3d effect with a simple pan crop

[Glen Elliott]

The following is a baby picture montage for a couple I did recently in their wedding video. The 3d effect is very elementary and basic but thought it was kind of interesting considering I didn't touch Track Motion. Still have yet to grasp that tool yet.
Keep in mind I only used the effect I'm talking about in 3 of the shots.

http://home.comcast.net/~g.elliott3/...re_Montage.wmv

[Rob Lohman]

And I see in which shots. I think it worked superbly in the "baseball"
shot, that was amazing! Care to elaborate on what you did to
get that?

[Don Bloom]

Yes Glen,
please share your "cookies" with the class :-)

Very nice look to the pics. I saw 3 that appeared to have the effect and thought I saw a 4th one but I guess my tired eyes were playing tricks.

Good job,

Don

[Edward Troxel]

Looked like the "Kids in the Picture" type effect where you pull out one section of the image and move it differently than the rest. Definitely an effect that could be overused but looks nice when used correctly.

[Bobby Abernathy]

Yeah, please do share, I'm always doing montages for people, which supplements my video work, and I like that effect.

[Glen Elliott]

I agree with Edward in the fact it can be overused and quite frankly become hokey, IMO. However when the effect is subtle and not used gratuitously it works pretty well.

I use *that* and the fact that it takes much more time to create this effect for my reasoning behind only using it 3 times in this peice.

1. On the three images (baseball, swimming pool shot, and Disney World) I opened up each image in photoshop.

2. Separate the subject from the background. There are many ways to do this I..
a) Duplicate the image via Ctrl+J

b) Add a mask to the top layer

c) Manually paint out the background, leaving only the subject (or couple)

d) Delete the mask but choose "apply" so the background stays transparent.

e) Ctrl+click the top layer (one with background removed to create a selection the shape of the couple.

f) With the selection still selected highlight the background layer (make sure to double click it and create a layer out of it ..if the title of the layer is "background" it won't work) and hit delete.

What will happen is a hole will be cut out where the couple stands.

g) So now you have a layer with just the couple, and a layer with just the background with a transparent "hole" where the couple stands"

Beings I do some subtle panning motion in Vegas it's important this "hole" in the background layer doesn't show. So what I do is use the clone-stamp tool to fill in some of the hole. That way I have some le-way to angle and pan a little more sharply without revealing the hole.

3. I save both as PSD or a file format that will support transparancy. Open them both in Vegas on two separate tracks. I use pan crop to do the same movement on both tracks but the background a hair less extreme. That way it adds a bit of depth. For example if I'm panning from left to right the subject's left shoulder might go from the right edge of the screen to the center. However the background musn't move the same distance or you'll lose the sense of depth.


Well...that's pretty much it. Most definitly SOUNDS more complicated than it does...especially written out. In all actuality the most time was spent getting a good mask on the subject. That's where a Wacom Intuos 2 tablet helps. Not counting the initial masking it takes about 45 seconds to create.

[Bobby Abernathy]

That's great, thanks. I'll give that a shot.

[Rob Lohman]

I was afraid you did it like that Glenn (ie, lots of manual labour).
Thanks for explaining it though, looks great!

[Edward Troxel]

Cutting out the background is definitely a pain. Can definitely give some interesting results, though. I'll certainly be looking at this effect for a couple of images in most of my photo montages going forward. Spend a few hours last night figuring out my paint program!

[Glen Elliott]

I still say good ol' P-shop and a Wacom Intuos 2 tablet will do you best. If you have skills with the pencil/pen (illustration) it will only help. I actually was planning on going to school for illustration before I got into video. So the dexterity for manually painting masks is cake.

Photoshop also offers an "extract" tool as well. It works pretty good as long as your subject is a pretty decent contrast/color different than the background. If not- it requires just as much- if not more than manually building the mask.

Actually using clipping paths in photoshop (bezier masks) is the "cleanest" way to mask- but I'm terrible with the pen tool in photoshop and the bezier tool in Vegas. I have to learn how to use it skillfully.

[Ed Fiebke]

I was able to create a somewhat convincing 3D effect with a slight variation on your technique.

Pretty much did everything that you did in Photoshop. I used two layers. On layer 1, I created a mask around my primary image (in this case, my father) and "cut" out the surrounding background. This left the "primary image" with a black background (color by choice). On the second layer, which contained a copy of the entire image minus the "primary image", I applied a little blur and set the opacity to around 80% or so.

The overall effect left my father standing in an apparent 3D fashion.

It wasn't as good as your effect, but it kind of worked for me. Unfortunately, I used a digital camera which takes relatively low resolution pictures. I wish the picture resolution was higher to create a more convincing effect. But it was good enough for my purpose. Someday I'll purchase a digital camera which takes higher resolution pictures.

Now that I've read your recipe for this effect, I'm going to give it a try using my happy Vegas program.

I'm glad that I was kind of walking down the right path in creating this effect. And, as always, it's nice to read and learn how to do things better. Thank you, Glenn, for sharing this particular technique.

Ted

[Reid Bailey]

Thanks for posting this and especially the how to...

Great job on the montage btw, I'm working on a wedding video now and I need all the help I can get...

[Alex Kravets]

very interesting idea...but what is the best way to paint out the background?

thanks,
webtekie

[Kim Kinser]

Awesome job Glen.

Think paint shop pro can handle it or is it time for me to get a real tool?

Those shots really jumped to life.

[Edward Troxel]

Paint Shop Pro can handle it just fine.