Windows Software Which Can Warp And Morph Videos?

[Tanny]

Hi,

I'm a long time Mac user very new to Windows 10.

I'm hoping someone can suggest a Windows app that is dedicated to warping and morphing videos.

I have a perfect app for this on the Mac, but it's old, no longer sold or supported, and no longer works on new Mac operating systems. I can find no replacement in the Mac world.

An example of warping would be to highlight a face in a video to make the face larger, smaller, stretched, rotated etc. Basically, target any visual element in the video and manipulate it.

Budget is something like under $100, but I'm open to being educated about any available options.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[TreeTops]

Here's seven but I can't vouch for any of them. They say they are free but who knows.

https://www.downloadcloud.com/video-morphing-software.html

[poisondeathray]

What was the old "perfect" mac application ? - so we know what sort of "expectations" you might have

Video is more difficult than still to still photo morphing where in the latter - everything is aligned, nothing is moving. There are more challenges and manipulations if you want decent results for video source morphing. I already suggested After Effects in your other thread about face swapping and tracking, and I'm going to suggest it again here. An alternative would be HitFilm. If the targets in your videos are all still, and "easy targets" , you might not need something like AE or HitFilm - so we need a better understanding of what sorts of expectations you have

There are dedicated morphing software that claim to support video such as in the link TreeTops posted above - but you will run into problems when the conditions are less than ideal, moving targets, objects moving in front of your target, etc... For generic targets (not necessarily faces) - at minimum you need the ability to work with layers, composite and isolate areas with rotoscoping (ie. "animated masks" - either manually or with motion tracking assist). Notice in that link above all the examples have similar homology and nothing is moving - that's because they are really still to still photo morphs, not video source (with motion) examples. Or if they claim "video" support, it's really fading entire videos (like an A/B fade transition) , not individual objects only without affecting the background or other objects around it. eg. When you "shrink" a face or object, generally that implies shrinking the face or object only, not the stuff around it as well; but maybe that's ok for what you're trying to do ?

In theory winmorph + wax could do it, because wax is really compositing software. But it's very old software, good luck getting it to work at all or not to crash. It might have been cool 15 years ago, but the UI now is very outdated.

[Tanny]

What was the old "perfect" mac application ? - so we know what sort of "expectations" you might have

Great question. I held off on mentioning it because I didn't want anyone to think this new member was here to sell something.

The app I'm using now is the Mac app Morph Age. There are two versions, Morph Age (image morphing) and Morph Age Pro (image and video morphing). I have both and they are great in my enthusiastic opinion, however Morph Age Pro is no longer for sale, no longer supported, and does not work past Snow Leopard. So I'm looking for a Mac or Windows alternative that runs on today's operating systems.

Video is more difficult than still to still photo morphing where in the latter - everything is aligned, nothing is moving.

Yes, this is true of course. I find Morph Age Pro to be entirely suitable for my modest needs working with short videos. It has keyframes, so if you have the patience you really could manipulate any length video. My only complaint with Morph Age Pro is that it doesn't work on recent Mac operating systems (I'm using Yosemite).

I already suggested After Effects in your other thread about face swapping and tracking, and I'm going to suggest it again here.

Yes, I can see that is a top of line solution, so you are wise to suggest it. I'm still contemplating After Effects. The obstacles are, 1) given the monthly fee it would wind up being the most expensive app I've ever purchased in 25 years of computing, and 2) I'm hoping for something simpler 3) any interface with a zillion very small elements is not fun for those of us who don't have 20-20 vision. All that said, I may very well give it a try if my search for an alternative doesn't pan out.

An alternative would be HitFilm. If the targets in your videos are all still, and "easy targets" , you might not need something like AE or HitFilm - so we need a better understanding of what sorts of expectations you have

This is an excellent point. Actually, I could do a lot of face swapping etc with a video editor that has at least two video tracks, and the ability to scale one of the tracks to match the other track. I'm trying OpenShot now, a free app which is much to my liking, except that I simply can't get it to advance frame by frame, and as a free app there's basically no support.

Will Hitfilm (or other video editor) do the following, do you know?

1) At least two video tracks.

2) Keyframes

3) 2nd track can be scaled, rotated, moved etc at each keyframe.

Openshot does this, but will not advance frame by frame on my system, no idea why.

When you "shrink" a face or object, generally that implies shrinking the face or object only, not the stuff around it as well; but maybe that's ok for what you're trying to do ?

I can do this in Morph Age Pro, in both images and video. It has layers and the ability to create boundaries etc. I would agree that none of this warping and morphing business is perfect, and a key strategy of my workflow is to toss out much of what I create. It's like taking photos, I shoot a thousand and keep a dozen.

Thanks for your ongoing assistance and advice. You seem quite informed and I look forward to learning from you.

[Tanny]

Here's seven but I can't vouch for any of them. They say they are free but who knows.

https://www.downloadcloud.com/video-morphing-software.html

Many thanks TreeTops. I did find that page in a search, and am hoping to connect with those who have used these apps (so I don't have to test every one of them).

I love your sig. Yea, exactly, what the hell happened????

[poisondeathray]

My only complaint with Morph Age Pro is that it doesn't work on recent Mac operating systems (I'm using Yosemite).

What about using something like a vm or parallels to run an older osx version?

I'm trying OpenShot now, a free app which is much to my liking, except that I simply can't get it to advance frame by frame, and as a free app there's basically no support.

I'm surprised openshot does not have frame navigation, check for keyboard shortcuts (left, right) . Check if shift lock/caps lock are activated , maybe that's causing the problem
http://openshotusers.com/help/1.4/en/ar01s05.html

Will Hitfilm (or other video editor) do the following, do you know?

1) At least two video tracks.

2) Keyframes

3) 2nd track can be scaled, rotated, moved etc at each keyframe.

Almost all video editors have 1-3 . All the windows popular ones like sony vegas, premiere, corel videostudio, etc...There are a gazillion lower cost editors that do all that. So you can manipulate tracks, keyframes etc... But I think you probably want at least the ability for masks / rotoscoping for this task. And usually only the "pro" versions of NLE's have that ability , they usually cost more

Blender is very powerful and does a bunch of other stuff (3d), but has a video sequence editor. but the UI is very convoluted. It might be a step in the wrong direction for what you want, but you can do more dramatic stuff like 3d matchmove and morphing, camera projection

A quirky japanese one is aviutl. There is an English translated version that a few people use on this forum. One benefit is it has many many effects, and user based scripts (and it's free). But it doesn't have rotoscoping/masks within the UI, but you can use compositing / luma masks to control areas

Hitfilm is more like AE (it's basically an AE clone) , a compositing tool, less like a NLE. Hitfilm Express (the free version) , might be able to do everything. I don't know of the specifics for the limitations of the free vs. pro version
https://hitfilm.com/compare

[Tanny]

What about using something like a vm or parallels to run an older osx version?

Yes, I've been working on that this week. Installed VirtualBox and Windows, for free, went great. The VirtualBox situation with Snow Leopard is more complicated, and I'm still sorting it out.

I'm surprised openshot does not have frame navigation, check for keyboard shortcuts (left, right) . Check if shift lock/caps lock are activated , maybe that's causing the problem
http://openshotusers.com/help/1.4/en/ar01s05.html

It has that feature, clearly stated in docs. I just can't get it to work. I should be able to frame advance using arrow keys, but on my machine just not working. There is a support forum, and I did post there, but it's very quiet, so no replies.

Would welcome any suggestions. I'm guessing it's something to do with my machine/setup, as others don't seem to be making the same complaint.

Almost all video editors have 1-3 . All the windows popular ones like sony vegas, premiere, corel videostudio, etc...There are a gazillion lower cost editors that do all that. So you can manipulate tracks, keyframes etc...

Can you suggest any specific low cost editors on Mac or Windows that do what I described above? Happy to learn these are common features. As you can see, my video editing is way out of date. Until recently I was using an ancient version of iMovie from 1934.

But I think you probably want at least the ability for masks / rotoscoping for this task. And usually only the "pro" versions of NLE's have that ability , they usually cost more

Um, duh, what is rotoscoping?

Blender is very powerful and does a bunch of other stuff (3d), but has a video sequence editor. but the UI is very convoluted. It might be a step in the wrong direction for what you want, but you can do more dramatic stuff like 3d matchmove and morphing, camera projection

I did try Blender last year. Yes, very convoluted. Just not for me.

Hitfilm is more like AE (it's basically an AE clone) , a compositing tool, less like a NLE. Hitfilm Express (the free version) , might be able to do everything. I don't know of the specifics for the limitations of the free vs. pro version https://hitfilm.com/compare

Ok, it seems I need to dig in to Hitfilm. Thanks for the tip, I'm on it.

[poisondeathray]

I'm guessing it's something to do with my machine/setup, as others don't seem to be making the same complaint.

Might be Virtualbox / VM related ?

Can you suggest any specific low cost editors on Mac or Windows that do what I described above? Happy to learn these are common features. As you can see, my video editing is way out of date. Until recently I was using an ancient version of iMovie from 1934.

This is more based on what user feels comfortable with , the UI and layout (e.g. blender is fantastically powerful, but the UI and organization frankly sucks) . I'd recommend trying some of the popular ones out and seeing if you "like" it . Some people just don't like the way a certain program is laid out

Um, duh, what is rotoscoping?

You've already been exposed to this in morph age - it's essentially "animated masks" . e.g You click points and draw around a face to isolate the face. But instead of static masks, the points defining the masks animate over time.



If you can get an older osx version running, I think that would be your best bet - no learning curve, and you have something that already meets your needs