Keyframing a head from pic onto moving video? at DVinfo.net

Rick Fleming · January 13th, 2007, 03:17 PM

Hi

I am trying to key frame a head of a person from a picture onto a short clip of video of a person playing soccer.

I have cropped the head of the person in PS and saved it as a tiff file. When I add it to the timeline above the video clip and drag the scrubber across I can see the video behind the head just fine (except for the two black vertical bars on either side sort of framing the head and video) which no isn’t exactly what I want. Then just to try it out I add Picture in Picture to key frame the head to the movement of the play. When PP is added there is a black box behind the whole thing and you can’t see any of the video behind the head?

I have never tried this effect before so I’m not sure of how to go about it.

If anyone could give some advice (step by step even better) I would really appreciate it!

Thanks

Rick

Andy Mees · January 14th, 2007, 06:24 AM

Hi Rick

If it were me, I would keframe the Basic Motion properties (scale, center and rotation), found under the clips Motion tab, not add a PinP effect. Also under the Motion tab are the Crop controls, I would use them to crop out any unwanted video.

Cheers
Andy

David Avedikian · January 15th, 2007, 07:44 AM

I think what you need to do is change the background color on the head pic to something that is not in the video clip. Then you have to play with the masking so that the color you pick is transparent. Basically, it's like green screening. There should be a section on that in your help files.

Evan Donn · January 15th, 2007, 11:15 AM

Just saw this at macworld last week:

http://www.ex-cinder.com/magnet/magnet.html

It's a simple motion tracking app for the mac, designed for exactly what you're doing. Might make your job a whole lot easier - you can download the demo and it only costs $30, so if it saves you a lot of time spent keyframing it's probably worth it.

Rick Fleming · January 16th, 2007, 09:16 AM

Thanks for all your suggestions. I will let you know how it works out

Rick

Mike Hanlon · January 16th, 2007, 06:56 PM

You need to go back to Photoshop and convert the tiff file back to a PS document, add a new layer (command-shift-n), then drag the new blank layer to the bottom of the layers, beneath the layer with the cropped head. You should end up with two layers, the top layer is the cropped head and the lower layer is an empty layer. Save this as a .psd file. Import into FCP and drop it onto the timeline.

Key frame the position to taste.

Mike.

January 13th, 2007, 03:17 PM	#1
Rick Fleming New Boot Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Vancouver, Canada Posts: 14	Keyframing a head from pic onto moving video? Hi I am trying to key frame a head of a person from a picture onto a short clip of video of a person playing soccer. I have cropped the head of the person in PS and saved it as a tiff file. When I add it to the timeline above the video clip and drag the scrubber across I can see the video behind the head just fine (except for the two black vertical bars on either side sort of framing the head and video) which no isn’t exactly what I want. Then just to try it out I add Picture in Picture to key frame the head to the movement of the play. When PP is added there is a black box behind the whole thing and you can’t see any of the video behind the head? I have never tried this effect before so I’m not sure of how to go about it. If anyone could give some advice (step by step even better) I would really appreciate it! Thanks Rick

January 16th, 2007, 06:56 PM	#6
Mike Hanlon Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 180	You need to go back to Photoshop and convert the tiff file back to a PS document, add a new layer (command-shift-n), then drag the new blank layer to the bottom of the layers, beneath the layer with the cropped head. You should end up with two layers, the top layer is the cropped head and the lower layer is an empty layer. Save this as a .psd file. Import into FCP and drop it onto the timeline. Key frame the position to taste. Mike. __________________ VM Productions

January 14th, 2007, 06:24 AM	#2
Andy Mees Major Player Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Posts: 645	Hi Rick If it were me, I would keframe the Basic Motion properties (scale, center and rotation), found under the clips Motion tab, not add a PinP effect. Also under the Motion tab are the Crop controls, I would use them to crop out any unwanted video. Cheers Andy

January 15th, 2007, 07:44 AM	#3
David Avedikian Regular Crew Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 35	I think what you need to do is change the background color on the head pic to something that is not in the video clip. Then you have to play with the masking so that the color you pick is transparent. Basically, it's like green screening. There should be a section on that in your help files.

January 15th, 2007, 11:15 AM	#4
Evan Donn Major Player Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Philadelphia Posts: 795	Just saw this at macworld last week: http://www.ex-cinder.com/magnet/magnet.html It's a simple motion tracking app for the mac, designed for exactly what you're doing. Might make your job a whole lot easier - you can download the demo and it only costs $30, so if it saves you a lot of time spent keyframing it's probably worth it.

January 16th, 2007, 09:16 AM	#5
Rick Fleming New Boot Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Vancouver, Canada Posts: 14	Thanks for all your suggestions. I will let you know how it works out Rick