Rotoscoping

[Kurt Murphy]

You could do it a few ways. One way is to mask him with the pen tool in After Effects (very time consuming) for each frame. Or you could export the 30 frames and cut each one out in Photoshop (very time consuming), but I feel that this way would offer much more control… Number them 00 – 30 and inport then back into After Effects.

Hope this helps,

kurt

[Ryan777]

Thanks Kurt,

I think I would prefer to go he Photoshop route. But how would I go about exporting each frame by itself, and in which format should I use so that I could open it in Photoshop. Secondly, when done cutting it out in Photoshop, would I save each frame by itself as a psd and then import them into after effects?

Thanks again for your time and help,

Ryan

[Tony Kloiber]

Media Convergence Confusion (echo echo echo).

Why would a MoGraph/Vfx artist want to work in a still photography app?

If want to do it the long way go a head, but you might get by with having to draw around the person as little as 3 to 4 times in AE using a mask and animating it over TIME (echo echo echo).

Best Regards,

TonyTony

[Devin Uzan]

I agree with Tony. Using Photoshop for this is more time consuming and will look worse and/or bad. You simply do not have the frame by frame control in Photoshop which will reult in a flickering and obvious edge.

[Erik Pontius]

I’d vote for animating a mask in AE. Outline your talent once on the first frame with the pen tool, then flip the keyframe switch on for the mask you create…move to the next frame (page down) and use the arrow and pen tools to nudge around the points or add new points to your mask. No need to create a whole new mask for every frame.

The PNG format is a favorite for exporting single frames and graphics back and forth from AE to PS (or other apps) since they it support an alpha channel.

Erik

[Aronduby]

I’ve done both exporting to PS and animating a mask, both take alot of time, but I definetly perfer animating the mask.

Something that has worked well for me in the past is starting the intial shape keyframe at the first frame and doing the mask there, and then moving to the last frame and move the points around there, and then go half way between those and do it again. Then repeat moving the points around inbetween all of the keyframes. If there’s not a whole lot of motion going on in the shoot you can save alot of work and let the interpolation do its thing.

I’ve had some luck with that method masking people talking with hand gestures, but it didn’t work well with people dancing. I think it helps with some of the monotony of the work.

[Steve Roberts]

You should first study the motion. Set your keys where the points of a shape are at an extreme: where the shape is longest, shortest, smallest, biggest, or when points are farthest out, or farthest in, or when the direction of a motion changes — basically, make mask shape keys at points of inflection. This way, AE can interpolate the positions of the mask points in the most efficient fashion. Those points may not be on every frame, and they may not be at half/quarter/eighth the length of the animation, or at every 5 or 10 frames. They are where they are, based on the motion of the subject.

Also, study the motion to see if some things do not change shape: these can be masked separately and may not need to be animated with as many keys.

Of course, if the shape changes in a random, organic fashion (like a flowing cloak), you may have to set mask shape keys at every frame.

Remember also, that AE’s mask points travel in straight lines between keyframes. Smart Mask Interpolation creates more keyframes in often more intelligent and curve-like places, but the path between keyframes is still a straight line. But if the keys are close together, that may not matter. But Smart mask Interpolation may be a bad idea for roto. Too much of a gamble.