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Manual Tracking — Tagging Shots Yourself

Our recommended two-pass workflow for tagging by hand: time the shots first, then classify them.

What manual tracking is

Manual tracking is when you tag the shots yourself in the editor, instead of sending the whole match for automatic tracking. It gives you full control over the data, and it has a nice side benefit: because you've supplied the shot timings, you can hand off the rest and we'll finish the match for about half the cost. See Tracking and Tokens for how that pricing works.

Our recommended workflow

We tag matches in two passes — time the shots first, then classify them. Doing one job at a time is faster and more accurate than trying to do everything in a single pass.

Pass 1 — Time the shots

Play the video and tap a player key at the exact moment the racket meets the shuttle. By default, X tags a shot for player 1 and Z tags a shot for player 2 on whichever side is active. Each tap drops a shot at that moment — don't worry about what kind of shot it is yet.

Sample data

Demo Clip — Momota vs An Se Young

singles

Back to projects
Tracking Back to setup Mark for review Saved
StartXZtag shot 1 / 2SideSDFATH / BH / FHFamilyQPDirectionJKLstraight / mid / crossTeamA?
0:00 / 0:15

Shot

Press play — tagged shots appear here as the rally unfolds.

New rally Add multiple Game divider Score1 rally · 0 shots
0:00
0:02
0:04
0:06
0:08
0:10
0:12
0:14
Side A
XA1 Kento Momota
Side B
XB1 An Se Young
Alternation: on
Side·Striker·Striking·Family·Directionpress X inside a rally to start tagging
Keyboard & mouse shortcuts
  • Space — play / pause
  • / — step 1 frame
  • X / Z — tag a shot for player 1 / 2
  • Click ruler — seek
Sample data — the Match Tracker editor. As the clip plays, each shuttle contact tags a shot: the key lights up, the cascade fills in, and a keyframe drops on the timeline.

With alternation on, the active side flips automatically after each shot, so you mostly just alternate between your keys as the rally goes back and forth. You can switch sides by hand whenever you need to, and you can rebind these keys if the defaults don't suit you.

The goal of this pass is simple: land a marker right on each shuttle contact, for the right player. Aim for the moment of contact, not the start of the swing or where the shuttle lands.

Pass 2 — Classify the shots

Once your timings are in, go back through the rally and fill in what each shot actually was. For each shot you'll set the striking side, the family (the broad type of shot), the variant, and the direction. The keyboard moves you through these quickly, and you can set up presets to bundle several of them under a single key.

Tips

  • Timing first, classifying second keeps you focused — one decision at a time.
  • If a rally is fast or messy, watch it once before you tag it.
  • Keep your eyes on the contact point and let alternation handle the sides for you.
  • Don't want to classify at all? Tag just the timings and hand the match off — we'll fill in the rest for about half the cost.

Related guides

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Manual Tracking — Tagging Shots Yourself