Editing Video questions

[grenparas]

Hello,

I am new to the forum as I just found it today by luck when using google.
I have a quick question or 2 about editing as I have never done advance editing.

1) If I record a video either using screen recording or hand held recorder, how to I blank out parts of the video?
What I mean is lets say I record a large group of people and I need to cover a face of one of the people. So if I record a group of 50 people all on screen at same time and I need to block face of 1 or several people through the whole video, how can I do it?

2) Other question is similar to the first but a little different. If I record a video and I want to make some parts of the color video different colors or some items in the video black and white. An example would be if I record 5 cars and a screen at same time for 20 minutes, and they all show in the video at same time. How would or could I make the center car a different color or remove color from it while leaving the other cars normal?

I have several editing programs which I paid am arm and a leg for, some of which are Avid, Adobe and a few lower version of other software. I am not sure if any software or tutorial exist and I have googled and search for many weeks, with little success.

Thanks in advance
Gren

[edDV]

Hello,

I am new to the forum as I just found it today by luck when using google.
I have a quick question or 2 about editing as I have never done advance editing.

1) If I record a video either using screen recording or hand held recorder, how to I blank out parts of the video?
What I mean is lets say I record a large group of people and I need to cover a face of one of the people. So if I record a group of 50 people all on screen at same time and I need to block face of 1 or several people through the whole video, how can I do it?

2) Other question is similar to the first but a little different. If I record a video and I want to make some parts of the color video different colors or some items in the video black and white. An example would be if I record 5 cars and a screen at same time for 20 minutes, and they all show in the video at same time. How would or could I make the center car a different color or remove color from it while leaving the other cars normal?

I have several editing programs which I paid am arm and a leg for, some of which are Avid, Adobe and a few lower version of other software. I am not sure if any software or tutorial exist and I have googled and search for many weeks, with little success.

Thanks in advance
Gren

What you want to do is at the equivalent of an advanced masters degree in video editing and composting. The technique required is masking with use of hold back mattes. This type of thing can be done in Photoshop using layers for a single still but for moving video it gets much much more complicated. The masks and mattes now need to move with the video.

The brute force technique is called rotoscoping and this can be done combining Photoshop with After Effects or Premiere. The original pro tool that made this possible was the Quantel Harry in the middle 1980's.

You are best advised to consult a post house and use their talent. They can knock it off in hours to days where for you it could take years to come up to speed.

Since the early days the cost of the equipment required to do this has dropped from $300K to less than $3K but the user skill required remains similar.


Some tutorials to give you an idea.
Google rotoscope tutorial
http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-after-effects-cs4/rotoscoping-using-after-effects-and-photoshop/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7SYowsH6TEc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpEqWKJj7Yc
http://www.photoshopessentials.com/photo-effects/rotoscope/

[grenparas]

Hello,

Thanks for such a fast reply to my post, I appreciate it.

I was hoping that it could be done in a fast easy fashion but I guess not.
Since the projects I do are only for fun and for family videos spending thousands of more dollars does not work for me.
Paying thousands for the programs to do editing and pictures was ok, but since I am now unable to work the past 4+ years funds are to tight. And to spend more is just not an option for me now.

I guess I will keep searching or put off the idea totally as I really didn't need it for most of my fun projects.


Anyways thanks again for your help and time.
Gren

[edDV]

It comes down to defining the goal and having someone experienced look at the raw video. There may be an easier way for that clip.

Post a representative clip and you will get ideas back.

If you are shooting video with these ideas in mind you would be using green screen.

Today it doesn't cost much to learn these techniques, just perseverance. Especially since you already have Adobe and AVID apps. There are many tutorials on YouTube.

[poisondeathray]

You didn't mention which Adobe applications you have access to

After Effects is the program of choice here, it will make your life much easier . It has the proper tools for this sort of thing . The newest CS5 version has a rotobrush tool , which automates a lot of the manual rotoscoping. It can be a huge timesaver

There are workarounds if you do this in avid mc, photoshop & premiere or any NLE, but it will take you a lot longer to do in those applications

You also didn't mention how precise you wanted it. For example, if you just wanted to "block faces" would a rough square do, or like those mosaic censors ? or did you want a perfect fit , like face replacement. These details are important to mention because they affect how you approach this problem. The mosaic/box censor is trivial compared to a face replacement which would require additional techniques

[grenparas]

You didn't mention which Adobe applications you have access to

After Effects is the program of choice here, it will make your life much easier . It has the proper tools for this sort of thing . The newest CS5 version has a rotobrush tool , which automates a lot of the manual rotoscoping. It can be a huge timesaver

There are workarounds if you do this in avid mc, photoshop & premiere or any NLE, but it will take you a lot longer to do in those applications

You also didn't mention how precise you wanted it. For example, if you just wanted to "block faces" would a rough square do, or like those mosaic censors ? or did you want a perfect fit , like face replacement. These details are important to mention because they affect how you approach this problem. The mosaic/box censor is trivial compared to a face replacement which would require additional techniques

Hello,

Thanks for the help with this issue.

I have Adobe CS5 Master Suite, I just don't have Acrobat. I am not well versed in Adobe software yet as I only really use it for Photoshop and Dreamweaver. And I have not used any other Adobe software in the package as of yet, thought it was a good deal since I upgraded from a prior version. In general I normally use Avid, Corel and Magix video editing when i need to do any video related projects.

As for blocking face it can be a square round or triangle I have no preference so a loose fit is fine with me, I just did not want a solid bar across the hole horizontal video. It will also help when i want to blank out other items as well.

Thanks in advance
Gren

[poisondeathray]

If you're not picky then it's very easy. Search for "censoring" or "mosaic censor" and "adobe after effects"

There are dozens of tutorials that show you how to do this step by step

eg.
http://www.trainingshell.com/view_tutorial.php?id=121
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aft4Aaz4YR8&feature=related


Basically you use masks , and keyframe the position either manually or using the motion tracker . Moving objects can have their position tracked, and you can use null objects to attach shapes to it e.g. so box or a triangle follows the face to cover it up wherever it goes on the screen

Since you're already familar with photoshop, this should be easy. The basic concepts like masks, layers, transparency etc... are the same as in photoshop , and the position of the masks are "keyframable" or "animatable" .

If you want more advanced, then you need to rotoscope for a better selection (making selections is the exact same concept in photoshop). Search for "rotobrush" and "after effects" there are dozens of tutorials . You also need a 3D camera tracker (e.g. Foundry Camera Tracker, or Synth Eyes) if you want more convincing effects . These don't come with AE or mocha, AE's built in tracker is 2D and mocha's tracker is planar 2D . If you're just starting out, I wouldn't do that quite yet.

Rotoscoping really is the "gold standard" if you want things to look good. Rough garbage mattes can be made to speed up the process. There are other techniques and short cuts, but you would have to provide more detailed info on the particulars of the shot you're trying to do

[grenparas]

If you're not picky then it's very easy. Search for "censoring" or "mosaic censor" and "adobe after effects"

There are dozens of tutorials that show you how to do this step by step

eg.
http://www.trainingshell.com/view_tutorial.php?id=121
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aft4Aaz4YR8&feature=related


Basically you use masks , and keyframe the position either manually or using the motion tracker . Moving objects can have their position tracked, and you can use null objects to attach shapes to it e.g. so box or a triangle follows the face to cover it up wherever it goes on the screen

Since you're already familar with photoshop, this should be easy. The basic concepts like masks, layers, transparency etc... are the same as in photoshop , and the position of the masks are "keyframable" or "animatable" .

If you want more advanced, then you need to rotoscope for a better selection (making selections is the exact same concept in photoshop). Search for "rotobrush" and "after effects" there are dozens of tutorials . You also need a 3D camera tracker (e.g. Foundry Camera Tracker, or Synth Eyes) if you want more convincing effects . These don't come with AE or mocha, AE's built in tracker is 2D and mocha's tracker is planar 2D . If you're just starting out, I wouldn't do that quite yet.

Rotoscoping really is the "gold standard" if you want things to look good. Rough garbage mattes can be made to speed up the process. There are other techniques and short cuts, but you would have to provide more detailed info on the particulars of the shot you're trying to do

Hello,

Thanks for the help and info.
Now that you told me the keywords to search for I will do more searching, I was using words like mask or masking when i searched. So with the new words and the links you provided I am sure I will be able to locate the info now.

Thanks again
Gren