how do you add part of one video into another?

[twoodcc]

in other words, take a person from a video and put him inside another video?

[bigbossbmb]

if the person isn't shot in front of a blue/green screen, then you need to rotoscope them with a program like Motion, AE, or Shake. this means you need to cut them out by hand.

[twoodcc]

if the person isn't shot in front of a blue/green screen, then you need to rotoscope them with a program like Motion, AE, or Shake. this means you need to cut them out by hand.

so you couldn't do that with Final Cut or FCE?

[bigbossbmb]

so you couldn't do that with Final Cut or FCE?

rotoscope? no

[twoodcc]

if the person isn't shot in front of a blue/green screen, then you need to rotoscope them with a program like Motion, AE, or Shake. this means you need to cut them out by hand.

what is AE?

[bigbossbmb]

Adobe After Effects

[puckhead193]

have fun ;)
at 30 fps now times that number by how many seconds the video is.... that's a lot.... hope you have a lot of free time or friends that know how to use photoshop.

[doc james]

If the person is shot against the same background, regardless of colour or complexity AND you happen to have a shot of the background without the person then you should be able to do something with masks (I'm tired and my head hurts - you'll work it out). If you are asking this BEFORE filming then go for a blue or green screen and get it as evenly lit as possible with a minimum of shadow and ask your subject to wear a red outfit. Not just Schindler's list, technically easier :-)

[bigbossbmb]

doc_james is referring to a difference matte, which would require a stationary camera and a completely stable background (absolutely nothing moving). this is how the background effect in the new ichat works.

[twoodcc]

so that's the only way i could put my head on someone else's body or something?

[lorductape]

i'll just say it, as someone who uses shake routinely, you can't. Rotoscoping is a very VERY hard thing to learn to do flawlessly, and if you're trying to do it in FCP, FCE, or even motion you might as well not even try.


EDIT: unless you shoot it in front of a blue screen, crop the lower part of your body out, and you get a perfect key in FCP or FCE. then you can move the layer so your head is wherever you want. you could even keyframe it so it flies through the air and somebody nearby cries, "THIS IS SPARTA!"

[twoodcc]

i'll just say it, as someone who uses shake routinely, you can't. Rotoscoping is a very VERY hard thing to learn to do flawlessly, and if you're trying to do it in FCP, FCE, or even motion you might as well not even try.


EDIT: unless you shoot it in front of a blue screen, crop the lower part of your body out, and you get a perfect key in FCP or FCE. then you can move the layer so your head is wherever you want. you could even keyframe it so it flies through the air and somebody nearby cries, "THIS IS SPARTA!"

well i don't mean it has to be perfect or anything. just something on there. is this easy to do in shake?

[zblaxberg]

well i don't mean it has to be perfect or anything. just something on there. is this easy to do in shake?

not really, its tedious and takes a lot of time. unless you have some serious experience its not worth trying. i've done it in after effects before and it took about an hour just to get maybe a good 5-10 seconds done

[bigbossbmb]

unless you just crop the video into a box so you have a picture-in-picture situation, then no.. it's not easy.

[twoodcc]

not really, its tedious and takes a lot of time. unless you have some serious experience its not worth trying. i've done it in after effects before and it took about an hour just to get maybe a good 5-10 seconds done

unless you just crop the video into a box so you have a picture-in-picture situation, then no.. it's not easy.

dang. is there any tutorials on this?

[doc james]

Just a thought. I'm not exactly sure what you're looking for but your head on someone else's body sounds like a bit of comedy or spoof or something? There were some Pepsi Max ads, and here in the UK, Nintendo, where actors dressed entirely in black were filmed against black backgrounds against low light. Of course you could see how it was done but that just added to the comedy. Worth a go?

However you're going to do this, I think we're all agreed that you need to fix your background and probably use a plain background

[LethalWolfe]

dang. is there any tutorials on this?
Just Google "rotoscoping".


Lethal

[rjfiske]

There's also a basic 7minute tutorial here (http://www.digitaljuice.com/djtv/segment_detail.asp?sid=209&sortby=&page=1&kwid=0&show=all_videos). He uses After Effects but the procedure should give you a good idea of what to expect in terms of time/effort.

rjf

[twoodcc]

Just a thought. I'm not exactly sure what you're looking for but your head on someone else's body sounds like a bit of comedy or spoof or something? There were some Pepsi Max ads, and here in the UK, Nintendo, where actors dressed entirely in black were filmed against black backgrounds against low light. Of course you could see how it was done but that just added to the comedy. Worth a go?

However you're going to do this, I think we're all agreed that you need to fix your background and probably use a plain background

well which program would be the easiest to start with?

Just Google "rotoscoping".


Lethal

thanks, i did.

[twoodcc]

There's also a basic 7minute tutorial here (http://www.digitaljuice.com/djtv/segment_detail.asp?sid=209&sortby=&page=1&kwid=0&show=all_videos). He uses After Effects but the procedure should give you a good idea of what to expect in terms of time/effort.

rjf

thanks, that helped a little

[LethalWolfe]

well which program would be the easiest to start with?
The process of rotoscoping is pretty much equally miserable and tedious on whatever program you use. Shake would probably be the most bang for the buck, but it's got a steep learning curve. After Effects is very often used for this so there will be a plethora of tips/tricks/tutorials to find on-line. You could also buy the FCS2 suite and use Motion. If you are wanting the expand your technical abilities you'll end up w/FCS2 anyway so might as well get it now.


Lethal

[twoodcc]

The process of rotoscoping is pretty much equally miserable and tedious on whatever program you use. Shake would probably be the most bang for the buck, but it's got a steep learning curve. After Effects is very often used for this so there will be a plethora of tips/tricks/tutorials to find on-line. You could also buy the FCS2 suite and use Motion. If you are wanting the expand your technical abilities you'll end up w/FCS2 anyway so might as well get it now.


Lethal

thanks, i guess i'll read about shake