Camera Tracking Question, help me please

[tfandango]

Guys im kind of desperate, my boss asked me to do create an animation using camera tracking. Im more of a modeling guy but the job was great and i wanted the experience, and i was handling everything in a smoothly but i dont know how do this. I wanted to present the scenario and id really appreciate some help. He wants me fuse a 3d animation with the footage of a structure. It is very much like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwsOs...eature=related
skip to 2:00, you dont need to watch the beginning of the video, my plan was to approach this in a similar way as the video, model the area with the new road and its close surroundings and then use an animated mask on after effects to make the new road appear on top of the existing footage, the thing is: how should i approach this? how can i camera track a moving camera through such a long video where everything is constantly changing all the time, i dont even know what should i track, the camera? the road? im really lost here, im sorry for bothering you with this i just want some light into this situation. I dont know how do approach this and how to model in a way so as to follow the video. should i use pftrack? pfmatchit?

[astroAJ]

It would be nice if u tell us what software ur using

Firstly ur going to need to know a bit about ur camera such as Focal length, film size etc.

Ur going to need to get ur self a 3D tracking program such as syntheyes, voodoo or blender. Then find some tuts on the net which will teach u how to use them.

Then import ur camera into the 3D software, the camera should have been matched up and u should have ur image plain in the background.

U then need to model the road and make sure it matches up with the environment, also create a plane to act as the ground, this will allow u to catch shadows and reflections.

Find shaders which will allow u to pick up shadows and reflections such as the "use background" or mental ray production shaders.

Finally render out in passes and composite.

If ur using Maya here is a tut
http://www.cgbootcamp.com/tutorials/...ith-video.html

U may not even need to do it in 3D, u might be able to get away with it in AE???

I've only done this twice so I'm sure there are better ppl out there that can help u

[needse]

i made a very basic tut using synth eyes a long time ago may help

remember this is very basic tut so don't tell me its **** lol but the theory's there

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfnfxFPST20

[tfandango]

Im using max ! guys, thx a lot im gonna look into all the possibilities, i was wondering if it was possible for me to use pftrack just because i heard this program can track and insert 3d objects on the 3 axis and insert them in to footages, but i doesnt make sense that plane or road would follow the footage, i just dont know, i have such little experience with this, anyway i feel more comfortable with your solution astro, import the camera, create the plane and the try to match my newly created model to the footage, that at least i can understand, thanks a lot guys im goona look into everything and return to this thread to tell what happened, if you somebody reads this and think they have a better solution please, post it here regardless, thx a lot guys cheers.