Tutorial Details
- Requirements: Just After Effects
- Difficulty: Intermediate
- Run Time: 28:56min
Final Product What You'll Be Creating
In this tutorial we will be taking some necessary steps to stabilize our footage so we can then rotoscope the dumpster out with ease. After we roto we’ll employ some arithmetic so we can reverse the stabilized matte, add AE’s built in motion blur, and composite our 3D text in the background. To do this we’ll be attaching our camera to a similar stabilized area to fake 3D motion tracking. So let’s get to it ;)
Tutorial
Download Tutorial .mp4
File size: 143.5MB
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By Lyndon Alvarez
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I think that to do a tracking on the mask can easily solve the problem.When use the stabilization, you may need to recomp the layer for several times,and that might confuses the user.
Sometimes,to do a 4 point tracking can be even more workable on most of planes.
seen this technique in pete o conell’s training title
No doubt, have you bought any of his DVD’s? Other techniques and workflows are imployed in this tutorial from other sources and personal expericances as well. Watch and you might pick up a thing or two.
The link to the source files does not work
Sorry! Fixed. :)
I’m having a bacon breakfast!
Thanks.
I would track it in Mocha and do the roto in a stabilized precomp created with MochaImport in one click.
Watch this tutorial, for example:
http://www.redgiantsoftware.com/videos/redgianttv/item/29/
@ Hugo, it all depends on your source material. For the shot above, I wouldn’t bother if you know you can get it done w/out any problems in AE. For a car moving past w/ motion blur (or a strong lack for DOF); Mocha for tracking, then using the data provided to stabilize in AE (alone w/ some roto work). CS5 w/ the shipped version of Mocha also allows you to export roto masks, so depending on the shot you could roto in there as well.
@ Mathias Möhl, I watched his tutorial and you have a good point. It’s an awesome way to go if you own warp. Track the data like you said then precomp and stabalize w/ roto in AE. I don’t see why that wouldn’t work ;)
Side Note: if watching the stabilize effect in mocha itself remember it’s an inaccurate representation of mocha’s true tracking abilities. You’ll notice some slip here and there but once you import the stabilize data and apply it to the source footage in AE, it’ll be spot on if tracked properly.
Summed up, it all depends on the shot you have at hand and the tools at your disposal. Knowing multiple techniques is how you asses what should and shouldn’t be done. Stabilizing before a roto, if given the right shot, freakin’ rocks :)
@ Steve, I’m glad you’re having bacon for breakfast; I just hope it’s baked :D
Quite interesting technique although I think for a lot of other handheld shots, especially with more depth and motion, this would be way more difficult to apply
Yes, I agree. Far too often the source files consist of unrealistically easy clips in which to apply the steps of the tutorial.
Now to do this on a moving person… Wait… D:<
Big smile on my face right now. As I’ve already explained, there isn’t a one size fits all solution to rotoscoping. Use diff. techniques sparingly and apply when needed. Try to some up it up w/ a term as vague as mocha… then you might wanna watch a lot more tutorials.
for a person you’re gonna want to break up his body parts into various roto shapes or use a green screen in pre production, during the shoot (hard to do if you’ve used one outside before).
For keying, primate keyer by red giant is a good solution BUT costs a pretty penny. If you want an extra plugin to add to an already great plugin (keylight), then check out this excellent post.
http://maltaannon.com/articles/after-effects/ce-pixelsampler/
Hope that helps Ricky, I’m not trying to bash.
Okay tutorial, though your thug-voice is really annoying to listen to. Turned it off halfway.
Thanks John! Way to nail your name to the profile picture! Don’t know what I would do w/out you’s… probably just continue ;)
I actually didn’t mind the “thug” voice at all. Lyndon sounds like a guy who knows his business and isn’t a busy body, telling people what’s best. From his comments, I’d say he’s willing to learn and knows what he knows and what he needs to learn. Very impressive, both tutorial and attitude.
Hey,
In your tutorial, you added in expressions where you basically divided the values for A,P,S,R by 10,000 after you pickwhipped the roto to the original movie file. You didn’t explain why you divided the expression by 10,000. Could you explain?
Thanks,
Bobby
Yeah it was for the scale. I’ll explain the best way i can.
In order for it to come up w/ the oppisite scale value, for our mask we made, to counter the scale made by our stabilization you need to divide by 10000 for the x and y coordinate in order for it to work. Say the source footage scale is 97, well then the mask scale we created needs to be 103. This is what dividing by 10000 will do for the expression.
I hope that clarifies your question :)
Or just use boujou… LOL!!!
Using After Effects tracker is frustrating, way better to use Mocha.
I think it’s pretty obvious to almost everyone that mocha is more precise, which is why it’s so popular, but you’re missing the point of the tutorial. Maybe you should watch it first.
That same principle (watch first) goes to many other people that post in a thread and miss the point. Just remember, if you’re wrong you should be happy, you just learned something. Also to note that people have many diff. styles, watch their moves and you’ll learn. Mathias Möhl, for example, is a very crafty guy :)
added bonus: if you know how the motion tracker in AE works, then you’ll know when you can use it to save time. Surprisingly it doesn’t take that much time to attempt and discredit AE motion tracker for a particular shot… wow, imagine that ;)