How to Use Motion Tracking in PowerDirector

Make text, a sticker, or a blur follow something as it moves through the shot.

Updated Aug. 21, 2026 · 5 min read

Motion tracking follows something moving in your footage and hands its path to whatever you attach. That covers two jobs people usually arrive with: a name or a sticker that stays stuck to someone as they walk across frame, and a blur that stays on a face or a number plate. Both use the same tracker, set up in two different places.

⚡ Quick Answer: Track an Object in 4 Steps

Put the video on the timeline and the text, sticker or clip on a track below it, then size and place it.
Select the lower clip, click Edit, and open the Tracking tab.
Tick Apply motion tracking, then drag the yellow box around the thing you want followed.
Click Track and let PowerDirector analyze the movement.

Steps to Track an Object

Prefer to watch? Here's the whole thing in a five minute video, or follow the written sections below.

Step 1: Set the Two Clips Up

Motion tracking always involves two things: the footage with the movement in it, and the element that is going to follow. Put the video on the timeline first, then put the text, sticker, or clip on a track below it, which is what makes it appear on top in the preview. Size and position it now, while it is still standing still.

A sticker placed on a lower track and sized over the main video clip — Get the size and position right before anything moves.

Step 2: Track a Sticker, Title, or Clip

Select the clip on the lower track, the one doing the following, not the footage. Click Edit, then open the Tracking tab.

The lower-track clip selected on the PowerDirector timeline — Select the element that will follow, not the footage.

The Tracking tab in the PowerDirector Edit panel — Tracking sits alongside the other Edit tabs.

Tick Apply motion tracking and a yellow box appears in the preview. Drag and resize it so it surrounds the thing you want followed, then click Track. PowerDirector works through the clip and, when it is done, your element travels with the target.

The yellow tracking box dragged around the object to be followed — Enclose the target, then click Track.

Tracking starts at the playhead, not at the start of the clip. It runs from wherever the playhead is sitting to the end of the selected clip, so park it where you want the following to begin before you click Track. Got it wrong, or changed the size afterwards? Adjust and click Track again to redo the analysis.

The playhead position marking where motion tracking will start — The playhead decides where the tracking starts.

You can run more than one at a time. Add another element, size and place it, and repeat the same steps on it; each carries its own track, so two names can follow two people through the same shot.

Two tracked elements following two different objects in the same frame — Each element gets its own track.

Step 3: Keep the Distance or the Size in Step

Two tick boxes in the Tracking panel decide how faithfully the element copies the target. Adjust distance with tracked object keeps the gap between them constant, so a label stays the same distance from a shoulder rather than sliding around it. Adjust size with tracked object scales the element as the target grows or shrinks, which is what you want when someone walks towards the camera and a fixed-size label would end up looking wrong.

The same shot with Adjust size with tracked object ticked and unticked, side by side — With and without size matching, on the same shot.

Step 4: Track a Blur Onto a Face

Hiding a face or a number plate uses the same tracker, but it is set up inside the effect rather than on a clip. Open Effects, find the effect you want, and drag it onto the clip. Then open its settings, either from the shortcut button above the timeline or the i icon at the bottom left of the clip.

In Effect mask, choose the rectangular or circular mask and size it over the face. This part is not optional in the way it looks.

No mask, no Tracking option. The tracking controls only appear in the panel once a mask is selected. If you cannot find them, that is why.

The rectangular and circular mask options in the Effect mask section — Pick a mask first, or the tracking controls stay hidden.

The Apply motion tracking checkbox at the bottom of the effect settings panel — Apply motion tracking appears below the mask.

From there it is the routine you already know: tick Apply motion tracking, enclose the face in the yellow box, and click Track.

The yellow tracking box enclosing a face before tracking a blur onto it — Same yellow box, same Track button.

Two faces in the shot means two effects. Add a second copy of the effect to the same clip, select the new one in the list on the left, and set its mask and tracking up separately. The first one's tracking is kept, so they stack rather than overwrite.

Two separately tracked blur effects on two faces in the same clip — One effect per face, each with its own track.

Haven't got PowerDirector yet? Motion tracking is the difference between a blur that follows a face and one that sits still while the face leaves.

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FAQ About Motion Tracking

1. The Tracking option isn't showing up on my effect. Where is it?

Select a mask first. In the effect's settings, the tracking controls only appear once you have chosen the rectangular or circular Effect mask, because there is nothing to move around until then.

2. Can I use motion tracking with any effect?

Nearly. Every video effect supports it apart from Face Blur and Body Effect, which run their own detection and do not need a tracker pointed at anything. For everything else, drag it on, pick a mask, and track.

3. My tracking starts in the wrong place. How do I fix it?

Tracking runs from the playhead to the end of the clip, so it began wherever the playhead happened to be. Move the playhead to the right moment, then click Track again to redo the analysis from there. The same button also picks up any change you make to the element's size or position.