Shadow Removal

[Rousselos Aravantinos]

Hey i think this can be treated easily.
Mocha would def. help u, but AE even without any 3rd party app.
can deliver ur shot.
You have to paint some frames (in photoshop )
to recover some hair edges for sec 6-7.
Now if i got ur plot..i think u don’t have to remove the shadow of this scary hand.
However if u have to, just take a clean frame from this clip
(prob when door is closed )
mask it, make it 3d, animate it on Y and try to match move the original shot.. for the opening/closing door.

u have plenty of “Healthy” previous / next frames to work with.
Lighten for blending mode should also help.

good luck
S.

[Michele Poggi]

You’re suggesting to use a closed door frame.. Make it 3D and then animate it over the opening/closign of it to hide the girl’s shadow?

Really interesting tip indeed.. Thanks. 😉 I suggested to not make the light flicker to mask it but then I got troubled with the moving door (in the original clip there was a fake fire beside her).. I’ll definitely try what you said and indeed you got the plot, the scary hand does not have to be removed. My only doubt now is that.. Painting if photoshop and then using that frame.. Will it be noticeable once I comp it in 3D over the real one?

Thanks for the idea Steve, I’ll surely update you in the next days.

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[Rousselos Aravantinos]

I think that if you have mocha maybe u should try the remove module too, pull the trigger.. nothing to loose.
But this shadow eliminates the rest texture of the door,
so tracking may return poor results.

A typical animation of 3d layers in AE i feel will return better results.
Regarding realism, try to smart denoise ur layer.
Make a precompose of this animated layer ( motion blur on )
and then match-grain it in final composition.

I think the only trickie part might be the hair fine edges you will have to separate and reveal!
try to use some previous hair edges. might be a nice sample.

cheers

[Michele Poggi]

Another strange problem is that the color space of Avid and A.E. never match, making this extremely complicated. Sadly I still have to understand how to use Mocha and I feel pretty much ignorant there. ;[

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[Michele Poggi]

I’m also finding serious problems to mask her. Somehow the Door’s color change during the clip even if in a minimal way, making very clear the mask that, actually, is kinda hard to blur without revealing the trick..

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[Rousselos Aravantinos]

hey,
i think you have to choose 601 color settings.
try to export a quicktime reference if you are using avid.
then you can export this mov file as a tiff / dpx uncompressed.
It is always safer to work with frames instead a video file.
If you feel hesitant using mocha, try option 1 1st
the one that involves the animated door still frame directly in AE.
utube/vimeo / imagineer = plenty of mocha tuts…its all about priorities and dead line for u i assume!

[Michele Poggi]

I’m starting to believe I misunderstood what you were suggesting me, uff.

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[Rousselos Aravantinos]

mask her in AE?
if u maksing her in AE..The 3d layer of the door still(precomposed)
that should be placed below, should be animated in color also so it will match with the original clip.
Just add color balance/ or levels / or curves …
and set a few keyframes .
For the part that her shadow blends with hair…photoshop is the solution .
u can also enable masks motion blur so it will blend nicer.

[Michele Poggi]

I will surely study mocha, Asap.
Now sadly I don’t have much time and I’m doing my very best to make this shot as good as it should. My first idea was to mask the Shadow itself using a freeze of the first frame of the closed door as background, but somehow the color mismatch.

Masking her is Impossible, she is blurred and her shadow of course isn’t removable my doing so, since feathering create mess. I’m unsure about what you meant by animating the Y in 3D. I thought to copy the texture of the closed door and rotating it in perspective as it was opening but I think it’s sucidial.. Geez.. It’s years that I make this and I feel so abruptly noob.

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[Rousselos Aravantinos]

hey hey…take it easy..
here my 2 methods I’d try for my self.

method 1: just uses only AE by animating a still frame of the door.
try to replicate the way this door opens in 3d space.
i think u found this approach interesting in your 2nd post.

method 2: try mochas tracker to support the doors animation,
and even the mochas remove module so u can deal with the moving shadow.
Now if u feel unready to work with mocha ( novice?) then if u do have the time..surf on imagineer /vimeo or utube to watch some very nice tuts about this module..

regarging export settings from avid..its just a matter of right or wrong settings while exporting a clip for 3rd party app. such as AE or mocha etc.

regarding masking / color matching in AE just add some color correction filters so u can match the color variations if there are some.

i dont think i can be more clear .
give it a try..and let us know