CineCAT

CineCAT is a plugin for MAXON CINEMA 4D that provides you with a complete solution for match moving and camera tracking. The utility enables you to reconstruct images relying on the estimations of the 3D points of the scene and the camera parameters.

The duration of the setup depends on whether you have the Cinema 4D already installed on your computer. If you already have it, then the setup is a quick matter of extracting the installer in the Plugin directory. Otherwise, you might have to spend some time downloading and installing the host application.

As you probably hinted, you can access it from the Plugin menu. The utility comes with a standalone window that is clean, organized and it is unlikely to give you any challenges. The UI is comprised of a viewing panel, a toolbar and a menu panel. While relatively small, the icons for the toolbar and menu are representative for the task they can perform.

The idea behind the plugin is to provide CINEMA 4D user with a flexible environment where they can create the basic packages for the graphic element they want to introduce in live footage. The tool allows you load the sequence of captures, hide the areas that are irrelevant for your project with a polygon mask and apply lens distortion, if necessary.

Once the sequence is loaded, you can start the camera tracking and specify the type of motion as well as the focal length to be employed. Moreover, you can align the scene to the grid, a feature that can offer you an extra leverage for integrating the graphic element seamlessly in the live footage.

In the eventuality that you are involved in a project that entails inserting computer graphics into live footage seamlessly and as if the objects were part of the real scene, then CineCAT might be the tool worth trying out.