Moving masks 7.0 standard?

D

dstevens

Well-known member
Hi-
I've got footage of someone dancing, and I want to take out the background and put in a different one.

right now I created a closed mask, and using keyframes to follow the shape of the dancer. The dancer moves a lot obviously, so it's proving a tedious task.

I'm using AE 7.0 standard. Kinda dumb question, but is there quicker way to accomplish this?

Sorta silly to ask, it's just another job with a fairly tight deadline, and I'm getting a crash course in AE by doing it.

If I upgraded to AE 7 professional, would motion tracking make it easier?

appreciate any thoughts.....
 
You probably picked the hardest thing to roto, and, unfortunately, you have no other choice. Motion tracking isn't going to help because it won't change the shape of the mask.

Have fun :thumbsup:, I'm in the same boat now, except no real deadline.
 
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oneinfiniteloop said:
You probably picked the hardest thing to roto, and, unfortunately, you have no other choice. Motion tracking isn't going to help because it won't change the shape of the mask.

Have fun :thumbsups:, I'm in the same boat now, except no real deadline.
Click to expand...



What he said.

Also, adding a small amount of feather (1-3 pixels) will help it to blend in with wheatever background you choose. Or, you can use the mask to gernerate a lightwrap, but that's a little advanced. Cool effect though.


ps. Roto'ing is a hell of pain. I feel for you. Let's all hope the dancing is TOO rowdy, and you don't need that long of a clip.
 
Ahh, well, had to ask.

It's under a minute, but moving those little buggers around sure takes a awhile.

It's something to work at for awhile then realize you've done 2 seconds and 4 frames!

Is there other software that does job a little easier, or is that just the way it is, no matter what you use? I guess it's hard for the software to realize, 'Oh, the dancer is what you want'.

We might be able to reshoot against some solid color frabric, then key out the whole background. But I might finish the clip I have, I've never done roto, it's probably something I'll have to do more of.
 
Well, here are some hints and catches you might want to know about. First, if you reshoot against a solid fabric you have to make sure it's a chroma color, or a solid color that doesn't exist in the dancer. That way those colors don't get keyed out.

Here are some useful tips for roto work. First, use multiple masks. Try to keep the number of vertices in each mask under or around 12. This will make it a lot easier and smoother. There are a few preferences you want to check off first. One is to keep a constant number of vertices. This will prevent you from adding new point to a mask. I went through about 40 frames without this on and kept adding new points, by the time I previewed it was swimming all over the place and I had to scratch it. That brings me to my next tip, PREVIEW OFTEN!!! This is very important, I'm sure you can figure out why. Also, the other preference you want to make sure is on is the alternating mask colors, that way all the your masks aren't the same color. Makes is easier to find things.

For other software, I've played with the demo of Silohuette Roto, which is a plug for AE and it seemed pretty adept at handling serious roto tasks. I would have explored it more, but I've been doing a lot of my roto work in Shake. I find it to be much more user friendly when doing roto work, and there are a lot of things you can do in it that you can't in AE. In the end, the tools are just that, tools. It's up to you to create the best work.
 
If there is a lot of movement you can also use Vector paint. Set it to to "current frame" and "over original." Paint over the area you want to roto. When your done change "over original" to "as matte." This will remove the background completely leaving just your subject.

I use a medium to small size brush to quickly outline my subject...then switch to a big brush to fill it in. You can use the erase tool to remove any overspill.
 
Sacksnack said:
If there is a lot of movement you can also use Vector paint. Set it to to "current frame" and "over original." Paint over the area you want to roto. When your done change "over original" to "as matte." This will remove the background completely leaving just your subject.

I use a medium to small size brush to quickly outline my subject...then switch to a big brush to fill it in. You can use the erase tool to remove any overspill.
Click to expand...

yes I would use vector paint too. + some other tips. listen music while doing this. take several short breaks.
 
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