Chris Smith
Forum Replies Created
-
Sure, Yikes. So you tried it on his clip and it worked out well?
I first figured this technique out when I was finishing a job. We had a shot with frosted glass that took up 1/2 the screen which would be the BG plate that we put ending graphics over. But me and the client hated these black flecks all over the glass that just wouldn’t come off on set. They asked if I could paint it out. The clone tool in AE 5 at the time was non-existant or not very easy to use. So I sat and panicked/thought of how I could exploit the darker black flecks and do some overall process because painting out about 40 flecks would have been a nightmare. That’s when I messed around with blurring the dup then using lighten. When I did that and they all “magically” disappeared without breaking out a single brush, I decided it was the coolest trick around 🙂
-
Good compositing is exploiting the diffences between what you want and what you don’t want (paraphrasing the great Matt Silverman when rotoing and matting out a Giraffe in the Commotion training tapes). What you don’t want is darker then what you do want. What exploits this is the built in math of the “Lighten mode”.
So without an exact tutorial, here is the basic steps to remove any one of the dots:
Draw a sloppy circle mask around a tracking dot. CUT and paste this mask to a new solid layer. Parent this solid layer to the null layer that has the original tracking data you had. Now the mask should ride along exactly on top of the tracking dot.
Dup the original tattoo video. Blur or Median this duplicate layer so the blur kills all the detail out and the color of the skin is the primary thing left over. Place this dup just above your normal footage layer. Place the solid layer with the mask just above this duplicate.
Now On the duplicate layer, set it’s track matte to ‘alpha track matte’. So now the alpha of the circle mask from the layer above it only allows a small chunk around the tracking dot to be blurred/medianed. It should look like a mini version of the show COPS where there is a skin colored blur over the tracking dot.
Now the magic part. Set the duplicate layer’s transfer mode from ‘normal’ to ‘lighten’. And now the image should look perfectly normal except there is no tracking dot. This is because the skin colored blur is lighter than the dark tracking marker from the original footage. So the lighten mode is doing the fine detail work for you. It’s basically saying “if the pixel below me is even slightly darker than the skin, then replace it with this skin colored duplicate”
-
Good compositing is exploiting the diffences between what you want and what you don’t want (paraphrasing the great Matt Silverman when rotoing and matting out a Giraffe in the Commotion training tapes). What you don’t want is darker then what you do want. What exploits this is the built in math of the “Lighten mode”.
So without an exact tutorial, here is the basic steps to remove any one of the dots:
Draw a sloppy circle mask around a tracking dot. CUT and paste this mask to a new solid layer. Parent this solid layer to the null layer that has the original tracking data you had. Now the mask should ride along exactly on top of the tracking dot.
Dup the original tattoo video. Blur or Median this duplicate layer so the blur kills all the detail out and the color of the skin is the primary thing left over. Place this dup just above your normal footage layer. Place the solid layer with the mask just above this duplicate.
Now On the duplicate layer, set it’s track matte to ‘alpha track matte’. So now the alpha of the circle mask from the layer above it only allows a small chunk around the tracking dot to be blurred/medianed. It should look like a mini version of the show COPS where there is a skin colored blur over the tracking dot.
Now the magic part. Set the duplicate layer’s transfer mode from ‘normal’ to ‘lighten’. And now the image should look perfectly normal except there is no tracking dot. This is because the skin colored blur is lighter than the dark tracking marker from the original footage. So the lighten mode is doing the fine detail work for you. It’s basically saying “if the pixel below me is even slightly darker than the skin, then replace it with this skin colored duplicate”
-
It’s a common misconception that 24fps is some magic framerate that “looks more film like”. Shooting a video camera progressive instead of interlaced is really the magic part. 30 interlaced is really 60 new images a second and that’s what gives a harsh video motion. But a secret is, is that film cameras for things shot for TV only (Music vids and commercials) are often shot at 30fps. Depends on money really. If there isn’t much post effects, but there is a lot of footage being shot, then we’ll shoot 24fps to save film stock. If we aren’t shooting a ton but there will be a decent amount of effects, then we shoot 30fps. But if you’re shooting a video camera where tape is cheap, to me shooting 30p is a no brainer. If you’re shooting a short/feature film going to festivals, then by all means shoot and edit in 24.
-
If you’re outputting to video and not a projected film in theaters, why are you shooting 24p then? 30p would be a hell of a lot easier than dealing with pulldown removal and you won’t see a difference. On my reel is a mixture of stuff shot at 24 and 30 fps and nobody can tell the difference (unless they went frame by frame looking for a pulldown).
24p isn’t going to look any more “film like” than 30p. It will just be a major hassle to do effects with.
Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com -
Another awsome tutorial. I love this Mograph series. Great work Mylenium.
Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com -
Search the archives for “kid stays picture”. This has been discussed many, many times in the last few years since the films been out. There is a wealth of knowledge waiting for you in the “Search Posts” option to the left <-- Chris Smith https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com
-
Ah, now we’re getting somewhere. Just so you know when ppl talk about masks here they are refering to AE Masks, and “unmasking” is often the term for using AE masks to reveal images from underneath giving the illusion that those images were drawn on. If you want a detailed answer, you should always give a detailed question.
I only saw MI 1, but from what I remember without seeing it agin, it was just prosthetics. It was mostly the power of the cut. Cutting between one actor and Tom Cruise quickly removing a prosthetic mask that looked almost identical to that previous person. But without seeing it, hard to tell.
1. How to key out the person’s face: Use Keylight in AE (or any other keyer).
2. The real problem with putting a shot of another persons face in isn’t the keying or any roto you may have to do, it’s the very complex deformations needed to make a flat image take on a rubber like quality to give the illusion that it’s a mask. If you just key a mask and stick in a face in that hole in the alpha channel, it won’t look at all like a mask, it will just look like a hole over someone’s face filled with a flat image. You can try deforming the replacement image with Mesh Warp, but I don’t predict a good result.
I would stick with the most powerful thing you have in any film: The cut. As they say “Never Express what you can imply”. So get a rubber halloween mask that looks at least in the ballpark of the previous person. Shoot the previous person, pretending like they are going to rip their own face off with a big demonstrative move with their elbow high up in the air blocking most of their face. Shoot this in a wide shot. Now punch in to a close up and have your replacement person match the arm move except they actually rip off the halloween mask. Have both actors do it nice and quick. You can also buy some cheap prostshetic material and make a small flap on the previous person’s neck so you can see them start to rip something off their own neck. Then edit between the two at the right point and you should have a good sequence.
Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com -
One who defecates,
Do you have a link to what you’re talking about?
Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com -
[DHenion] “So in general do you just track and not really worry about lens correction unless it seems to be causing problems?”
That’s what I’ve done. Haven’t had to compenaste for distortion yet.
Chris Smith
https://www.sugarfilmproduction.com