i dont know how to ask this, but i hope y'all will understand what i mean...

apart from using blue or green screens in premiere pro to isolate and extract objects from the background, is there some way that the moving object itself can be masked, and editing done on the background or other unmasked objects?

you know i am just wondering if in digital film editing, one can mask and achieve effects as one can in .psd files. lol.

thanks

you won't do this in Premier Pro (any version) Sorry. I'm asusming that by sayting "as one can in .psd file" you are referring to creating asks from spline curves and paths in Photoshop.
Now you're talking. This you can do very easily in After Effects usaing exactly yhe same path drawing tool syou are used to. Easy but time consuming as you will need to keyframe the curves for pretty much each frame depending on how much/fast the object is moving that you want to mask out.

As you hinted yourself, this type of effect is muchg much more easily achieved if the original shot is planned for the effect, i.e. blue or green screening.

__________________
I'm not young enough to know everything!

And as for your 'signature'.

I have a friend called Victor who's prone to tell lies a lot so I ask him if he's telling the truth quite a lot!!!!!

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I'm not young enough to know everything!

its exactly what i feared! that after effects will do it, but that for each of the frame, one will have to keyframe it and mask it. imagine 1,700 frames for just a single minute!

man, it scares me already!

i will stick to the blue screen, unless if someone has another side to the story!

well ask Victor! lol! them Victors all seem to be birds of a feather!!! take care man. and thanks always for the replies. it helps!

It certainly is usually a slow process and requires a lot of patience, but it isn't as slow as it first seems.

The idea is to set as few keyframes as possible, draw lots of masks for a single object and thus keeping each individual mask as simple as possible.

If you have a head and shoulders shot it can usually be made up of a few four point masks. One for the head, one (perhaps 2) for the body, one for each of the ears, and depending on the hair style and movement, things can get a little more complex.

Draw your mask (for the face) in algnment with a frame. Then move along the timeline untill the face has moved to one side for as far as it's going to go and reposition the mask with another key frame. the head may then move the opposite direction, find the furthest point and reposition the mask again. Once you have all the points of greatest distance done in this way you can start fine tuning.

You want to alter the shape of the mask as little as possible, ideally you would use more masks and not adjust the shape atall, just reposition it. You will also find points inbetween your initial key frames that need fine adjustments of positioning. This way you may find that for each mask you might be able to do a minute worth of work in as little as a dozen keyframes.

Usually more though, and sometimes you can run through bits where it literally is frame by frame adjustments.

The skill in rotoscoping is in making as little work as possible for yourself, not only does it then become a quicker process, but the animation results in a smoother action.

Doing this you really need to think like an animatior.

The same is obviously done for all the masks untill the desired area is separated from the undesired area.

David.

Sorry to wake you from sleep...

I visited the new threads but did not find any posts from you... I may be wrong, but you know your responses are always a must read. But specifically, thanks very much for your responses to this my last thread.

I am still savouring it! lol

Thanks, Mark

I have had to do this in my line of work. The way I get round it is to add a title layer with a suitable sized shape that obliterates what I want removed or hidden. I then move this layer as my target area moves. Again it is very time consuming and no very technical but it does work.

Mark Strutt
www.onlinevideosolutions.co.uk
enquiries@onlinevideosolutions.co.uk

Thanks for that. Makes lots of sence to me, i will try it out today. thankfully, i have some work to do in that direction. Thanks for the contribution.

mark