Changing text on a street sign, help with AE.

J

JCVR

Well-known member
I'd like to go into my video and change the text on a street sign to read something like this. I have no problem using the stamp/text tool in photoshop to get the look that I want, but unless I do it frame by frame with a filmstrip file (which i don't want to do) i'm not sure how to do this in after effects. Any suggestions?
scene1.jpg


P.S at some point I may have to zoom outward from a sign like this, will it be difficult to get the text to shrink relative to the sign as I zoom out? thanks in advance.
 
It depends if the shot is locked down or moving. If your shot is locked down, all you need to do is add another layer with blocks of color that obscure the text on the signs and add your own text. Think of it as just like a photoshop layer that sits there while the clip plays below it.

If the shot is moving, that adds some complexity. If all you're doing is zooming out, you can just keyframe the size and position of your sign layer. You can also use some of the motion tracking and pinning options in AE.

http://www.digitalvideoediting.com/2002/03_mar/tutorials/aetracking.htm

Another approach for complex motion would be matchmoving which allows you to place an object into the three dimensional space of your scene.
 
The motion tracking tools built into AE6.5 are quite sophisticated and will do what you need. The first step is to perform a Perspective track on the four corners of the sign. Once you have those track points, you can apply them to another layer of the appropriate size. That rescaled layer (which uses the Corner Pin Effect to apply the track points) will magically follow the shape and size of the original sign.

Of course, having written all that, there are many points along the way where you will have to nudge and coerce and fudge things. No technology is perfect and, although tracking tools in AE are quite good, they will never be perfect.

Good luck,
Nathan Dickson
http://www.nathansbrain.com
http://www.dicksoncreative.net
 
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