Modes of applying transformations

PatchMaker can, in the most general case, compute affine motion of the tracked object, although in some cases more simple models may suffice. There exist multiple ways to represent the motion computed when transferring data (to AE). The choice is made through the Export|Transform Model property of the PatchMake composition.

The meanings of the property values are the following:

The Auto value allows PatchMaker choosing the representation that suits best (from Translation, Rigid, Rigid & Scale, Affine (Mixed Transform)) depending on the motion model in segments, and the value of the Inaccuracy property.

The values Translation, Rigid, Rigid & Scale are similar in that standard layer properties of the Transform group are sufficient for motion representation, and no additional effects need to be applied to the layer.

However, an arbitrary affine transformations cannot be described by these parameters. Therefore, some simplification of the motion may be necessary.

Translation provides transferring motion as layer translations, by using only the Position property.
Rigid represents the computed motion as a combination of translation and rotation (without scale), the properties Position and Rotation are filled in.
Rigid & Scale provides data representation by combinig translation, rotation and scaling, by using all properties shown above.

The remaining values allow describing arbitrary affine motion without distortion. They achieve this by applying to the layer an additional effect (included in the AE distribution). In the following three cases, the effect is Distort|Transform, in which transformations are represented by a composition (ambiguous) of translation, rotation, skew and non-uniform scale. In the Transform effect, you can fill in different combinations of properties to get the same motion. If we add the standard layer properties, that will make evident the presence of multiple modes of applying transformations.

At the Affine (Vertical Skew) value, most of the effect properties are used, but the rotation angle and the angle that determines the skew axis, are always equal within the sign. Therefore, the skew is always performed effectively relative to the vertical axis.

At the Affine (Uniform Scale) value, the least number of the Transform effect properties are filled in (less than in previous case by two) due to using uniform scale.

The value Affine (Mixed Transform) uses mixed definition of transformations: one portion of properties are defined for the effect, the other portion are the standard parameters. This choice would suit the best for transferring affine motion to AE, if the Motion Blur effect is to be applied to the overlay, since the Motion Blur uses only standard layer properties.

The Affine Corner Pin value provides transferring the motion computed by creating a Distort|Corner Pin effect, where transformations are defined by positions of the four frame corners (for affine transformations, only thee of them are independent).