Mask

Dom · #1 (**permalink**) 05-15-2004, 12:45 AM

I need to edit a clip to make it all black and white, apart from one Red thing. It dont think it can be done in Premiere so I got After Effects, I know it can take a while and I know you need to use a mask. But i dont know how to create a mask, could someone please tell me how to create a mask, then apply different effects to that part of the video? Sorry if that didnt make sense, im tired.

Thanks, night.. !

MoJoe · #2 (**permalink**) 05-15-2004, 06:42 PM

hmm, I'm not sure about the technicalities but i think u might need a motion-tracking/mask combination.

I'm interested in this too after seeing Kill Bill Vol. 2 last night.

bgarthp · #3 (**permalink**) 05-17-2004, 06:48 PM

Sorry this is a bit long winded but it should work, may well be an easier way though.

I tried a similar effect out with something blue, you might not need to make a mask at all.
This is using a PC and After Effects 5.0:
start a new composition, import the file you want to put the affect on then drag it onto the timeline.
right click the file, go to effects menu, stylize (spelling?) sub menu and an effect called "leave colour"
in the leave colour effect options use the eyedropper to select the red thing, then adjust the tolerance and feathering to make sure you're left with the right colour only, the rest should become black and white.

However, if there's other red things in the frame (in my case the sky showed up blue aswell), or if the effect is leaving some of the skin tones, you'll have to make a mask aswell:
First, put another copy of the clip directly under the original, then apply the adjust, saturation/hue, effect, set saturation to 0 to make it black and white.
right click the original file in the timeline, click mask menu, then new mask, you should see a yellow box appear around the video in the composition window.
right click on the file again, mask menu, then "set first vertex", this lets you move the corners of the mask, you can also change it's shape to an oval or bezier curve if they suit your object better.
Adjust the mask until you only have the area you want visible, you should see the other completely black and white clip behind it.

If you need to move the mask, click on the little arrow next to the file name in the left of the timeline to expand its properties, then expand the masks properties in the same way, then you can set keyframes at points where the mask is still and AE will move it between them, this could take a while if the red thing is moving loads.

Hope that helps, it should work with any colour.

Dom · #4 (**permalink**) 05-18-2004, 12:55 AM

Thank you so much! That worked, although it took me over an hour to do because i did have to do individual frames.. and that was my first attempt EVER at After Effects (and im quite new to Premiere too) so i didnt know where anything was or how it worked (still dont). but i got it in the end, with just one problem:-

exporting. when i export as a DV-AVI its got a really low framerate, even if i set it to max framerate..

ill give it a go as exporting as the file that can be imported into premiere (not sure what its called) in a sec..

thanks again,
dom.

Dom · #5 (**permalink**) 05-18-2004, 01:36 AM

Ok, i cant export. I thought there would be an option to export to Premiere (or in Premiere- import from AE)? The exported AVI is poor quality, it has little glitches all over it.. Stupid n00b i am! any help?

Marc Peters · #6 (**permalink**) 05-18-2004, 09:57 AM

I think your problem is that you installed after effects after Premiere. If you do it this way round, Premiere doesn't create the necesary files/folders for import. Apparently.

Dom · #7 (**permalink**) 05-18-2004, 04:18 PM

Oh, right.. Well at the moment I have absolutly no HDD space left so when I get a new HDD (if i get a new hdd) i will format and install it again.. Thanks Marc

MoJoe · #8 (**permalink**) 05-19-2004, 03:34 AM

my advice: get an identical hard drive an put them together on RAID 0 :twisted:

steve4433 · #9 (**permalink**) 05-25-2004, 12:56 AM

Can I just add that its possible to do this effect in Premier (or at least you can in Premiere 6) using the colour pass from the video effects. Its done in pretty much the same way as is explained above by bgarthp.

Its a bit simpler so if anyone just wants to try out the effect quickly its a good way to experiment with the effect, without the hassle of getting to grips with after effects (which i am still doing and it still seems exceedingly complex, but thats good, I get the impression you can do anything with it!)

Great effect by the way. I tried it with road signs on a car journey.

Dom · #10 (**permalink**) 05-25-2004, 05:47 PM

I know its possible in Premiere (it is in Pro, too).. but i only wanted a specific part of the shot to show red through, as there was other red things in the shot too..