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Tracker
Free Video Analysis and Modeling Tool for Physics Education

New autotracker! Tracker version 3.10

Tracker now includes an autotracker that tracks point masses automatically, a dynamic two-body system that models interacting particles, a memory manager to increase memory for large files, an improved video player and toolbar, and more!

Most popular downloads: tracker.jar, Tracker.exe for Windows, printable pdf help.

Video modeling is a powerful new way to combine videos with computer modeling--and only Tracker can do it! For more information see Particle Model Help or my AAPT Summer Meeting posters Video Modeling (2008) and Video Modeling with Tracker (2009). If you're new to Tracker, see Help Getting Started for a step-by step beginner's guide.

Tracker dynamic models: predicting where to aim to hit a monkey falling with a parachute.

Tracker is a free video analysis and modeling tool built on the Open Source Physics (OSP) Java framework. It is designed to be used in introductory physics courses.

Features include:

  1. Object tracking with position, velocity and acceleration overlays and data.
  2. Autotracking for accurate tracking without the mouse.
  3. Video modeling with dynamic particle overlays and data, including two-body systems.
  4. Center of mass tracking with overlays and data.
  5. Rotational motion data includes theta, omega and alpha.
  6. Interactive graphical vectors and vector sums.
  7. Line profiles for RGB analysis of spectra and interference at any angle
  8. RGB regions for time analysis of RGB data
  9. Flexible video calibration options.
  10. Multiple reference frame views of collisions and other motions.
  11. Video filters, including brightness/contrast, ghost trails, and deinterlacing.
  12. User-defined constants and variables for plotting and analysis.
  13. Data analysis tool with powerful automatic and manual curve fitting.
  14. Full undo/redo with multiple steps.
  15. Video converter for converting edited/filtered videos to mov, gif, jpg or png formats
  16. Video exporter tool for recording videos with track overlays.
  17. Copy and print images of any view for use in labs and other documents.
  18. Paste web or other images directly into Tracker for analysis, save if desired.
  19. Helpful hints for new and occasional users.
  20. Drag-n-drop trk and video files to open.

If you are a physics instructor or student, I hope you will use Tracker in your physics course. I would appreciate your help identifying bugs and unexpected behavior as well as your feedback on how well Tracker is helping you teach or learn physics. I welcome suggestions!

Tracker is a project of

and proud to be hosted by
Getting and Using Tracker
Note: Tracker needs Java 1.5 and QuickTime 7. Tracker runs under Windows, Mac and Linux OS. (Linux users: click here for special instructions.)

Supported languages: english, español, français, italiano, dansk, deutsch, indonesian, chinese, portuguese. Interested in translating to another language? Please contact me!

  1. Web Start Tracker
    Use to analyze or model your own video experiments.
    (Note: Since Tracker needs access to your local file system to save and load videos and data, it will request permission and offer a personal digital signature from me, Doug Brown. Granting permission is like downloading Tracker to your hard drive and then launching it locally--only easier!)
  2. Download Tracker
    File size 2.9 MB. Download and double-click tracker.jar to start a local copy of Tracker. Use anywhere to analyze your own video experiments. Another option for Windows users: Tracker.exe. (But note: Tracker.exe may not work correctly on Windows 7.)
  3. Online Help
    Complete help for Tracker.
  4. PDF Help
    Download and print this pdf file for distribution or reference. Also available: pdf help in espanol and     portuguese.
  5. Web Start sample video experiments
    This collection of sample Tracker video experiments start directly from the web. For even more samples, including video modeling experiments, download and double-click the tracker_sampler.jar file described below.
  6. Download sample video experiments
    File size 7.6 MB. Download and double-click tracker_sampler.jar to browse through sample Tracker video experiments using an OSP Launcher.
  7. Download mechanics videos
    File size 7.3 MB. There are many additional mechanics videos here that are not analyzed in the sample experiments.
  8. Download spectroscopy videos
    File size 0.6 MB. There are many additional spectroscopy videos here that are not analyzed in the sample experiments.

AAPT Summer Meeting Presentations

For Developers

  1. OSP Media Java Tutorial (2004)
  2. Tracker Java Tutorial (2004)
  3. Tracker 3.0 Javadocs online or download (2009/12/01)
  4. Tracker 3.0 Source Code (2009/12/01)
  5. Tracker 3.0 Eclipse workspace (2009/12/01)

Previous Versions

  1. Tracker 3.00 jar or exe

Copyright (c) 2010 Douglas Brown

Tracker is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License.

Tracker is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.