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Tracker
Free Video Analysis and Modeling Tool for Physics Education

Now available: Tracker version 2.71

Latest new feature: polar dynamic particle model.

Popular downloads: printable help, Tracker.exe for Windows.

Video modeling is a powerful new way to combine videos with computer modeling--and only Tracker can do it! For more information on video modeling, see Particle Model Help or my AAPT 2008 Summer Meeting poster Video Modeling. 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 college physics labs and lectures.

Features include:

  1. Object tracking with position, velocity and acceleration overlays and data.
  2. Video modeling with dynamic particle overlays and data.
  3. Center of mass tracking with overlays and data.
  4. Rotational motion data includes theta, omega and alpha.
  5. Interactive graphical vectors and vector sums.
  6. Line profiles for RGB analysis of spectra and interference at any angle
  7. RGB regions for time analysis of RGB data
  8. Flexible video calibration options.
  9. Multiple reference frame views of collisions and other motions.
  10. Video filters, including brightness/contrast, ghost trails, and deinterlacing.
  11. User-defined constants and variables for plotting and analysis.
  12. Data analysis tool with powerful automatic and manual curve fitting.
  13. Full undo/redo with multiple steps.
  14. Video converter for converting edited/filtered videos to mov, gif, jpg or png formats
  15. Video exporter tool for recording videos with track overlays.
  16. Copy and print images of any view for use in labs and other documents.
  17. Paste web or other images directly into Tracker for analysis, save if desired.
  18. Helpful hints for new and occasional users.
  19. 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, espanol, francais, 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 2.8 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.
  3. Online Help
    Complete help for Tracker. Now available: a printable pdf version and a     portuguese pdf version.
  4. Web Start sample video experiments
    Check out this collection of sample Tracker video analysis experiments that start directly from the web. For samples of video modeling experiments, download and double-click the tracker_sampler.jar file described below.
  5. 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.
  6. Download mechanics videos
    File size 7.3 MB. There are many additional mechanics videos here that are not analyzed in the sample experiments.
  7. 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

Copyright (c) 2009 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.