Troubleshooting

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Quick checks for install, wiring, solving, clean plate and GPU problems.

Try This First

Go to Edit > Preferences > Add-ons > Dope Track and press Run Diagnostics.

It takes about a minute, tests the GPU, the bundled libraries and every solver, then writes a report to your Desktop naming whatever failed. Most of the questions below get answered faster by that report than by guessing.

A Node Won't Take My Footage

Sockets only connect to matching types, and most heavy nodes want Image Sequence rather than Video.

Footage -> Convert Footage -> Import as Footage -> Auto Track

Quick trick: drag from the socket and let go over empty space. The search list only offers nodes that can actually connect, so the right route becomes obvious.

This Node Has No Output Socket

That's on purpose for Convert Footage, Lens Distortion and Stabilize. They write frames to disk, then give you an Import as Footage button that makes a Footage node pointing at them. Carry on from that node.

The Solve Fails Or Drifts

  • Something's moving in frame. Mask it with AI Mask into Auto Track: Mask Frames.
  • The camera doesn't move. No parallax means no depth to solve. Use Tripod Track.
  • Motion blur or flat, featureless footage. Not much for the solver to lock onto. A faster shutter at the shoot is the real fix.
  • Very short clip. Few frames, little to work with.

After a solve, Refine Cloud throws out high-error points, and Enhance Auto Track lets hand-placed markers prop up a weak result.

CUDA Or GPU Not Available

  1. Check the Use GPU toggle in the node editor sidebar, Device panel.
  2. Check that same panel actually names your GPU and driver.
  3. Update your NVIDIA driver.
  4. Run diagnostics. It tests CUDA with real operations and says what failed.

Solving still works on the CPU. Densify and AI masking are too slow to be practical without a GPU.

GPU Work Is Slower Than It Should Be

If the machine has two cards, check the GPU dropdown in the Device panel. On Automatic the work goes to whichever card the driver enumerates first, and that's often the display adapter rather than the fast one. Pick the card you meant by name.

Only one card is used. The work isn't split, so there's nothing to gain from a second card beyond choosing the better of the two.

Out Of Memory During Densify

Densify is the heaviest thing in the add-on.

  • Run Refine Cloud first to cut the point count down
  • Convert your footage at a smaller resolution and solve from that
  • Close other GPU-heavy applications
  • Below 6 GB of VRAM, expect trouble on big shots

Clean Plate Clones Black

The projection only makes pixels where a ray from the dirty frame's camera hits your geometry and lands inside the reference frame. Black means one of:

  • Your geometry doesn't cover that part of frame. Extend it.
  • The camera solve isn't accurate there.
  • The reference frame never saw that area.

Clean Plate Save Is Slow

That's expected. Painting previews at whatever ST Map Scale you set, but the final save replays every stroke at full quality. Work at a low scale and raise it just before saving.

The selected marker and the constraints panel have to be on the same clip. Also check the mesh is in Edit Mode with something selected.

The Clip Editor needs an active mask, so switch to Mask mode and create or pick one. You also need a camera and a mesh chosen in the panel. Curves and surfaces don't work, so convert them to a mesh first.

If the shape links but lands in the wrong place, your geometry isn't lined up with the plate. Unlink, fix the geometry against the reference frame, then link again.

Converted Frames Start At A Weird Number

Some exports bake timecode into the filenames. A DaVinci render might start at frame 86400, which drops the imported clip miles off your timeline. Convert Footage renumbers from 1 by default. If you need the original numbers, turn on Preserve Start Frame.

EXR Frames Come Out Black As PNG

Fixed in current builds. If you're seeing it, you're on an older version. Check for updates in Preferences.

While you're there: converting EXR to PNG or JPEG also offers a View Transform. Standard gives a neutral sRGB encode, which is what you want for tracking. AgX and Filmic match what you see in Blender's viewport.

The Add-On Doesn't Show Up After Installing

  • Check you're on Blender 5.1 or newer. Older versions can't load the bundled programs.
  • Give it a few minutes. The ZIP is around 1.9 GB and takes a while to unpack.
  • Look in Edit > Preferences > Get Extensions and make sure it's enabled.
  • Restart Blender.