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Using a mask with hair…any advise?
Hey all,
Im working on a small project where I need to add a furry animal to my main composition footage. The issue is is that the animal was not filmed infront of a green screen, so I have to mask it in. The problem is the hair and trying to get the mask to work correctly. I know this is a difficult thing to mask but I was wondering if anyone has worked on something like this and might have any ideas. It only last for a couple of seconds.One idea I had was to place the animal in the footage, then duplicate just the outline of the hair’s mask, that way the feathered regions are overlapped, enhancing the fine hair’s visibility.
I know I could probably spend days masking each and every tiny hair follicle or make a rough mask with enough feather, but I figured Id toss the idea out here and see if anyone has taken on a task similar to this.
Thanks in advance!-Aaron-
“Wherever you go, there you are” -
4 Replies
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can you make a ‘clean plate’: is it a locked off shot, and do you have the same shot with furry animal ?
If not, can you create a clean plate by combinig pieces of different frames where the animal moves a bit left or right ?
You can make a difference matte, and that’s a great basis to define the edge, combined with masking.
if not:
save yourself a lot of trouble and organise a reshoot with a greenscreen (and a cameraman/dop who knows what he’s doing)
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[Filip Vandueren] “You can make a difference matte, and that’s a great basis to define the edge, combined with masking.”
A difference matte? Im a bit foggy on the terminology. Is it where you take the mask and edit the hue/saturation so its black?
-Aaron-
“Wherever you go, there you are” -
I just did something very similar with a ‘furry animal’ (toy cat!) and after asking why the producer didn’t use a green screen, I shrugged my shoulders and began a 5hr roto job! Turns out they didn’t have a green screen big enough to hand (?!?)
Just put as many jagged points in as possible for fur to accentuate and feather & contract the mask/masks until you get close enough..more often than not it doesn’t have to be perfect, as long as it looks convincing on your new background. As Filip said, if it is to be put on the same background as shot, but just separated in someway for treament, then you have to be more accurate, depending on the treatment. If it’s just some colour correction usually a fairly tight feathered mask will do the job. Otherwise, if it’s locked off try doing what Filip suggested.
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Yea, I figured Id have to do something like that. Welp, atleast you gave me some encouragement. Thanks for the tips.
-Aaron-
“Wherever you go, there you are”
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