Uploaded December 2022 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
How do you follow an object in After Effects so that the object is always centered in the frame? I do this with my mouse cursor in all my tutorials and I wanted to show you how I do it.
I’ve imported an example clip where the mouse cursor is moving from one folder to another and I want to track the that motion here.
The first thing I do is to move the playhead to where I want to start, usually just before the movement starts. Then, I go to the “Tracker” window, I make sure that the video layer is selected and then I click “Stabilize Motion”.
Now, a “track point” will appear on the screen and you want to place this track point on top of the object you want to track. Click and drag between the two boxes to move it and then drop it on top of the object.
Resize the outer box to the area in which you want the tool to search for the object and resize the smaller box to cover the object itself.
When you’ve done that, go back to the “Tracker” window, select “Position” and then click “Options”.
Here you want to set “Stop tracking” to 80% and what this does is that it stops the tool from continuing to track your object if it’s less than 80% sure that it’s actually tracking the right thing because after all, it’s not a human doing this so it can sometimes lose track of the object.
You can edit the percentage to whatever works for your but I’ve found that 80% is a good middle ground here.
Next, you click “OK” and then in the “Tracker” window, you click “Analyze forward”. Whenever you click stop (or when the tool stops by itself), you can just reposition the track point (if needed) and then click “Analyze forward” again to continue tracking from where it stopped.
Once you are done, just click “Stop” and then “Apply”. In the pop-up window, choose “X and Y” (if it’s moving both sideways and up and down) and click OK.
Now, when you play it from the start, your object will appear to be still and have the rest of the video moving around it and now you just have to reposition the whole layer so that the object ends up in the middle of the frame.
If you liked this video, please subscribe to the channel for more tutorials like this and with that said, thanks for watching, keep learning, and have a great day!
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DISCLAIMER: This video and description might contain affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I'll receive a small commission. This helps support the channel and allows me to continue to make videos like this. Thank You for your support! 🙏
(All links are my genuine recommendations.)
#AfterEffects #Tutorials #HowTo #StabilizeMotion
How do you follow an object in After Effects so that the object is always centered in the frame? I do this with my mouse cursor in all my tutorials and I wanted to show you how I do it.
I’ve imported an example clip where the mouse cursor is moving from one folder to another and I want to track the that motion here.
The first thing I do is to move the playhead to where I want to start, usually just before the movement starts. Then, I go to the “Tracker” window, I make sure that the video layer is selected and then I click “Stabilize Motion”.
Now, a “track point” will appear on the screen and you want to place this track point on top of the object you want to track. Click and drag between the two boxes to move it and then drop it on top of the object.
Resize the outer box to the area in which you want the tool to search for the object and resize the smaller box to cover the object itself.
When you’ve done that, go back to the “Tracker” window, select “Position” and then click “Options”.
Here you want to set “Stop tracking” to 80% and what this does is that it stops the tool from continuing to track your object if it’s less than 80% sure that it’s actually tracking the right thing because after all, it’s not a human doing this so it can sometimes lose track of the object.
You can edit the percentage to whatever works for your but I’ve found that 80% is a good middle ground here.
Next, you click “OK” and then in the “Tracker” window, you click “Analyze forward”. Whenever you click stop (or when the tool stops by itself), you can just reposition the track point (if needed) and then click “Analyze forward” again to continue tracking from where it stopped.
Once you are done, just click “Stop” and then “Apply”. In the pop-up window, choose “X and Y” (if it’s moving both sideways and up and down) and click OK.
Now, when you play it from the start, your object will appear to be still and have the rest of the video moving around it and now you just have to reposition the whole layer so that the object ends up in the middle of the frame.
If you liked this video, please subscribe to the channel for more tutorials like this and with that said, thanks for watching, keep learning, and have a great day!
**********
EXCLUSIVE RESOURCES FOR VIDEO CREATORS:
🎞 FREE (and paid) digital products for video creators:
davidlindgren89.gumroad.com
🎁 FREE plugins for Premiere Pro & After Effects:
aejuice.com/free-plugins/?ref=davidlindgren89
🎁 FREE browser extension for YouTube Growth:
tubebuddy.com/davidlindgren1989&x=homepage
🎵 2 extra months of music library "Artlist" for FREE:
artlist.io/David-121249
🧠 Learn more about Adobe Premiere Pro:
youtube.com/watch?v=ExOzQ6uCso0&list=PLgJlbAYg0mEkXrbeSUcXFU8ax-y-21Ndb
🧠 Learn more about Adobe After Effects:
youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgJlbAYg0mEnZDvh9LUAz-t0rAjCgH8IQ
**********
📲 CONNECT WITH ME HERE:
► youtube.com/davidlindgren89
► facebook.com/davidlindgren89
► instagram.com/davidlindgren89
► snapchat.com/add/davidlindgren89
► twitter.com/davidlindgren89
► medium.com/@davidlindgren89
**********
DISCLAIMER: This video and description might contain affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links, I'll receive a small commission. This helps support the channel and allows me to continue to make videos like this. Thank You for your support! 🙏
(All links are my genuine recommendations.)
#AfterEffects #Tutorials #HowTo #StabilizeMotion
