Distort Only Parts Of A Clip

[Joshua Jackson]

Hello…
I’m going to assume this isn’t possible, but the Distort effect seems to affect the entire clip.
I’m wanting to add points so that I can distort only certain parts of a clip.

Specifically, I’m trying to open a book and show video inside the book.
As the book opens, you see different amounts of the video and the video should be skewed in different fashions.
The only way that I’ve been able to do it, thusfar, is by adding the clip three times and masking out each section.
Then I distort each section, individually.
That is a lot of work and it would seem quite easy, if I could just add points and only distort between points.

It would be fine to work in Motion, although Final Cut is the preference.
I’m building a workflow that someone else would be able to use and they use Final Cut.
I doubt they have any Motion experience.

Thanks for whatever help can be given…
JJ

[Doug Metz]

Do you have any screen shots of what you’re trying to do?

I’m not sure if you want to distort the full frame for a short duration of a longer clip, or if you’re wanting to distort a portion of the full raster (regardless of time).

Showing video inside a book – does the video span both facing pages, or is it just on one of the two facing pages?

It sounds like you’d want sort of a ‘page turn’ effect with a drop zone, but I can’t picture what finished looks like, given the description.

[Joshua Jackson]

I had to make this in Photoshop.
I tried doing what I want in Vegas Pro, Davinci Resolve, and Premiere.
Oddly enough, it was easiest in Final Cut Pro.
I had to duplicate and mask the clips, but at least I was able to do it.
It was way more difficult in the other NLEs.

Ironically, I assumed that Photoshop would let me do exactly what I wanted.
That didn’t seem to be the case, though.
I still had to chunk the picture into multiple layers and distort each one.

JJ

[Eric Santiago]

Did you want that movie frame in a folding book?

AE would have been an easier experience.

[Joshua Jackson]

Yes, the book opens to show the video.
The video is playing, while the book is being opened.
It would then zoom in so the video is fullscreen.

The intention is to use Final Cut with a potential of Motion.
That’s the software that we have and use.
Keep in mind that I’m not the one that’s going to be doing this.
I’m just trying to create a workflow that is easy to reproduce.

The goal is for the video to be distorted with the book, so that the video conforms to the pages.
The current scenario is to just have the flat, fullscreen, video showing through the pages.
I used a title as a pseudo-adjustment layer and created a mask that follows the pages of the book.
That adjustment layer is over the video, so that it doesn’t show outside of the book.
Our actual footage is keyed, so that we can have a background image and then the video inside the book.
It works, but the video doesn’t look like it’s actually on the pages.
Most people probably wouldn’t notice, but those of us that think like editors would notice it and wish it was the other way.
JJ

[Ben Balser]

I’d use mO2 in Motion. Two primitives for the book back and front, each in its own Group, animate the each Group, apply necessary textures.

Then two flat primitives the same way (and in the same respective Groups), lined up to the book. Align a copy of the video to each primitive and align so they match in the middle. But still, it’s going to be flat the whole time.

I don’t think you’re going to get super high end results unless you go with creating this in Blender.

And no, you won’t get “curved” pages with only FCPX nor Motion stock by themselves.

[Joshua Jackson]

I’ll have to check out m02.
I’m unfamiliar with it.
It sounds like I’d still need to duplicate the footage and mask out each side (kind of like I did with the Photoshop example).

I was never intending to have the video bend with the pages, although that would be cool.
I just followed the curve of the pages with the mask.
JJ

[Ben Balser]

You may save time and money finding a template already coded to do what you want. MotionVFX would have one if anyone does.

[Joshua Jackson]

If we were looking for something stock, sure.
The problem is that we have some specific characters and the book opening is an over-the-shoulder shot with them.
I appreciate the advise, though.
I didn’t specify that information.
JJ

[Ben Balser]

Yeah, OTS shot, I’d be tempted to learn Blender… But, there is an mO2 users group on Facebook. I strongly urge you to join it and post there. Folks who are very mO2 experienced there may have some better advice.