How to track a location on a google earth studio map

I have been using Google Earth to generate an animated map and then brought that map animation in the Final Cut Pro and using mTracker 3D was able to successfully create tracking data and apply it to a pen or title or anything else and it worked beautifully. I have a new project where I have a little bit more detail in the map, but it has been created in Google Earth studio. Right out of the gate for whatever reason final cut has a hard time displaying the file. I finally just created a new project and it seemed to work fine inside a new project, probably a whole different issue in itself. The problem I am having is that mTracker 3D does not really like maps, but it has worked in the past and the tracking seems to be spot on until it gets to some arbitrary spot in the clip, and then the pins just fly off the screen, as if it completely loses the track which I don't understand because there's nothing dramatic happening in the clip itself. I know this sounds more like a motion VFX issue, but I just thought I would ask in this group to see if anybody had any other solutions. I've also used "pins" from pixel film studios, but that doesn't work either and the FCPX built in tracker is worthless in this case as well. I don't know why this map is giving me such a hard time. Maybe I'll have to go back to Google Earth desktop. Here is a link to download the animated map file in case you're feeling adventurous and want to try it yourself.


Many thanks,

Houston


Mac Studio

Posted on Sep 22, 2025 1:03 PM

Reply
6 replies

Sep 23, 2025 5:15 AM in response to htown

MotionVFX has superior trackers, but they're ain't cheap.

FCP needs very, very clear points to track. You can't just select a random blur on a blurry image. And if any section of your tracking hits the edge or goes out of frame, it can't track what it can't see. I don't think the images you're using are clear enough for the tracker to work with.

Sep 23, 2025 10:01 AM in response to BenB

I got a somewhat decent track on a high contrast river section using point cloud and attached a title to the track. I did not spend any time trying to finesse it but it did follow the camera motion. A little bumpy and it did get lost toward the very end but I'm no tracking expert so I'm sure others could do better.

Sep 22, 2025 5:26 PM in response to htown

Sorry for not being clear on the specifics. I was really just looking for way, natively or plugin to track ANY point on the animated map. I am ultimately going to track several points on the map, about 8 in total. I could not get ANYTHING to track. If you are testing it yourself, and if you are, I greatly appreciate the effort you are putting into this, then please feel free to track any point using any style of pin as I will not be using your results in my project. But I'm after here is a way to accurately track something in this animated map clip or any other solution that will get me the end product.


Example but not as elaborate as I am panning as it pertains to the number of points.


Example Link

How to track a location on a google earth studio map

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.