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Tracker App — Reducing Shakiness and Jitter in Imported Moves

Summary

Imported Tracker App moves frequently feel too shaky or drifty — particularly on pan and tilt axes — because the app records at 60fps and every tiny hand tremor is captured. There are three complementary fixes: (1) increase Granularity on import to 10–20, which downsamples keyframes and smooths the curve; (2) switch the Tracker App itself from 60fps mode to Keyframe mode (top-right corner of the app), which only records a position each time you deliberately tap to mark a keyframe; (3) if using the move via Mimic import, apply Smoothing to the Cartesian Graphics curves after import. Mounting the phone on the physical camera (not held separately) also significantly improves feel.

Symptoms

  • Imported move feels shaky and unnatural — excessive high-frequency tremor throughout.
  • Pan and tilt drift more than recorded — move diverges from intended path.
  • Robot move has 500+ keyframes for a 500-frame shot (granularity left at 1).
  • Move looks good in the app preview but becomes jerky when run on the robot.
  • Handheld feel is wanted but jitter is unwanted — subtle organic motion is difficult to achieve.

Community Guidance

[RESOLVED] Increase Import Granularity to 10–20

2022-10-22 — Niko / Plamen Bontchev / Gordon Eschke

Granularity determines how many recorded frames are skipped between each imported keyframe. At Granularity 1, every 60fps frame becomes a keyframe — producing a curve with hundreds of points and high-frequency noise. At Granularity 20, approximately 30 keyframes are generated per second (60/20), which is usually enough resolution for a handheld organic move while eliminating micro-tremor.

  • Granularity 10–20: good starting point for handheld moves
  • Granularity 25–30: smoother but may lose intentional fast movements
  • Granularity 1: never use — creates hundreds of keyframes and makes the move very jerky on the robot

Niko: "Once you have the movement, try to import it with some granularity, you will have better results and less shakiness." Plamen Bontchev: "You might want to change the granularity in Flair before you import the move. That will smooth the camera path."

confidence_score: 0.95

[RESOLVED] Use Keyframe Mode in the Tracker App (Not 60fps Mode)

2022-10-22 — Josh Becker

The Tracker App has two recording modes accessible from the top-right corner:

  • 60fps mode (default): continuously samples the phone's motion at 60 frames per second. Every tremor is captured.
  • Keyframe mode: only records the phone position at the moment you tap to mark the next keyframe. You physically hold the phone steady at each position and tap — this gives you precise, clean waypoints with no noise between them.

Keyframe mode is ideal for programmatic moves (slow dolly, push-in, orbit) where you want specific camera positions. 60fps mode is better for freeform handheld where you want the organic character of real movement.

Josh Becker: "In the tracker app, you can switch from 60fps mode to Keyframe mode (upper right corner). 60fps samples the iPhone's motion at 60fps but in Keyframe mode it only saves the iPhone motion at the moment you tap to mark the next Keyframe."

confidence_score: 0.93

[RESOLVED] Apply Smoothing to Curves After Mimic Import

2022-10-22 — Timothy Heys Cerchio

If you import the move via the Mimic window (rather than as a standard CGI data import), Flair will lose the discrete waypoints but the resulting curves can then be smoothed using the Smoothing function in the Cartesian Graphics view. Apply moderate smoothing and preview the effect in the 3D rig view before running.

Timothy Heys Cerchio: "When you import as Mimic you lose your waypoints...but then you can apply some Smoothing on the Cartesian Graphics curves."

confidence_score: 0.88

[RESOLVED] Mount Phone on the Physical Camera — Not Held Separately

2022-10-22 — Gordon Eschke / Dan Gottesman

Holding the phone separately from the camera introduces double tremor — hand shake from both the phone hand and the camera operating hand. Attaching the phone directly to the camera (or the camera rig) means the phone captures the actual camera motion, including intentional handheld character, without additional noise.

Gordon Eschke suggested using a gimbal mount on the phone as an intermediate option when a fully rigid mount is impractical.

Gordon Eschke: "What about putting the phone on a gimbal or similar?"

confidence_score: 0.88

[RESOLVED] iPhone Pro LiDAR Identifies Surfaces — Better Spatial Accuracy

2022-10-22 — Josh Becker

iPhone Pro models (12 Pro and later) have a LiDAR scanner that actively maps the surrounding environment. This significantly improves the positional accuracy of XYZ tracking, especially in studio environments where walls and floors provide reference geometry. If available, use an iPhone Pro rather than a non-Pro model.

Josh Becker: "I've also found the iPhone Pro's LiDAR sensor does a great job of identifying the floor, table surfaces, etc."

confidence_score: 0.90

[INFORMATIONAL] Avoid White Walls / Featureless Backgrounds

2020-10-31 — Tom D

The Tracker App's visual tracking system (used alongside inertial sensors) requires visual features in the environment to maintain accurate spatial position. All-white studio walls or blank surfaces cause the tracking to drift or lose position.

Tom D: "iPhone tracking doesn't like the white studio though — it can't track with the lack of details in the white walls!"

confidence_score: 0.88

WhatsApp Excerpts

[22/10/2022] Alvar Kõue: Hi, has anybody been using MRMC Trackin app on their iphone? What are your experiences? Testing it out and feels bit too shaky.
[22/10/2022] Niko: once you have the movement, try to import it with some granularity, you will have better results and less shakiness
[22/10/2022] plamenbontchev: you might want to change the granularity in flair before you import the move. That will smooth the camera path.
[22/10/2022] Alvar Kõue: I tried different options. 10-20 granularity.
[22/10/2022] Alvar Kõue: Idea is to give bit of handheld flow feeling. Right now my pan and tilt drift too much at times.
[22/10/2022] Gordon Eschke: What about putting the phone on a gimbal or similar?
[22/10/2022] Timothy Heys Cerchio: When you import as Mimic you lose your waypoints...but then you can apply some Smoothing on the Cartesian Graphics curves.
[22/10/2022] Gordon Eschke: you may also want to review this write up https://talk.mrmoco.com/t/mimic-tracker-ios-app-read-me-first/651
[22/10/2022] Josh Becker: Also in the tracker app, you can switch from 60fps mode to Keyframe mode (upper right corner). 60fps samples the iPhone's motion at 60fps but in Keyframe mode it only saves the iPhone motion at the moment you tap to mark the next Keyframe. I've also found the iPhone pro's LiDAR sensor does a great job of identifying the floor, table surfaces, etc

Official Documentation

MRMC Forum — Mimic Tracker iOS App: Read Me First