Wall Photo Replacement

Last August, we shot an hd short at a dental office (after hours). We were assured we had clearance to use the smiling poster-size photos of the models who represent good teeth. Turns out we didn't have clearance...oops! Besides the $1000 After Effects program, is there another far less expensive program we can use on a FCP 7 to replace the photos--oh, in many of the shots the actors pass by the photos and/or the camera pans by the photos also. We got some trouble here!

It's not the software, it's the person you hire to do it. Get a proper FX artist.


www.derekmok.com

Daniel, I've seen that After Effects can fix your problem. I just wonder if Apple's Motion can do the same thing at fifty bucks for the app. You probably saw the behind-the-scenes of the movie, "Monsters (2010)" by director Gareth Edwards. He had the same problem with signage throughout the movie. In the behind-the-scenes he talks about and shows how he changed the signs in the movie using After Effects. The guy that would really know if this same technique can be done in Motion would be Mark Spencer of AppleMotion.net. You can try to leave a post in the Motion forum. He does stop by there and answer questions. Do post back if you find out a solution.

Could you not just blur the photos? If so, Motion will do ya proud.

Michael Horton
-------------------

Smoke is in public beta this month. But as Derek said, it's not the software. Get a VFX guy to do it if you've not done that before.



www.strypesinpost.com

For once I have something to offer:

I do precisely this kind of thing quite frequently just using Final Cut Pro (only) by placing a new layer of video with the replacement image over the unwanted image. I then go into the motion tab, fit it in place and keyframe the new image as (or if) it moves around due to a moving camera. I also use one of Andy's plugins - "Andy's better 3D", I think it's called - to correct the perspective. Andy, who is a God, gives this plugin away free.

I can't even spell After Affects, let alone use it.

Try it. It takes me very little time. Not long ago I had to replace a cop's ear. Nobody noticed that the actor was wearing an earring and he was walking around all the time, turning his head and so on.

Best wishes,

Harry.

Harry, How does that work when a person in the shot passes in front by the part you are replacing?

Russ,

Let's assume that you have your replacement photo on VIDEO track 2 and you have cracked open the motion tab, resized the new photo and keyframed in any changes of position within the frame due to camera pans and tilts.

As the actor passes in front of the camera, in the motion tab, go to the "crop" arrow which is about half way down. Now you can keyframe a soft wipe off the picture as the actor is supposed to be obscuring the picture, and a soft wipe on as the actor passes the picture and it has to be revealed again.

If you have an problem such as an actor hovering over part of the picture you may have to use some sort of keyframe-able garbage matte plug in. It's really just grunt work.

Believe me, I am not some brilliant techno-guy. I can barely spell my own name. If I can work out how to do this using the elementary tools in FCP, so can a dead circus chimp.


Best

Harry.

these are pretty simple VFX jobs, as are a lot of editorial VFX.

you can break it down into two tools / skills / FX:
TRACK and MASK

when you get replacement images, you need to scale them to the same size / perspective as the on-screen poster, then TRACK them to the moving image.

Motion can do this.

If / when an actor moves in front of the poster, you need to MASK around them.

Motion can do this, too, although it would require keyframing the mask around the moving actor.
that's ROTOSCOPING

there are tools that supposedly automatically do this (MOCHA)
i dont think they work in Motion.

i do both these things in FCP, but that's because i don't know Motion.,
also i know i am doing a temp job that will be finessed by a pro, but some of the stuff i do is just fine.

Your stuff is harder to do, so while possible in FCP, not worth it.

forgive me, Editor's Guild: but if you are, or have, a producer, you should be able to talk some kid into doing this for you for not too much more than $1000.
of course i don't know how many shots you have, or what sort of production you are making,
which leads me to a more basic question: do you really need clearance for a bg poster image?


nick

Hi Everybody! I hope this goes to all who gave me great suggestions on how to resolve the Wall Photo Replacement issue. My cousin, who's the director and producer of the project informed me that she did have someone try the Motion program but it didn't work out. Exactly how proficient the person was with Motion, I don't know. Although I've not done any vfx, I don't see how this could be such a difficult task to do. Sure, I recognize that it's a tedious process, a frame at a time, but not impossible. I'd even give it a shot, but it's not my computer. Look for me again in the near future, I'm sure I'll have more questions for the LAFCPUG! Bye, Daniel B.

[which leads me to a more basic question: do you really need clearance for a bg poster image? ]

I'm reminded of a scene in "The Making of THE INTERPRETER." I don't recall it in the Sidney Pollack film (it may have been tracked/replaced!), but in the background short, there's a scene in one of the large halls-- possibly General Assembly-- and a huge mural on the wall is -- blurred out!!

- Loren

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