Fold · Paper Twist · Paper Shadow
Broadcast Tube
A glossy tube with a dark outline and a white streak.
In the panel: Gloss
Flow Dash
Capsules flowing from the tee to the landing over a thin guide line.
In the panel: Dash Length · Dash Flow
Colour, width and taper
A colour at each end, a width, a taper that gives the trail its depth, and a dot at its head.
In the panel: Colour · Colour Far · Gradient · Width · Taper · Head Size · Opacity
Ground and overlap shadows
A streak beneath the flight, and a soft shadow where the trail comes back down over itself, so the two stay apart.
In the panel: Shadow Opacity · Shadow Length · Shadow Taper · Shadow Fade · Overlap Shadow
04
Draw-on
Follow Ball
The trail draws on as the ball flies, timed from the traced flight, so its head stays on the ball.
In the panel: Follow Ball · Reveal Curve
Peak Wipe
Wipes the start away up to the peak once the ball passes the top, so the landing half is the one you see.
In the panel: Wipe Starts · Wipe Length · Wipe Edge
Comet Trail
Flies only a long trimmed piece with the ball and brings it down with it.
In the panel: Trail Length
Overlap Dissolve
Dissolves the rising part where the falling half crosses back over it, as the ball passes.
In the panel: Dissolve · Dissolve Time · Overlap Reach
Reveal curves
With Follow Ball off: Snap and Drop, Measured Flight, Soft Landing, Smooth Slow-Down, Constant Speed, Putt Roll, and the new Pitch and Chip and Run, measured from real shots. Or Manual (Reveal Slider) to keyframe it yourself.
In the panel: Reveal Curve · Reveal Start Frame · Reveal Duration · Reveal Mid Frame
Trim and run a span
Trim the trail from behind, or keyframe it to run a span along the flight. The ground shadow trims with it.
In the panel: Reveal From · Reveal
05
Hide it behind things
Hide Behind Objects
A tree or a player in front of the ball hides the trail; a treeline behind the landing never does. Take it out completely, or leave a white ghost.
In the panel: Hide Behind Objects · White Opacity
Sky Only
Above the horizon the trail is seen only against the sky, clear, cloudy, hazy or bright; trees, poles and buildings take it out.
In the panel: Sky Only
Garbage Mask
Four corners you drag to choose which tree or player may hide the trail. It moves with the camera.
In the panel: Garbage Mask · Invert Mask · Mask Feather
Clean Sky
Smooths the camera's grain out of the sky and the clouds, and nowhere else.
In the panel: Clean Sky
06
AutoZoom
AutoZoom
Zooms the picture in on the ball as it lands, following the traced landing. Set how close, how long, and how early or late it arrives.
In the panel: AutoZoom · Zoom Amount · Zoom Length · Offset · Offset to Playhead
07
In your edit
Inside your program
A plug-in on your timeline: no second app, nothing to export or import.
DaVinci Resolve Studio · Adobe Premiere Pro, on Windows
Transparent output
The trail alone over transparency, to composite on its own layer.
In the panel: Transparent
Shot range
Trace the clip's whole cut, or set where it starts and ends from the playhead.
In the panel: Start Frame · End Frame · Set Start to Playhead · Set End to Playhead
Frame rate
Uses the rate your program reports, or the clip's own when the two differ.
In the panel: Clip Frame Rate
On the graphics card
1–6 ms a frame at UHD. Short of graphics memory, it can run from system memory instead, at about 58 ms.
In the panel: Track On Graphics Card · Track On System Memory
Support bundle
One press writes a log of the session. Read every line, then send it for a reference code. Your licence key is never in it.
In the panel: Prepare Debug Log · Open Bundle · Send to Support
Your licence
2 computers per licence; release one to move it. The key is never saved in your project.
In the panel: Licence Key · Activate · Deactivate