This tutorial is designed to help you familiarize yourself with TRAXIM functions and controls.
The sections marked with asterisk (*)  describe advanced TRAXIM features and can be skipped at the first read.

       Introduction
       Load our demo clip
       Start Traxim
       Drawing a Hilight
       More about Hilight Drawing*
       Create a matte
       Explore different display modes
       Outline Matte vs Color Matte*
       Tracking
       Adjusting the mattes*
       Getting the result
       Keyframing*
 

Introduction

Creating a matte using Traxim consists of a few simple steps. The approximate outline of the object is marked with a very broad-tipped pen, similar to a highlight marker. We in fact call this operation "hilighting" the object. The hilighting should cover the actual edge of the object and should be approximately centered on the edge of the object. Once the hilight has been drawn the user creates a matte by a button press. Traxim determines exactly where in the hilight the real boundary of the object is. Traxim can display an outline of the boundary as a reference and also generates an outline matte based on the outline with variable size and softness. A second matte, called the color matte, can also be generated, which adds detail to the matte based on color differences between the object and the background.

Once a matte has been created for a single frame Traxim can attempt to automatically track the object outline as it moves and changes shape. This tracking is again started by a simple button press. Some objects or types of motion cannot yet be successfully tracked and in this case Traxim provides the ability to keyframe the hilight drawings and then inbetween intermediate frames. The Traxim edge finder can still operate within the keyframed hilight drawing to determine the exact outline. The following tutorial walks you through the entire process using actual screen shots from the spark.