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I’m trying to figure something out in After Effects and was wondering if someone could help. In the scene when Luke jumps off the carbon freezing chamber platform his upper body bounces back into the picture for a few frames. What I was trying to do to fix it was this (I have no idea if this is the best way to do it or not).

I wanted to select the area BEFORE Luke bounces back into frame and reapply it to the following frames where his body would be seen. I just wanted to select the small area of the picture where this occurs and leave the rest of the picture alone. So I would have selected the area when it looks "clean" and then use that section and apply it overtop the frames when you can see Lukes body. Is that possible? If so how would I do it? If there’s an easier way could someone let me know?

If you guys have any tips, direction, tools, anything you guys could do, I would really appreciate it.

Thank you

"The Empire can't stop us now..now its our turn" -Luke-

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Its a piece of cake if you have AE Pro. Otherwise, it'll be a pain, if the camera moves.

The bit where he jumps down after he knocks Vader off the platform? I'm not up on my SW gaffes.

AE Pro has motion tracking, if the camera does move. If not, then regular AE works.

Either way, here's a tutorial that should give you all you need.

Tutorials - click on the "Assisted Suicide" one

One day I found... 10 years had got behind me. Next day was worse.

 

Download  shows from Cable DVR (Updated! Yes, it needs a rewrite, but it's worth slogging through, anyway).

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It is easy in combustion or shake to paint through to the previous frame - if you can't sort in in AE, and it is only a few frames you could always just export the few frames to photoshop and do it there, just load each frame into a separate layer and use the extensive paint tools then save each layer back out again as a separate image when done.
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Originally posted by: Laserman if you can't sort in in AE, and it is only a few frames you could always just export the few frames to photoshop and do it there, just load each frame into a separate layer and use the extensive paint tools then save each layer back out again as a separate image when done.


That sounds like a good way to try, but (I'm really bad with this stuff) how do I create single frames to import into Photoshop? Also what format does the movie have to be in to create single frames to import into PS? I'm sorry for all the questions, but I really appreciate all the help so far, I hope you guys won't get annoyed with me.

I have a PC if that’s any help

Tuckuh, I was having some problems with that tutorial (I think I just suck at AE) but I think many of those other tutorials will really help me, thank you

"The Empire can't stop us now..now its our turn" -Luke-

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If you are coming from DVD then download DVDDecrypter and VirtualDubMod.
Rip the DVD down with DVDDecrypter using file mode. (I think it is the default anyway)
Then open up virtualdubmod.
Then FILE/OPEN VIDEO FILE/ and choose the .VOB file you wish to open (that DVDDecrypter created)
Click OK on any of the other questions it asks about audio etc.
It should load the file after a minute or three.
Go to the start of the bit of Video you want to work on, and press Mark In button(The second last button on the right at the bottom of screen)
Now move forwards a few frames to the end of the bit that you want to work on (you can move forward a frame at a time by pressing the right arrow key on the keyboard)
Press the Mark Out button (the last button) and the bit of selected video should show as blue on the timeline.
Then go to File/Save Image Sequence and choose something lossless like a .tga file or similar.

That's it - you have you sequence of images and can play in photoshop or any other program really.
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Originally posted by: Laserman
If you are coming from DVD then download DVDDecrypter and VirtualDubMod.
Rip the DVD down with DVDDecrypter using file mode. (I think it is the default anyway)
Then open up virtualdubmod.
Then FILE/OPEN VIDEO FILE/ and choose the .VOB file you wish to open (that DVDDecrypter created)
Click OK on any of the other questions it asks about audio etc.
It should load the file after a minute or three.
Go to the start of the bit of Video you want to work on, and press Mark In button(The second last button on the right at the bottom of screen)
Now move forwards a few frames to the end of the bit that you want to work on (you can move forward a frame at a time by pressing the right arrow key on the keyboard)
Press the Mark Out button (the last button) and the bit of selected video should show as blue on the timeline.
Then go to File/Save Image Sequence and choose something lossless like a .tga file or similar.

That's it - you have you sequence of images and can play in photoshop or any other program really.



YOU ARE THE GREATEST, Thanks so much, I cant explain my gratitude for all the help thus far.

I swear I’m done after this but, after I have corrected the frames how do I re-import them back into the DVD? Just one at a time or is there another way to do that? And should I use womble to mesh the project together?

I know I’m being a real nag but this means the world to me thank you so much.


"The Empire can't stop us now..now its our turn" -Luke-

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Originally posted by: GhostAlpha26
after I have corrected the frames how do I re-import them back into the DVD? Just one at a time or is there another way to do that? And should I use womble to mesh the project together?

I know I’m being a real nag but this means the world to me thank you so much.
51 views, so these answers are helping other people, too.

Use VirtualDubMod to reassemble the images into an avi.
(First, make sure the image filenames are absolutely consitant, because VirtualDubMod gets confused with filenames, very easily).
Save as Huffyuv, which is lossless, then use TMPGEnc to turn that into Mpeg2.

I tried putting the Huffyuv avi directly into Womble, once, but Womble misinterpreted the aspect ratio. I might've missed something, tho'.

Give the mpeg2 the highest possible bitrate, to preserve the quality. Let your DVD software decide the final bitrates of everything.
Put the mpeg2 into Womble, and splice it into the DVD footage. You can use the DVD audio to replace the sound in your clip.
Make sure it syncs up.

Read "ADigitalMan's Guide to MPEG2/AC3 Editing", stickied above, for the full procedure.

By the way: Export the whole scene (camera shot), into the image sequence, because color shifts can happen when decoding, encoding, and recoding. You don't want the color shift to happen in the middle of the shot.


One possible drawback with using Image Editors... I haven't upgraded to the latest and greatest, yet...
But so far, the image editors I use insist on position-moving one-pixel-at-a-time. (I might be neglecting an option somewhere).
If there's camera movement, you often need to position your clean image to partial-pixel accuracy.
That's where AE Pro comes in, its manual positioning and motion-tracking use partial-pixel positioning.




Tuckuh, I was having some problems with that tutorial (I think I just suck at AE) but I think many of those other tutorials will really help me, thank you



Yeah, I forgot - that tutorial had a rotating keyframed matte. Just draw a fixed oval or rectangular map.
He also talks very fast, and like most teachers, the more important the concept, the faster he goes.
You need to rewind the video all the time to catch things. (There are player controls at the bottom of the page).
But It's the only useful motion-tracking tutorial I've found. It also has the matteing. And a bunch of junk we don't need.

Here's some more tutorials. A lot of them are useless for this, but there's useable bits scattered around: CreativeCow

And don't worry, you're supposed to suck at AE, its one of those programs (you know--- the majority ) which go beyond counterintuitive, straight into anitintuitive. I sucked at it about a month ago, and I still do. But I've been doing this stuff a lot, so I'll tell ya.

How about a step-by-step that probably leaves things out?

I'll base it on that tutorial.
Ignoring Motion Tracking, for now, in case you don't have Pro. Also, the Motion Tracking would make this list too confusing.
He imports the clip twice, and picks a frame to freeze. I usually import a sequence of frames, and then a single frame.
It's easiest to talk about importing a clip and a frame, so I'll do that.

Once again, if you import a clip, you might want to import the whole scene, in case a color-shift happens, at some stage, before, during, or after AE. That's why it's best to do clip and clip, or image & image-sequence, to avoid color mismatches between elements. It'd be easy for you to adapt my instructions to either.


Step by step always sounds more complicated than it really is...

1) Import the clip, and your single clean frame.
2) Click on the frame. Shift-click on the clip. Drag them to that composition-window symbol to the left of the trash can icon.
Ok the popup. Drag the right side of the Project window leftward - to open up some room for the viewscreen.
3) Create a white solid. Click on that eyeball symbol, (at the far left of the timeline clutter), to make its eyeball go away - the white is invisible for now.

Note: The solid breaks the link between the clip and the frame. So, now you can drag them up or down, and you can change their transform stuff independantly.

4) If the frame is underneath the clip, drag it up - between the clip and the solid.
5) Click on the frame's arrowhead, then click on it's "transform". Sometimes I have to click "reset". periodically, because the frame likes to
get moved out of place at seemingly-random times.
Make the frame's opacity about 40%.
6) Run through the timeline's playback and see if the frame's image lines up with the clip.

Note: To zoom in, where you want, in the viewscreen, Hold down the Alt key, move your cursor where you want, and use your mouse-wheel to zoom in & out.

Note: Also, I'm constantly having to click the bars above the viewscreen, or using their dropdowns, to get the correct view. That takes some getting used to.

7) If the frame doesn't line up, adjust the "transform"'position-controls until it does.
8) Make the frame invisible (eyeball symbol). Make the white solid visible (eyeball symbol). Now make the white solid about 30% opaque (transform).
9) Position the playback so that Luke is highest in the frame, when he's not supposed to be.
10) Make the White Solid visible. Click on its bar. Make sure you are viewing the solid, and not the composition or the clip.
Drop the White Solid's opacity to about 30%, so you can see the clip underneath.
11) Draw your mask(s), on the White Solid, to cover him.

Note: You can use the mask's transform "feather" setting to soften the edge of the mask in case there's noise, or the exposure changes a little bit.

12) Make the white solid opaque again. Then make it invisible, by shutting off the eyeball.
13) Make the frame visible. Then set its "TrkMat" dropdown to "Alpha Matte "White Solid 1"".
14) Switch your viewscreen focus to the composition. Move the timeline play-arrowhead-thingy around to see the results in motion.
15) Set the frame's markers, on its timeline bar, so that the matte only kicks in after Luke jumps down.
16) Zoom the viewscreen in on the matted area. (You can zoom in tight on any part of the matte, to get a good close look).
Run through the preview and see if the camera moved at all. (Then you'd pretty much need motion tracking).
(The camera will move in most shots, in most movies and shows. You often wouldn't notice it until you start compositing...).
16) There's a little curved vertical bar, at the right end of the timeline, just under the time markers. Drag that bar leftward, to cut off the excess crap after the clip runs out. I find it impossible to figure out exactly where it goes, so I leave a little slop at the end.
17) If I didn't leave anything out, it should look perfect. So go ahead and export your clip or image sequence.

One day I found... 10 years had got behind me. Next day was worse.

 

Download  shows from Cable DVR (Updated! Yes, it needs a rewrite, but it's worth slogging through, anyway).

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Wow everyone is making this too complicated. After you rip the video, put it in womble, take the section you want and get rid of everything else on the timeline. Export that clip then load it into AE, in AE (I might have pro, not sure) you can highlight a selected area (select the area you need from the clean frame and save it). Apply it as another layer on top of the clip (the area where you selected will stay the same as the frame you selected it from, everything else in the clip [aside from the area you selected] will stay the same as it normally would for that frame) mark in where you want this to start, move the slider a few frames to where you want it to stop then mark out. Drag the slider back to the beginning and hit play just to see if you did it right, then export it. Then import it into womble and put the clip where it belongs. These are pretty basic and generalized directions, but once you start to mess with it I swear you get the hang of it in no time, I swear, this was the first type of thing I had to do in AE and it was fro someone elses edit and I was a total noob but after only a coupla hours everything turned out perfect! TheForce.net has some tutorials for this under the fan films section (thats where I learned) but if you can't figure it out, I'd be glad to walk you and/or anyone else through it, my AIM screenname is the exact same as my username on these boards!
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You guys are flipping awesome. Give me a day or 2 and Ill see how I handle this ( I have a few other corrections in mind I think Ill need help with) and get back here to let you know how Im making out. Again I cant thank you guys enough for everything.

"The Empire can't stop us now..now its our turn" -Luke-

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I think I just wasn’t cut out for video editing. I couldn’t get a single technique to work at all.


Tuckuh: I think I messed up the 11th step with drawing the mask. I used the rectangular tool and just formed a box around Luke at his highest point. I didn’t save anything I just drew the box and then continued to the next step. Maybe I needed to do something after I drew the box?


DarthBalls: Womble is a being a Flipping POS and not letting me import VOB's it stops responding every time I do something in the program anymore. I had created an avi file from the VOB's using DVD2AVI. I imported that avi file and scaned to a "clean" frame and then I’m lost because I can’t figure out a tool that would allow me to cut out a section of a clean frame to reapply to the subsequent frames with Luke in them. The pen tool and the rectangular tool don’t work for me because after I cut out a section and go to paste it just turns out to be the full clip again.


This is really starting to get annoying. Not anyone’s directions you guys have been great but it’s the programs and the obtuse ways you have to correct half a dozen frames. You need a frigging PhD to use these programs it’s so ridiculous. Why can’t I just cut a section of a frame out Create some short of grid to line up the section I cut out so I could just drag and drop it into the correct position of all the following frames? That just seems easy and something this program should be able to do.

"The Empire can't stop us now..now its our turn" -Luke-

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Ok I got it, I went into Photoshop and found that hitting crt+ the double quotes button creates a grid overlay on an image and I could easy snap the cut out section right back into the same place on the following frames. Best part was it took about 3 minutes to correct all the frames.

I still couldn’t have progressed this far without everyone’s help, Thanks again guys. I don’t think I’m done though so don’t go too far away

"The Empire can't stop us now..now its our turn" -Luke-

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Ya, it's sort of an elitist thing so that the idiots or people without the passion for it can't do it, which gives me an idea for a thread...
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Originally posted by: GhostAlpha26
Ok I got it, I went into Photoshop and found that hitting crt+ the double quotes button creates a grid overlay on an image and I could easy snap the cut out section right back into the same place on the following frames. Best part was it took about 3 minutes to correct all the frames.

I still couldn’t have progressed this far without everyone’s help, Thanks again guys. I don’t think I’m done though so don’t go too far away


That is why I suggested photoshop, when it is only a few frame and sub-pixel accuracy isn't required it can sometimes be the fastest method.

I'm glad it worked for you - post a pic!

You don't really require a PHD to us video editing programs, but they are setup to allow great freedom with editing tasks, and with freedom comes necessary complexity.
If the camera moved in that shot and perspectives changed etc. they still need to be able to get the job done, which means tracking warping, matchmoving etc.

It is all about knowing your programs well and using the best one for the particular job, sometimes it will be photoshop, sometimes shake, sometimes a combination of MAYA, Shake and Photoshop.

The programs today are amazingly powerful, but it does mean that you really want to work through the tutorials and spend a bit of time learning them rather than diving in at the deep end. It is a good idea to have a few lessons before jumping into a formula 1 racer and expecting to be able to drive it around the track.
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Originally posted by: Laserman

That is why I suggested photoshop, when it is only a few frame and sub-pixel accuracy isn't required it can sometimes be the fastest method.

I'm glad it worked for you - post a pic!

You don't really require a PHD to us video editing programs, but they are setup to allow great freedom with editing tasks, and with freedom comes necessary complexity.
If the camera moved in that shot and perspectives changed etc. they still need to be able to get the job done, which means tracking warping, matchmoving etc.

It is all about knowing your programs well and using the best one for the particular job, sometimes it will be photoshop, sometimes shake, sometimes a combination of MAYA, Shake and Photoshop.

The programs today are amazingly powerful, but it does mean that you really want to work through the tutorials and spend a bit of time learning them rather than diving in at the deep end. It is a good idea to have a few lessons before jumping into a formula 1 racer and expecting to be able to drive it around the track.


I’m glad you did recommend PS made it so much easier. Just have to find a place to host the image and then Ill post up.

I see what you’re saying about the programs. I just thought they would be somewhat more user friendly when there accessible to the general public. And I think Id get around a track in an F1 car just fine. Same basic principals apply, gas+brake+paddle shifters= Awesome, Not saying Id make Schumacher's (more like Alonso this year) time around a track but could get around nonetheless

"The Empire can't stop us now..now its our turn" -Luke-

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I put $50 on you not making around the track, I got a go in an Indycar once when I use to race V8s, and the pit crew spent the entire time wetting themselves laughing at me trying to get it out of pit lane..
Looking forward to the pics.
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I just wanted to let everyone know that the new VirtualDub 1.7.0 test release can create Adobe filmstrips. So now you don't have use Adobe Premiere to create filmstrips.


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Originally posted by: Laserman
I put $50 on you not making around the track, I got a go in an Indycar once when I use to race V8s, and the pit crew spent the entire time wetting themselves laughing at me trying to get it out of pit lane..
Looking forward to the pics.


Starting and actually going around the track are two different things

Working on the pics, well whats the deal with posting a short clip, any legal infringments or what ?

"The Empire can't stop us now..now its our turn" -Luke-