Hello everyone,
Sorry if this is a bit of a silly thread to create, but I'm really eager to learn how to use the new feature called "Smart Mask."
I successfully created a mask for a specific frame, but I'm unsure of how to make the mask "follow" a specific silhouette across multiple timeframes.
I've been searching through the Vegast Tutorials threads, but I haven't come across anything about "Smart Mask" yet.
Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
This link https://www.dropbox.com/s/of5vak2lh6oi88w/VP20
New Features Help doc.pdf?dl=1. on page 36 and following
I successfully created a mask for a specific frame, but I'm unsure of how to make the mask "follow" a specific silhouette across multiple timeframes.
This feature is currently in beta, so some features, like the ability to animate masks, are still in development... but you should be hearing some very encouraging news regarding that in the very near future. This is that time of year when the big VEGAS Pro announcements about its future start to drop...
@BioGames Hi, basically you can't, Smart Mask will create the first mask but after that it's up to you to manually adjust the mask throughout the video, I personally think the website is false advertising this on the little video of the kids dancing despite their mention of Beta & "to a frame", it's easy to think this is somehow automated, it's not, one mask on one frame is all you get.
https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/smart-mask-beta--141560/#ca884708,
https://www.vegascreativesoftware.info/us/forum/vegas-pro-update-build-411--141364/#ca883262
That link that @j-v shared as far as i can tell using 'Find' on Google there's only a few mentions of 'Mask / Masks' or Smart'. It mentions that multiple mask can be created but only to one frame,
@Former user I agree. They've been sleezy with their marketing on this feature. It's misleading and hurts the brand, because the feature is nowhere near as composed as they make it out to be. I've seen other people making the same remarks on their various social media channels and they just stay silent on it.
@Peter-V Yep,
Here's my comment on that second link I shared ('no change there' refs to a Vegas update that had just happened)
I've been playing with Smart mask, there's been no change there,
This advert annoys me a little because I would like this to work, I understand It does say "to a video frame" & there's a BETA symbol at the end but I still think this advert is verging on false advertising,
With a normal event there's no way of adding masks to each frame without manually manipulating the orig mask on each frame (I can't get Animate curve in Bezier mask to work, it just fills the timeline with keyframes as you drag the cursor)
If you split an event into single frames & then add Smart mask to each event the Analyse button only works on the first event,
& if you render as image sequence - import that sequence & add Smart mask to each separate event you can then Analyse & add a mask, but that'd be a pain, I got to 20frames before turning it off.
@Former user I bet whoever does the marketing is using some other tool to do the job. Do you agree? No way they did that dancing video you're referring to with VEGAS Smart Mask. If they actually did it in VEGAS I'd like to see how. It's just fishy. Imagine if Adobe got caught making their ads in Resolve.
@Former user I bet whoever does the marketing is using some other tool to do the job. Do you agree? No way they did that dancing video you're referring to with VEGAS Smart Mask. If they actually did it in VEGAS I'd like to see how. It's just fishy. Imagine if Adobe got caught making their ads in Resolve.
It's entirely possible to use the mask generated by smart mask to make an animated mask in the bezier masking tool afterwards. Is it fully automatic to animate it (yet)? No, but it is possible, so the marketing isn't a lie. Smart mask does generate masks automatically using AI, as advertised. The feature was also advertised as incomplete, being marketed as a beta feature in VEGAS 21, yet people are still shocked that somehow, it's still incomplete...
The feature still dramatically speeds up the mask creation process as-is, and that is only going to improve as the feature comes out of beta (there's also some other really cool features on the way that are similar, and can be used for similar things, but are different in nature).
I'm not saying I agree with the marketing team's decision to prematurely show off what the feature would eventually be capable of in 20's marketing material, but to call it an outright lie is a stretch. You still have to do a lot of manual roto to follow a moving subject, but what they show in the video is still entirely possible to do within VEGAS 20.
Sorry, I hope I didn't come off as cross @fr0sty. I'm here commenting because I love the software and the community, but I still think this particular case is somewhat fishy. Yes, it generates masks, but animating those masks like they're showing in their adverts is basically like doing it manually. But I guess I'll have to let it slide.
It isn't far off from doing it manually, I'll give you that. You still could use smart mask frame by frame to automate it, which does save a ton of time manually tracing new masks each time, but even that is far from optimal.
Again, I don't agree that the marketing team should have advertised it that way, I'm just saying it technically isn't a lie, they can actually do it within VEGAS, unlike the previous assertion of "it's like Adobe getting caught using Resolve".
In addition to the new AI masking and compositing stuff coming soon, we also just found out about another masking/tracking tool coming soon that many around here will recognize, and will be a game changer for VEGAS. The future is bright, about all I can say about it. Smart Mask (Beta) was intended more as a peek into the future than a feature that was ready for actual production use, which is why it was marketed as a beta tool. I personally think that the marketing team should have left it out of the adverts until it came out of beta.
@Peter-V I think they may well have done it,
On a project 30p project the only bit on that video where he's cut out with a mask is 39 frames long, If I change the Project to 24p that section of him masked is then only 31 frames long, In my comment above adding Smart mask to a sequence of images i got bored after 20 frames, part of the frustration was not being able to select a group of points, I don't know if that's possible?, you have to move each point individually, So it could well be done but I also still think this advert by Magix is very spurious.
This is Vegas on my 32" screen, zooming in helps a bit to see what points to move, but zoom too far in you loose the overall view of what's going on, if that makes sense,
I have been spoilt a bit because I have Mocha Pro which is very ergonomic
In Mocha if a create a spline/mask at one point, move to the middle of the timeline & change it's shape, then go to the end of the timeline & change it's shape again, when pressing play the mask would slowly deform to those shapes as it played, If Smart Mask did this it wouldn't be so bad, the mask would only have to be adjusted every other frame, but as i've said I can't get that one mask to allow me to edit it along the timeline, I too would like a tutorial showing how.
It isn't far off from doing it manually, I'll give you that. You still could use smart mask frame by frame to automate it, which does save a ton of time manually tracing new masks each time, but even that is far from optimal.
Again, I don't agree that the marketing team should have advertised it that way, I'm just saying it technically isn't a lie, they can actually do it within VEGAS, unlike the previous assertion of "it's like Adobe getting caught using Resolve".
In addition to the new AI masking and compositing stuff coming soon, we also just found out about another masking/tracking tool coming soon that many around here will recognize, and will be a game changer for VEGAS. The future is bright, about all I can say about it. Smart Mask (Beta) was intended more as a peek into the future than a feature that was ready for actual production use, which is why it was marketed as a beta tool. I personally think that the marketing team should have left it out of the adverts until it came out of beta.
@fr0sty Hi, thanks for that & the last remark, that is my main gripe with this, I'm sure the fx will progress in time 👍
You still could use smart mask frame by frame to automate it
? The only way I could get Smart mask to let me animate along a timeline was by adding it individually to each image on an image sequence?
My comment above ref to smart mask on one event/ full video clip-
I can't get Animate curve in Bezier mask to work, it just fills the timeline with keyframes as you drag the cursor)
Could be a bug, I'm not sure that's the intended result. Just know that it won't be long, this feature will work beautifully... Although for most cases, there's another new feature coming that I find myself using more, as it's much faster and I'm loving the results... The team has been hard at work! The news we got today def has me hyped for the future, though... my "cup" is full...
It is actually quite disheartening to discover that a feature one was excited about turns out to not meet expectations. However, I remain optimistic and look forward to future updates. I firmly believe that the MAGIX team is dedicated to continually improving the software as much as possible. I have been using Vegas software for ages, albeit to a basic extent, and I firmly believe it will remain my go-to choice.
Could be a bug, I'm not sure that's the intended result. Just know that it won't be long, this feature will work beautifully... Although for most cases, there's another new feature coming that I find myself using more, as it's much faster and I'm loving the results... The team has been hard at work! The news we got today def has me hyped for the future, though... my "cup" is full...
Is there any chance you could provide a link to "today's" news that made you so excited, please :)
Sorry, I cannot do that... But you'll all hear about it soon enough. Hang in there.
Sorry, I cannot do that... But you'll all hear about it soon enough. Hang in there.
Sorry, but I don't share your annual enthusiasm for new releases at all. It's still the same... wait until you see what the team has done. I don't see anything revolutionary.
The amazing news will be......
- save video preview at runtime to Vram and Dram.
- fix for Hevc in I/O, (flashing image and constant discussion whether to turn Legacy on or off. This has been solved for maybe 5 years and it's already embarrassing).
- fixing the proxy preview so that it is not displayed in poor resolution and the option to choose your codec.
- stable support for DJI. Blacklist still exists as of VP15.
- support for variable Framerate.
- the ability to speed up the video using the CTRL key more than 400%
- export text in the timeline to SRT and SUB as in Vegasaur.
- stability so Vegas doesn't freeze every 10 minutes when editing Hevc and AVC 4k.
- definitive fix for VST plugins that are broken since VP20 b402
- the ability to open multiple projects in one program and the ability to move events, including keyframes, between projects.
Sorry, but welcome screen, Alpha version of Smart Mask, Vegas Capture, Style transfer, are not amazing features to make user's work easier and provide stability. They only delay the team in creating a new engine engine.
I understand that the Team is proceeding according to a predetermined schedule, ensuring a constant contribution of money. But what is a priority for the team and for you is not a priority for other users.
Factual Note:
Dissatisfied Vegas users still stay loyal because of the user interface created at Sonic Foundry. Not because of stability and smooth Video preview. If Adobe or Davinci took over the user interface like Vegas, Magix would lose a lot of users.
Still, I wish you and the Vegas team the best of luck and excitement with the next releases.
Factual note: None of those things have anything to do with the topic of this post. We're talking about smart mask and similar tools, not airing out grievances about how we expect VEGAS to be developed.