Adding a false head/picture to a person..

[anigma]

Hi there!

Is it possible to insert a picture of somebody's head to a person when he's moving around? I managed to get it done once, but the person was only sitting in one place. This time I want to do it when the person is moving around, without getting those bad edges if you know what i mean.

Best regards, anigma.

[Scorpion King]

I think I understand your question.. bear with me, ok.

What your are asking is possible but it's going to take a little time to get it right.

I would use Ulead VideoStudio. Mainly because I'm familiar with the program and also because it has 'overlay' track and with my idea I would need one. I would also use PhotoShop Photo Program to prepare my 'head' photo. I would also need VirtualDub or VirtualDubMPEG2 (depending upon the source video) to get the 'head' shot from.

First capture a still from the video that is pretty typical of the area you want the 'head' put into in VirtualDub (mpeg2) and paste it into Photoshop new document. Get the photo of the 'head' in there also and resize the head so it is going to fit the average size of the replacement shot. Create a new photoshop document (photo) with a transparent background (Ulead requires 255 blue I think) paste in the 'head' then select it then choose Feather and about 25 pixels (or so) and make the 'head' not so rough. Crop the new transparent background photo just outside the head area, then save photo as a TIF file.

Insert the video in Ulead, position it to the proper in-point then insert the 'head' photo into the overlay line. The transparent (255 blue) background should be invisible showing only the now feathered head. Resize (by percent) so head fits original video, then position the head on the body at the in-point.

Skip ahead a few frames (while lenghtening the overlay head shot) until the head needs repositioned.... Then drag the head photo in again, assign new position - size - etc - then do this step over again until done.

For different head angles - etc, - you will need more photos. Making a 'talking' head is out of my knowledge.... It would be too hard for me to try.

Good luck. Hope this gets you started.

[Alen]

So is this possible with Sony Vegas?

[guns1inger]

Very easy in Vegas. Cut out your heads in photoshop and save as PNG with transparency. Put the heads on the timeline above the timeline with the footage in it. Use Event Pan/Crop to keyframe them into to place. It is time consuming work, but doable for a crude effect.