[Mike Clasby]

Maybe beenyweenies has more practical use with the Script, but I would try to make 3 to 4 smaller masks, say one for the head, one for the body, etc… so you have less vertices per mask. Then run the script for each mask separately.

Also, I know there was a bug in the earlier version of the script, where the script liked the layer with the script applied to it, to be on the top of the stack.

I think your mask has too many points.

You can ask the author of the script, here:

https://www.aenhancers.com/viewtopic.php?t=329

[Mike Clasby]

I always suspected you could do something like this in AE. I was thinking of doing a spoof of American Idol with AE, but didn’t have the chops. So, very inspiring stuff.

[Mike Clasby]

My sense of humor is lost on my therapist too.

I think you’d make a good therapist, but you have lots of patients there at Cow Headquarters, I’m sure.

You too have a good weekend. Thanks for a great site.

[Mike Clasby]

This might be a perfect candidate for… (drum roll… or preferably the theme from Fantasy Island)

Da Script… Da Script:

https://del.icio.us/escruz/Rotoscope

You still have to draw a mask around you anime girl, but theoretically only one time.

The Script will make trackpoints for each vertice in your mask, then move the vertices with the track points, so the roto will be as good as the track is good. In a quick test I made a mask with the Pen Tool and the Script gave me 19 Track Points. The tricky part is getting a good track with so many track points, so 1 frame at a time is probably best. Pick track points that will be around for the duration of the clip. This might involve breaking the clip into pieces. Also many folks mask a figure in sections, like a mask for the head, one for the body, one for an arm that moves during the animation. That makes it easier to change the mask without moving individual points all the time (maybe rotating the mask works). So maybe you’d want to use three or four masks for your roto on anime girl. The script can do that, one mask at a time.

After you have a mask drawn, here’s how to use the Script.

Download, then copy/move the jsx file RotAE.jsx to AE’s Script Folder, then open AE.

Select the layer with the Mask, File>Run Script>RotAE1.1.jsx . Then select the Mask again, and in the control panel that popped up, hit “Apply Tracker”, and you’ll have as many track points as you have mask vertices.

Run you Motion Track. The mask will be as good as the motion track so you may have to adjust points by frame like in Aharon’s tut (see below).

Now twirl down the layer, select the Tracker 1 (above the mask points) and also select the Mask, then up in the Script’s Control panel, click ” Apply Mask”. You should be good to go.

You can still move individual mask points if the track wasn’t great, or adjust the bezier handles as needed, as the script just set mask Shape keyframes at each frame.

Aharon’s tut on adjust a “Trackpoints Gone Wild”, about five minutes into this:

https://forums.creativecow.net/articles/rabinowitz_aharon/cartoon_look/Cartoon_Part_3/index.htm

Even with the script and a good track you’ll probably have to change a few of the curves between verticies by dragging the handles where needed.

There is no easy way to do what you want, but the Script might save time.

[Mike Clasby]

Since mussels are hermaphrodites, “mussel flashes” will shock camera operators of either gender, including cross gender camera operators. Even the unflappable observer, Alfred Kinsey, needed resuscitation after a seeking out “mussel flashes” for inclusion in his unpublished , Sexual Behavior in the Hermaphrodites (unpublished), following his landmark, Sexual Behavior in the Human Male (1948) and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953).

So probably a robo-cam is you only hope of capturing “mussel flashes” in HD.

Sorry again, gotta go contact my therapist.

[Mike Clasby]

OK… Now tell us how you really did it.

That was amazing.

Thanks.

[Mike Clasby]

Yikes! Bitten by the “I’m stuck in an AE6.5 world” again. Time to upgrade.

[Mike Clasby]

Well, this probably isn’t much help, but below are two keyboard short cuts to fit layers to the screen while preserving aspect ratio.

Stretch layer to fit horizontally, preserving frame aspect ratio

Ctrl + Alt + Shift + H

and to do the same, vertically

Stretch layer to fit vertically, preserving frame aspect ratio

Ctrl + Alt + Shift + G

So after a little trial and error you’d know what works with various footage. Whether to go horizontally or vertically. If that makes any sense.There should be a way to do this with expression, but that’s above my paygrade.

.

[Mike Clasby]

When at the beach last week I to experienced several “mussel flashes”. Usually they flash you individually, but a whole rock wall, covered with mussels, flashed me in unison… knidof in a wave really. In Hi-Res, it’s such a shocking event I dropped my camera, so I suggest a steady-cam of a harness rig for your 24p-hiRes Camera Operator, because if he’s never experienced multiple “mussel flashes” he won’t get the shot.

Sorry, I couldn’t resist.

[Mike Clasby]

Text that Blows away like Sand
https://library.creativecow.net/articles/eriksson_emanuel/sand.php

Trapcode Particular
Building Up Particles
https://www.creativecow.net/articles/lee_james/particle_build_up/index.html

Particle Illusion (30 day fully functional trial, methinks)
Disintegrating People and Other Things
https://www.creativecow.net/articles/deane_elvis/disintegratePeople/index.html

You can also try a combo of CC Ball Action (Grid spacing 0, animate scatter) + Scatterize + CC Flo Motion.