Masking Tool

George123 wrote on 4/17/2022, 8:40 PM

Hi everybody!

It's my first time posting here, hoping to get some help on understanding the masking tool

Going into the Event/Crop settings of the video, I got this worked out.

It looks very silly, but I find it difficult to smooth out the edges especially with a motion blur.

Does anyone here have any tips on how to make it seem more natural ? I want to put this character in a different setting for example. (edit: and also find suggestions on how to make the process more efficient)

Thank you!

Edit: changed hyperlink to an upload, thanks EricLNZ

Comments

EricLNZ wrote on 4/17/2022, 9:14 PM

Hi @George123 - note for future use you can use the upload button to put images in a post rather than on an an external site.

harry-worth wrote on 4/18/2022, 2:23 AM

Use the Feather Tool within Pan and Crop will smooth just the edges

Yelandkeil wrote on 4/18/2022, 3:09 AM

Watch this .

George123 wrote on 4/18/2022, 3:41 AM

Oh that's a nice video Yelandkeil thank you, but I can't do it as the scene is from a movie and I only have 1 video of it. I will try looking for the Feather tool though

Former user wrote on 4/18/2022, 3:56 AM

@George123 Hi, is the camera moving in the video, if not you could take several screen shots & put them together in a photoshop type program omitting the character to create the background,

George123 wrote on 4/18/2022, 5:31 AM

@Former user Hi, yes the camera is moving.

So I'm trying to do it manually, but so far it has taken me 1 hour to do 1 second. It feels very time consuming :D

Perhaps I can speed it up with shortcuts, but I don't seem to be doing it right. I think it's Shift+D for previous tool and D for next right?

I tried using the Bezier Masking but not a big fan. I also tried to feather the masking paths, but it cuts into the character a little. I guess it is a learning process, but if there is a better way to do it instead of applying/moving the mask in each frame, then I want to find out.

I got told Adobe AE might be good for it, but I don't know.

Anyway

Former user wrote on 4/18/2022, 1:08 PM

@George123 Hi. i don't really use keyboard shortcuts so someone else can answer that, all shortcuts are in the Options tab - Customize keyboard,

Manual masking/tracking is a pain, i use Mocha Pro but it isn't cheap, there's loads of vids in the Tutorials tab at the top of this page, https://borisfx.com/products/mocha-pro/?collection=mocha-pro&product=mocha-pro

But a cheaper option is HitFilm Pro that has Hitfilm Mocha in built, it's also a permanent licence AE is subscription only,

There's Hitfilm Express but don't know about the tracking inc in that? https://fxhome.com/

BTW. Adobe vs any other editing software is a little bit like a Mac vs a PC, none of my plugins will work with Adobe, i'd have to buy an Adobe licence, but all my plugins work in all editing software providing it supports OFX which a lot do.