Masking/Compositing in AE

CHAMELEON_D_H · Post by **CHAMELEON_D_H** » Thu Mar 09, 2006 1:55 pm

gepetto wrote:Well, faulty software is the least of my worries. I'm sure this is plain stupid, but my masks in AE only have four edges that I can move. So I can only select rectangles, trapeziums and the like with masks. How do I add dots to the goddamned thing?

Please give answers in the most simplistic, step-by-step and overall moronic way. It's my first shot at AE and the whole interface still makes me dizzy (not to mention my <10second limit for RAM previews).

Thanks in advance

-gepetto

Use the "pen tool".
First select it be pressing "G". note that there are 4 shapes :
the "Normal" that looks like a pen.
the "Add point" that looks like a pen and a little +
the "subtruct point" same as above only -
the "change point" pen that looks like a small arrow head. It turns angles to curves.

just point and cilck using the "normal pen tool" to start a new mask and creat as many point as you need. Kipping the mouse pressed and dragging it will create a curve, while just pressing creates an angle.

Remember 2 things -
1) Make sute the mask is closed
2) While you can allways add more points, removing them is a big no no, cause you will lose it not in that current frame but in thhe entire maks.

Happy masking...

AMV_4000 · Post by **AMV_4000** » Fri Mar 10, 2006 4:50 am

Ok, i just purchased 2 older versions of Ulead Media Studio, Version 5 and Version 6.5 (directors cut)... I installed both, and UMS 5 Has the video paint option that I was looking for... UMS 6.5 (DC) Does NOT! I think the directors cut cut out the awsomness that is Video Paint.. You can find UMS 5 for cheap on ebay (i got mine for $20 and it came with a dazzle capture card). ALWAYS research before you buy! (check up on websites to see if the certain versions of the products have what you need) Hope that helps... If anyone wants me to write a guide up for how to greenscreen in video paint let me know.. its simple, dosnt always look that great... but hey... Im not know for making things look great now am I?

Gizzi · Post by **Gizzi** » Fri Mar 31, 2006 9:45 pm

how does a person achieve this technique without photoshop or ae without having to go frame by frame in microsoft paint? i'm really new to this (as you can tell) but i'm really interested in learning. i just dont want to drop the money on it before i can tell if i'll ever be any good at it. i have premiere 6 LE, which is a huge step up for me from windows movie maker, but i'm still kind of limited it seems

any advice is much appriciated. i'll keep trying to learn the software, but the hints and tips always help ^_^ tyvm!!!

CHAMELEON_D_H · Post by **CHAMELEON_D_H** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 4:18 am

As for photoshop substitute, there's The GIMP
It's free, but you will still have to do the masking frame by frame.
[ur=http://www.animemusicvideos.org/phpBB/v ... &start=15l]This thread [/url] offers a difrent technique, but uses Adobe Ilustrator.

CHAMELEON_D_H · Post by **CHAMELEON_D_H** » Sat Apr 01, 2006 4:19 am

CHAMELEON_D_H wrote:As for photoshop substitute, there's The GIMP
It's free, but you will still have to do the masking frame by frame.
This thread offers a difrent technique, but uses Adobe Ilustrator.

Fixed.

Gizzi · Post by **Gizzi** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 5:41 am

thank you very much ^_^ i'll start experimenting right away =D

Gepetto · Post by **Gepetto** » Thu Apr 06, 2006 7:53 pm

but what if i want to mask out moving objects?

-gepetto

CHAMELEON_D_H · Post by **CHAMELEON_D_H** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 4:21 am

Either frame by frame in image editing program, such as photoshop, nearly frame by frame, but only changing masks when needed in After Effects, or look in this thread.

Kira_Douji · Post by **Kira_Douji** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 2:08 pm

If anyone is still watching this thread T_T... I used E-ko's method to clean up one frame of about 4 seconds of footage which I am extracting only a character (sans background) from. (For those interested, this is Arika's materialize sequence in ep 17 of Mai Otome).

Anyway, at the bottom of E-ko's directions, he said that you could take this finished image and use it in After Effects. I assume he meant as a mask. So I imported both the image and the sequence it's from to After Effects, placed the image on a layer above the actual footage and told After Effects "auto trace". It did a very good job of creating a mask (well, four actually) from the image, which I then copy and pasted to the actual footage. The results can be seen here.

So here's my question... now what? --; Is this just a fancy way of making masks for each frame of animation, or is there somewhere I can tell After Effects. "Okay, that's your basis... now guess where the points go"? I'm thinking what I want is "Motion Tracking" but I'm not entirely sure how to use it and the After Effects Help isn't, well, helpful in that regard.

Thanks in advance,
Kira

CHAMELEON_D_H · Post by **CHAMELEON_D_H** » Fri Apr 07, 2006 3:11 pm

I don't have lots of experience with morion tracking, but I think that it won't do you any good. Motion tracking is "motion tracking" literaly. it can spot a moving object and follow it around, but using it for rotoscoping will be lots of work.

A much simpler way, in my opinon will be selecting the mask, and change it frame by frame, when needed. It will take some time, but the results will be better than motion tracking.

Remember to set a keyframe for every frame you change to make sure shape changes occure whan you want them and not when AE decides to interpolate from one frame to the forth.