-
tracking texture and shapes to facial movements (probably using Mocha plug (2018 separate plug)
I’m applying makeup to a moving face. The face has been stabilized as much as possible, and never turns, so it’s as simplified as I can make it. Never done this before, but I have mocha (cc 2018, so not included).
There are shapes in the face paint, though, and I want them to move with the face and have a crackle texture so the paint looks cracked, and those cracks move with the face like they’re set in the paint. I’m assuming I should probably do this by creating the shapes as masks and tracking those shapes in Mocha. If so, applying simple color per shape should be straightforward enough, but I’d also like crackles in the paint that move with the face.
I’d guess that simple displacement mapping of the texture won’t work. If, for instance, there is a circle of a different color in the face, the crackles in that circle need to move with the shape as the face moves. Seems like this should be doable by tying the texture to the mask somehow.
Should I apply the crackle texture via displacement map on the first frame to match the contour of the face, then take that contoured version and apply the psr data from the shape being tracked on the shape so it stretches and moves with the shape? Apply psr first, and then displacement?
Am I missing a better or simpler way alltogether?
-
7 Replies
-
This is exactly what Mocha is designed for. But you can’t do it with a global planar track–you’ll need to do a separate track for each moving element that you’d like to track separately. For example, let’s say one for the whole cheek surface plus one for the top of the cheekbones; they will move differently, so it’ll be a different surface track for each one so that you get texture movement that matches that surface’s motion more locally.
As for order of color vs texture, you’re just going to have to mess with it. I would put money on the best way being to precompose the color with the texture, with the crackle texture on the top layer of the precomp using blending modes and opacity to find a realistic balance. Once you figure out your preset for the first one, apply the same setup to each section.
-
Hmmm. OK. Sounds about like what I’ve gathered from some tuts, but none of them have dealt with the texture part, so still not sure how to get the texture to warp to match the mask.
Also, not quite clear on best sequence to displace a shape to face and then track. For instance, if someone has a star painted on thier face, it will first be displaced to match their skull shape, and then tracked.
So, if I am doing that by drawing a star shaped mask in mocha, I need a skull warped star first to draw the mask. Should I just use the luminance values as a displacement mask to get the warped star shape, then trace it to create mask in Mocha, then let the star shaped mask track?
-
Your order of operations should go something like this:
1. Take your footage into Mocha and track it.
2. Export the results back into AE, and apply them to your shape graphic. This step will warp and move the shape to match the position and movement of the plane(s) you’ve tracked.
3. Now that the shape is moving with the face, use blending modes and any other compositing methods you like to blend it in with the skin. This might involve creating a B&W copy of the footage to use as a displacement map for textural blending. Or it might be as simple as finding the right blending mode. My experience is that blending modes can be quite useful for this sort of thing.
-
It’s not clear, are you using Mocha AE or Mocha Pro for these operations?
Mocha Pro has a built-in warp mesh for inserting if that helps.Martin Brennand | Product Manager | Mocha – Boris FX (Imagineer Systems)
-
Mocha Pro in AE 2018.
I’m applying a face paint shape that covers an area spanning from most of the forehead to part of the side across one eye and onto the cheek.
Fortunately, the actor isn’t moving much, but he’s talking fast and angrily, so there’s lots of face scrunching.
Basically, from a planar perspective, it’s organically sprawled across multiple planes.
So… should I be somehow tracking each area like forehead, top of cheek, temple side, etc separately, and somehow comping the shape together? Otherwise, the constant facial movement would indicate I’d need to constantly be (manually?) keyframing the warp.
Ultimately, I don’t want to apply it as an insert, but rather track the deformations of the shape and import it as an AE mask.
Similarly confused about the texture being applied as it moves differently on the cheek vs forehead, for instance, yet is one consistent texture. Is it best to apply a texture separately on multiple planes and feather or similar to create the illusion that they are contiguous?
-
Got it. Thx. I’ve watched literally dozens of tuts over the past day, and agree that I definitely want to output it as AE mask so I can use all the blending modes, etc. I’ve already done a mockup on a still with extensive layering that gets the exact look I’m after.
Issues now boil down to how to properly track texture and shape across multiple face planes as described in last post.
-
What you could do is track the various planes of the face then either link the control points together using the attach tool, or simply overlap them and use the resulting combined matte.
You can do this either by:
a) Exporting the shape data as AE splines then pre-comping them as a track matte on a solid
b) Use “View Matte” or “Apply matte” as a combined rendered matte for the distortion.But yes, for applying the texture you should probably user multiple tracked inserts and blend them together.
A single texture across multiple planes would be a lot more difficult without resorting to a mesh.Martin Brennand | Product Manager | Mocha – Boris FX (Imagineer Systems)
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up